Banca de QUALIFICAÇÃO: ADRIANO MARTINS DA SILVA

OCCURRENCE, REPRODUCTION AND INTERSPECIFIC INTERACTIONS OF HARPIA HARPYJA (AVES: ACCIPITRIDAE) IN FOREST FRAGMENTS IN RONDÔNIA STATE

trophic ecology, conservation, predation, harpy eagle, Southwestern Amazon

The harpy eagle is a powerful bird of prey and is considered the main predator of arboreal mammals in neotropical forests. It has a wide range of prey, including various species of birds, reptiles, and terrestrial mammals. However, the harpy eagle is threatened due to the advancement of human occupation in its habitat, especially in the region known as the deforestation arc in the Amazon. Internationally, the harpy eagle is listed as near threatened with extinction, while in Brazil, it is classified as vulnerable. The present study was conducted in the state of Rondônia, which covers an area of 237,765,347 km² and has 53 municipalities. Nest prospecting began in 2002, and so far, 26 harpy eagle nests have been mapped across 14 municipalities, with 18 of them being monitored. Five nests have fallen, and three were found fallen. In total, 33 reproductive cycles and two deaths have been recorded. Starting in 2020, the use of camera traps facilitated the recording of the reproductive behavior of this predator and some interactions with other species in their nests. Between May 2020 and July 2022, six nests were monitored with camera traps in the municipalities of Cacoal, Rolim de Moura, Ariquemes, and Governador Jorge Teixeira. In three nests, 131 events involving 15 species using the harpy eagle nests were recorded. Six species were mammals, four were birds, one was a lizard, and one was an amphibian. The species included the black-headed night monkey (Aotus nigriceps), the black-capped capuchin (Sapajus apella), the kinkajou (Potos flavus), the common opossum (Didelphis marsupialis), the porcupine (Sphiggurus sp.), the rufous-tailed hawk (Buteo nitidus), the rufous-capped nunlet (Ibycter americanus), the spectacled owl (Pulsatrix perspicillata), the squirrel cuckoo (Piaya cayana), the Guyana gecko (Thecadactylus rapicauda), and a tree frog (Osteocephalus taurinus). On nine occasions, the harpy eagle was in the nest and displayed defensive behavior. Predation of a rodent by a spectacled owl was recorded in two distinct events. Harpy eagle nests, due to the accumulation of prey remains and microclimatic conditions that favor invertebrates, attract a diversity of vertebrate species that use the forest canopy for foraging, shelter, and movement between trees. The present study aims to report the reproductive and occurrence records, as well as describe the interspecific interactions with the harpy eagle in its nests monitored by camera traps in different forest fragments in Rondônia