View article

We report here on the evolutionary history and ecology of 44 bird species inhabiting South American temperate forests. This number of species is higher than those reported earlier for these austral forests, and is similar to the numbers of bird species known for North American temperate forests. The lower bird species richness attributed until recently to South American temperate forests was possibly a consequence of lower sampling effort in the region. The avifauna of South American temperate forests is remarkable for its high degree of endemism (66%), which is probably related to the isolation of South American temperate forests from other forested areas in the continent. The geographic isolation of austral temperate forests also determines other insular characteristics of the forest avifauna, such as its dietary breadth. Most birds consume both vegetable and animal foods. About two thirds of the species emigrate …