Tyrant flycatchers community in a mosaic of habitats of Cerrado, Brazil

To determine how different habitats affect the bird community structure is fundamental for the formulation of conservation strategies. Herein, we performed a comparative study on the community of tyrant flycatchers in a mosaic of habitats in the Cerrado, located in eastern Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil. The avifauna sampling was accomplished via point count method in four habitats: grassland swamp, savanna, woodland savanna and semideciduous forest. Thirty-seven species were recorded, and the highest richness was observed in semideciduous forest (25 spp, N = 220) and woodland savanna (24 spp, N = 192). In general, 51% of species were recorded in three or four habitats and 43% only in one habitat. The richness and abundance were similar among habitats, but species composition was different between grassland swamp and arboreal habitats. Moreover, the additive partitioning of diversity showed that the beta diversity among habitats (β = 15.75) is the most important contribution to regional diversity, an evidence of landscape heterogeneity. The preservation of all habitats is crucial for the conservation of tyrant flycatchers, once that environmental heterogeneity creates favorable conditions for the occurrence of species with different ecological traits and consequently contributes to increase the bird diversity.