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Birds of the Caatinga revisited: The problem of enclaves within, but not of, the Caatinga

2021; Elsevier BV; Volume: 191; Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/j.jaridenv.2021.104537

1095-922X

Rafael Dantas Lima,

Plant Diversity and Evolution

The Caatinga of northeastern Brazil is the largest nucleus of the seasonally dry tropical forest biome. Number of bird species in lists of the Caatinga often are quite different, mainly due to the existence of enclaves of other biomes embedded in this region, and whose species may or may not be included on those lists. While some consider such enclaves as disjunctions of other biomes, and therefore do not consider their species to be Caatinga-inhabitants, others consider the enclaves as part of the Caatinga and then include their species. In addition, the Caatinga has been widely used as a unit of analysis in biogeographical and macroecological studies, sometimes without a biologically meaningful delimitation. The need for a comprehensive review of these issues motivated me to propose a biologically meaningful checklist of the birds of the Caatinga and to explain why the enclaves of other biomes embedded within this region should not be considered part of the Caatinga. I argue that the previous checklists of birds, among other animals, of the Caatinga have been assembled in a biologically meaningless way, for which I provide a biologically meaningful alternative. This checklist comprises as many as 442 bird species for the Caatinga and is the first to comply with strict criteria as to its accessible, verifiable documentation.