• Summary
• Text account
• Data table and detailed info
• Distribution map
• Reference and further resources

Justification of Red List category

Based on remote sensing data on tree cover loss with the species's range, and the potential additional impacts of habitat degradation, it is suspected that this species's population will decline moderately rapidly over the next ten years. It is therefore listed as Near Threatened.

Population justification
The population size of this species is not known, but it is generally considered to be rare, and is known only from a small number of localities (Pinheiro and Dornas 2009, Dornas et al. 2018). However, it does not appear to be uncommon in Tocantins (T. Dornas in litt. 2020).

Surveys in Serra do Cachimbo, Pará in 2002 recorded 9 individuals per 100 survey hours in montane forest, and 14 individuals per 100 survey hours in campinarana (Pacheco and Olmos 2005). Six individuals were recorded in a forest fragment in Tocantins (Olmos et al. 2004).

Based on the minimum and first quartile densities of species in the same subfamily (1 and 6.5 individuals per km², respectively), the projected area of tree cover within the species's range in 2021 (865,475 km²; Global Forest Watch 2021), and assuming that 5-10% of the forest area is occupied, the population size is tentatively suspected to fall within the range 43,000 - 563,000 individuals, roughly equating to 28,000 - 376,000 mature individuals.

The subpopulation structure is not known, but given the degree of habitat fragmentation within the range, there are likely to be multiple subpopulations.

Trend justification
The species's population size is inferred to be declining due to ongoing habitat loss. Surveys in APA Tucuruí, Pará from 2005-2007 did not record the species, perhaps indicating local extinction due to extensive landscape-scale habitat loss and fragmentation (Henriques and Dantas 2009). The species was also not recorded during five months of surveys in Paragominas, Pará in 2010-2011 (Lees et al. 2012), and it has been unrecorded since 1967 in the metropolitan region of Belem (Moura et al. 2014). There has been a reduction of species records in riparian forests along the Tocantins since the construction of hydroelectricity plants, and further plants are planned for the Araguaia, Xingu and Tapajós rivers (Dornas et al. 2018).

Remote sensing data on tree cover loss within the species's range indicates that approximately 13% of tree cover with at least 50% canopy cover was lost over the past decade (Global Forest Watch 2021). Extrapolating forwards based on average annual areas of loss since 2000, or since 2016, it is projected that 15-19% of tree cover with at least 50% canopy cover may be lost from the species's range.

This species occurs in riparian forest, which is unlikely to be cleared for agriculture, but is also threatened by the planned construction of hydro-electricity plants (Dornas et al. 2018). Although the species also occurs in more open habitats such as savanna, it appears to prefer intact habitats (Dornas et al. 2018), and seems to have disappeared from landscapes with high levels of deforestation (Henriques and Dantas 2009), so its population size is assumed to be declining in line with tree cover loss. Furthermore, an analysis of the impact of disturbance on forest species in Pará found that in private lands or sustainable-use reserves, the impact of disturbance on biodiversity was equivalent to that of an additional 51% loss of forest, on average (Barlow et al. 2016).

The population size is therefore suspected to have undergone a reduction of 13-19% over the past ten years, and is projected to undergo a reduction of 15-29% over the next ten years.

Lophornis gouldii occurs in the southern and eastern Amazon basin and adjacent cerrado region in Brazil and Bolivia, from Pará and Maranhão in northeast Brazil, south through Tocantins and Mato Grosso, and reaching Santa Cruz in eastern Bolivia.

The species's habitat includes forest edges, gallery forest, advanced secondary forest, savanna and cerrado (dry savanna woodland). It is generally found in well-preserved, intact habitats (Dornas et al. 2018). It occurs up to c.800 m elevation. Breeding is between December and February (Dornas et al. 2018).

The primary threat to this species is accelerating deforestation in the Amazon basin as land is cleared for cattle ranching and soy production, facilitated by expansion of the road network (Soares-Filho et al. 2006, Bird et al. 2011). The development of hydro-electricity plants also presents a threat (Henriques and Dantas 2009, Dornas et al. 2018). The construction of hydro-electricity plants at Tucuruí (Pará) Estreito and Luís Eduardo Magalhães (Tocantins) has destroyed habitat (Dornas et al. 2018). There has been a reduction of species records in riparian forests along the Tocantins since the construction of hydroelectricity plants, and further plants are planned for the Araguaia, Xingu and Tapajós rivers (Dornas et al. 2018).

Conservation Actions Underway
The species is considered Vulnerable at the national level in Brazil (MMA 2014). It occurs in Nascentes da Serra do Cachimbo Biological Reserve, the Araguaia and Chapada dos Guimarães National Parks and the Bananal-Cantão Environmental Protection Area (Dornas et al. 2018), and it is likely to occur in Gurupi Biological Reserve (Lima et al. 2014). It is included in the National Action Plan for the Conservation of the Birds of Amazonia, which includes objectives to reduce habitat loss and degradation (ICMBio 2015).

Conservation Actions Proposed

Carry out surveys across the species's range to estimate the population density and population size. Study the impact of habitat loss and degradation on the species's population. Monitor habitat loss across the species's range.
Expand the protected area network to effectively protect IBAs. Effectively resource and manage existing and new protected areas. Enforce legislation to prevent further forest clearance. Conservation on private lands, through expanding market pressures for sound land management and preventing forest clearance on lands unsuitable for agriculture, is also essential (Soares-Filho et al. 2006).

6-8 cm. Small, emerald hummingbird. Short, red bill with a black tip. Golden green forehead, with a dark rufous crest. The rest of the upperparts are bronze-green. White band across the rump, and characteristic white cheek tufts, with distal green spots. Tail of bronze-green and rufous feathers. The female lacks tufts and crest, and has a rufous (as opposed to green) throat.

Text account compilers
Wheatley, H.

Contributors
Dornas, T., Symes, A., Ekstrom, J., Butchart, S., Sharpe, C.J. & Khwaja, N.

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Dot-eared Coquette Lophornis gouldii. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/dot-eared-coquette-lophornis-gouldii on 25/12/2024.
Recommended citation for factsheets for more than one species: BirdLife International (2024) IUCN Red List for birds. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/search on 25/12/2024.