White-necked Jacobin (Florisuga mellivora) perched in flowers of Heliconia a key association that contributes to the pollination.

Tropical Andes cloud forests are the most species rich area of the world. As a result of several threats including agricultural expansion and climatic change these forests are vanishing which threatens their species. There is an increasing necessity of protect and restore them. Furthermore, frugivorous birds from cloud forests are threatened due to hunting and forest disturbance. Because birds are diverse and remove fruits from many tree species, they are among the main seed dispersers in montane forests. We need to know the strength of bird and tree interactions and the influence of anthropogenic effects on this relationship in Venezuelan cloud-forests.

Some genera of trees as Miconia, Cecropia and Clusia capture the major part and frequency of fruit consumers, acting as magnets in the forests. However, the importance of these trees could vary according with the floristic composition and grade of disturbance. Thus, to promote feasible restoration and conservation plans we need to identify native tree species which are essential for cloud forest dynamic. To reach this goal, I will conduct observations on 60 focal trees and their visiting birds in two montane rainforest locations in Venezuela). One site is the Yacambú National Park and the other an isolated forest fragment in Altos de Pipe. The sites are located within endangered ecoregions because of their high number of threatened and endemic birds. They have similar bird communities but differ in forest extension and grade of disturbance. It permits to compare the role of frugivorous birds in an isolated patch and in continuous forest. A combination of fruiting monitoring, bird diversity surveys and floristic assessment will be used to determine the strength of frugivorous birds and fruiting tree interaction. Focal observations of birds will permit to identify the most important tree species consumed by birds in the plots. Similarly, fruit samples from trees will permit to determine their morphological characteristics preferred for different types of frugivorous birds. The botanical and ornithological information will be combined to determine the role of different bird species on fruit removal patterns. Because of differences in forest area, we expect differences in fruit removal patterns between large and small frugivorous birds as a result of human disturbance.

The information generated from this project will contribute to the conservation efforts of government agencies in charge of Yacambú National Park and will produce relevant knowledge as important native fruiting trees to restore degraded areas and improve management strategies of Venezuelan cloud forests.