Distribution of Threatened Bird Species in the State of Paraná, Southern Brazil, Based on Citizen Science

Abstract

The state of Paraná in southern Brazil has 766 bird species, of which 126 are threatened. Because threatened birds (and their distributions) are an important tool for informing conservation decision-makers, we evaluated information on a citizen science website that provided the number of species by municipality. Citizen scientists posted 4,598 records of 96 threatened species in 126 municipalities, of which 15 are Critically Endangered, 34 are Endangered, and 47 are Vulnerable at the state level. Atlantic Forest endemic species comprise 30% of the bird assemblage, but account for 46% of all records, which suggests that users search for these species non-randomly, favoring threatened species. Species distributions are associated with the remaining vegetation, and human population in each municipality. Most species were found in coastal municipalities, where the Serra do Mar Mountain range, and large urban centers, come together. The number of records of a given species is independent of the number of municipalities in which it is reported. Citizen science greatly contributes to improve our knowledge of threatened species' distributions.