ORNITOCENOSIS OF MONTE RAMONAL IN SANTO DOMINGO PROVINCE, VILLA CLARA, CUBA

Abstract

An ecological study was carried out with the objective of evaluation of the ornithocenosis present in "Monte Ramonal" in the municipality of Santo Domingo, Villa Clara province, Cuba between December 2017 and April 2018. The plant formation where the studies were carried out was the semideciduous mesophilic forest, on a poorly drained soil. For the avifauna counts, a transect of approximately 800 meters long was taken. Given the characteristics of the vegetation, the area analyzed was 11,200m² (approximately one hectare). We determined the systematic structure, guilds, species richness, similarity, dissimilarity, diversity, and fairness. A total of 34 species of birds belonging to 18 families and 9 orders were detected. The best represented order was Passeriformes with 10 families and 21 species. Of the total species reported, 4 genera (50%), 7 species (33.3%) and 16 subspecies (22.8%) are endemic. In December, 8 trophic groups were distinguished; 9 in April. The similarity index obtained was 66.6%. A diversity of 2.90 and 2.57 was observed, as well as an equitability of 2.02 and 1.86. Diversity and fairness were somewhat higher in December than in April.