The rarest of the rare: rediscovery and status of the critically endangered Belem Curassow, Crax fasciolata pinima (Pelzeln, 1870)

The Belem Curassow (Crax fasciolata pinima) is one of the most endangered birds in South America, without sightings of birds in the wild for 40 years. This subspecies is nationally and internationally classified as critically endangered and close to extinction, suffering from poaching and deforestation in its range. Here we present new records of free-living individuals made on three indigenous lands in Pará and Maranhão states: in part of Terra Indígena Mãe Maria, Bom Jesus do Tocantins, Pará; in locations within the Reserva Biológica do Gurupi/Terra Indígena Alto Turiaçu, Centro Novo do Maranhão, Maranhão; and around the Terra Indígena Rio Pindaré, Alto Alegre do Pindaré, Maranhão. We also provide recommendations to protect this bird via a dedicated conservation program which includes finding new individuals in non-sampled areas (north of BR-222), estimating population size, enhancing taxonomic and natural history knowledge, capturing wild animals in order to start urgent ex situ conservation programs, and developing environmental awareness programs with the local and indigenous populations

Delimiting priority areas for the conservation of endemic and threatened Neotropical birds using a niche-based gap analysis.

Knowledge of spatiotemporal distribution of biodiversity is still very incomplete in the tropics. This is one of the major problems preventing the assessment and effectiveness of conservation actions. Mega-diverse tropical regions are being exposed to fast and profound environmental changes, and the amount of resources available to describe the distribution of species is generally limited. Thus, the tropics is losing species at unprecedented rates, without a proper assessment of its biodiversity. Species distribution models (SDMs) can be used to fill such biogeographic gaps within a species' range and, when allied with systematic conservation planning (e.g. analyses of representativeness, gap analysis), help transcend such data shortage and support practical conservation actions. Within the Neotropics, eastern Amazon and northern Cerrado present a high variety of environments and are some of the most interesting ecotonal areas within South America, but are also among the most threatened biogeographic provinces in the world. Here, we test the effectiveness of the current system of Protected Areas (PAs), in protecting 24 threatened and endemic bird species using SDMs. We found that taxa with wider distributions are potentially as protected as taxa with smaller ranges, and larger PAs were more efficient than smaller PAs, while protecting these bird species. Nonetheless, Cerrado PAs are mostly misallocated. We suggest six priority areas for conservation of Neotropical birds. Finally, we highlight the importance of indigenous lands in the conservation of Neotropical biodiversity, and recommend the development of community management plans to conserve the biological resources of the region

Estimated species richness in relationship to protected areas in study area.

<p>Estimated species richness in relationship to protected areas in study area.</p

Distribution of species richness in relationship to the size of each protected area individually.

<p>A) Amazon biome and B) the whole study area.</p

Protected areas in the study area.

<p>Instance, kind of usage, biome, extent area according to World Wildlife (<a href="http://www.worldwildlife.org/" target="_blank">www.worldwildlife.org</a>), and priority according to MMA [<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0171838#pone.0171838.ref071" target="_blank">71</a>].</p

Modeled bird taxa.

<p>Points: number of records (4.5 × 4.5 km cells), AUC and TSS: mean values, and respective standard deviation values, ER/study area: estimated range in number of cells in the study area, ER/biome: estimated range in number of cells in the study area by biome (Amazon/Cerrado), %PA/biome: percentage of occurrence in protected areas, Status: conservation status according to IBAMA[<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0171838#pone.0171838.ref059" target="_blank">59</a>] and IUCN[<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0171838#pone.0171838.ref072" target="_blank">72</a>], and biome of occurrence.</p

Priority areas for conservation.

<p>Study area showing the currently existing protected areas and indicating new priority areas for conservation according to the estimated species richness in the Amazon and Cerrado biomes, separately. 1—Regions connecting APA Baixada Maranhense with indigenous land Alto Turiaçu; 2 –Extension of indigenous land Alto Turiaçu; 3—Polígono das Águas in southern Maranhão; 4—Southwestern Plateau; 5—Mirador/ Uruçuí; 6—Extension of the Maranhão semideciduous forest area, in central Maranhão.</p

Distribution of protected range in relationship to total range size within the study area.

<p>We observed a positive relationship between the total range and the protected range size of threatened taxa from Amazon (A), Cerrado (B) and all target species in the whole study area (C).</p

Map of the study area.

<p>Location of Protected Areas (PAs): conservation units (dark brown) and indigenous lands (light brown), within the Amazon and Cerrado biomes. See <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0171838#pone.0171838.t001" target="_blank">Table 1</a> for PAs identification (ID).</p

Species distribution models for the study area.

<p>Estimated range of taxa from Amazon 1) and Cerrado 2) biomes.</p