Project Description and Current Status: Hispaniola supports more endemic bird species (those species found nowhere else in the world) than any other Caribbean island except Jamaica. Haiti and the Dominican Republic's contribution to global biodiversity has earned Hispaniola the highest ranking of biological importance in a worldwide assessment of bird protection priorities. While habitats of Hispaniola are vital to the survival of many endemic and migrant bird species, the rate of loss of these habitats is alarming. Some recent estimates place forest loss at greater than 90% in the last 20 years in the Dominican Republic, while in Haiti forest loss is nearly complete. Most forested areas remaining in the Dominican Republic are fragmented and under continuing heavy pressure.

In response to this crisis, the Dominican government has established protected areas in key locations around the country. The Sierra de Bahoruco National Park is a 800 km2 protected area in the extreme southwest portion of the country. The Bahorucos are an ancient chain of mountains that constitute a center of Hispaniolan endemism and are of extreme biological importance. The Dominican Republic recognized the biological uniqueness of the Bahorucos by creating the Sierra de Bahoruco National Park in 1983, and the United Nations recognized the Bahoruco-Enriquillo-Jaragua Biosphere Reserve in 2003. These mountains contain 29 of the 31 endemic bird species found on the island.

Previous studies of wintering migrants in the Sierra de Bahoruco focused on demographics, site fidelity, and survival in presumably optimal habitats. However, considerable amounts of native habitats have been converted to agriculture; on Hispaniola 72% of land cover is now agricultural crops, early-successional scrub, or pasture. Large portions of the Bahorucos have been converted to agricultural use through slash-and-burn practices, and other forested sites are selectively cut and the understory burned to promote forage for cattle grazing.

The effects of these practices on birds, and the use of these early- and mid-successional habitats by birds, has never been studied. Among agricultural habitats, only sun and shade coffee plantations have been investigated as bird habitat, with the conclusion that shade coffee in particular may indeed be comparable to some native habitats for wintering migrants. However, there has been no comparable work on migrants in early-successional scrub or regenerating broadleaf forests, nor has any work been conducted on how migrants use habitats recovering from agricultural disturbance.

Thus, for management planning efforts, there is a need to know how this most common form of habitat conversion affects bird demographics and survival, and how birds respond to regeneration of these habitats.

Here we seek to build upon our previous work and identify conservation priorities by studying demographic structure, habitat needs, and non-breeding biology of wintering migratory birds, and Hispaniolan endemic and permanent resident species, in regenerating broadleaf forest.

As a result of this work, we will provide management planning recommendations concerning the creation and maintenance of habitat in National Parks and buffer zones. This represents an on-the-ground management tool with immediate potential to conserve migratory and resident birds in the Dominican Republic.

Recent Results: Over five winters we have invested more than 15,000 mistnet hours in each of the agricultural habitats.

Funding: This project has been supported by The Nature Conservancy, U. S. Forest Service - International Programs, and PRBO Conservation Science.

Related Scientific Publications:

Latta, S. C. 2003. Effects of scaley-leg mite infestations on body condition and site fidelity of migratory warblers. Auk 120:730-743.

Latta, S. C., C. C. Rimmer, and K. P. McFarland. 2003. Winter bird communities in four habitats along an elevational gradient on Hispaniola. Condor 105:179-197.

Latta, S. C., and J. Faaborg. 2002. Demographic and population responses of Cape May Warblers wintering in multiple habitats. Ecology 83:2502-2515.

Latta, S. C., and J. Faaborg. 2001. Winter site fidelity of Prairie Warblers in the Dominican Republic. Condor 103:455-468.

Wunderle, J. M., Jr., and S. C. Latta. 2000. Winter site fidelity of Nearctic migrant birds in isolated shade coffee plantations of different sizes in the Dominican Republic. Auk 117: 596-614.

Latta, S. C., and M. Baltz. 1997. Population limitation in Neotropical migratory birds: Comments on Rappole and McDonald (1994). Auk 114:754-762.