Data Zone
Justification of Red List category
This species is suffering from accelerating rates of habitat loss within its range; it is suspected to undergo moderately rapid declines and is therefore assessed as Near Threatened.
Population justification
The global population size has not been quantified, but this species is described as fairly common to common (Stotz et al. 1996, S. Dantas in litt. 2020).
Trend justification
Even though the species shows some tolerance of forest degradation and fragmentation, declines are suspected on the basis of habitat loss.
Within the range, 15% of tree cover has been lost over the past three generations (14 years); since 2016 this has been increasing to a rate equivalent to 21% over three generations (Global Forest Watch 2023, using Hansen et al. [2013] data and methods disclosed therein). Moreover, a projection of future impacts of deforestation and climate change found that between 2020 and 2050 the species may lose between 14% and 42% of suitable habitat, assuming limited dispersal between occupied localities (de Moraes et al. 2020). This equates to a loss of 7-22% of suitable habitat over the next three generations. Under the precautionary assumption that population declines are roughly equivalent to the rate of habitat loss, the species may have declined by up to 20% over the past three generations, with declines starting to accelerate in 2016 to a rate of 20-29% over the next three generations.
Pteroglossus bitorquatus occurs in the Belém centre of endemism, Brazil, east of the Rio Tapajós in Pará, Maranhão, northern Tocantins and south to the Serra do Cachimbo and northern Mato Grosso.
This species inhabits moist tropical forest, gallery forest and some "cerrado" (dry savanna woodland) up to c.550 m, and appears to show some tolerance of tall secondary growth (del Hoyo et al. 2002, Portes et al. 2011, A. Lees in litt. 2014, Lima et al. 2014, ICMBio 2018).
Although the species shows some tolerance of habitat fragmentation and degradation, 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, A. Lees in litt. 2011). Changes to the Brazilian Forest Code reduced the percentage of land a private landowner is legally required to maintain as forest (including, critically, a reduction in the width of forest buffers alongside perennial steams) and included an amnesty for landowners who deforested before July 2008 (Bird et al. 2011). This new environmental policy is seemingly incentivising farmers to clear more land; the intensity of deforestation and wildfires in the Brazilian Amazon has increased considerably since 2018 (S. Dantas in litt. 2020).
Conservation Actions Underway
CITES Appendix II. The species occurs in the Gurupi Biological Reserve (Lima et al. 2014). The species is listed as Near Threatened at the national level, while the nominate subspecies bitorquatus is listed as Vulnerable (Aleixo et al. 2021a,b).
Conservation Actions Proposed
Quantify the population size. Investigate the impact of habitat loss on the population size. Monitor the population trend. Monitor rates of habitat loss.
Expand the protected area network to effectively protect key sites. Effectively manage protected areas, utilising emerging opportunities to finance protected area management with the joint aims of reducing carbon emissions and maximizing biodiversity conservation. Raise awareness for the species and its habitat. Incentivise conservation on private lands through expanding market pressures for land management and preventing forest clearance on lands unsuitable for agriculture (Soares-Filho et al. 2006).
36 cm. Small, colourful toucan. Green and yellow with a red rump, red nape and upper back, and a broad red chest patch.
Text account compilers
Hermes, C.
Contributors
Butchart, S., Dantas, S., Ekstrom, J., Khwaja, N., Lees, A., Lima, D.M., Sharpe, C.J., Subirá, R., Symes, A. & Taylor, J.
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Eastern Red-necked Araçari Pteroglossus bitorquatus. Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/eastern-red-necked-aracari-pteroglossus-bitorquatus on 23/11/2024.
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 23/11/2024.