Can exotic tree plantations preserve the bird community of an endangered native forest in the Argentine Pampas?

Abstract

Worldwide, the areas covered by native forests are declining while those of tree plantations are increasing. This has raised the question of whether tree plantations are able to preserve native forest species. In Argentina, the main native forests of the Pampas region, called talares, are endangered and their disappearance is imminent. Although exotic tree plantations are increasing in this region, their role in maintaining native bird diversity has not been studied in Argentine Pampas. We compared the bird community attributes and vegetation structure of talares native forests with those of tree plantations. Compared with talares native forests, plantations exhibited markedly lower bird richness (up to 80% lower), and all forest-dependent bird species were absent in plantations. Talares and plantations differed also in some aspects of vegetation structure, which usually are key determinants of bird abundance. Given the extreme importance of talares for forest birds, this bird community will be deeply affected if talares native forests continue to decline, as nearby plantations do not offer suitable habitat. To maintain the bird diversity of talares, and probably the diversity of other unstudied taxa related to them, we recommend management actions that should be applied urgently in these endangered forests of the Argentine Pampas.