URACCAN works in partnership with the WCS agency on biodiversity protection issues.

Researcher Fabricio Díaz, from the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), presented the work "Silvopastoril Management as a tool for the restoration of bird communities in Nicaraguan moskitia", during the University Day for Scientific Development of URACCAN Las Minas. This study was supported by the American Bird Conservancy (ABC) and the Darwin Initiative, which together with WCS and this site develop environmental conservation projects.

According to the researcher, the objective of the study was to identify the trend of change, or not change, of avifauna at sites related to the insertion of silvopastoril management and to evaluate the link between applied management with trends in avifauna in areas of the indigenous territories of Río Coco and Bocay.

Other objectives set by the researcher were to characterize bird communities in areas under forest management, identify trends in bird communities through useful parameters to assess changes as a result of silvopastoryl management applied in different types of plant cover, quantify the alpha diversity, similarity and horse riding of bird communities to assess changes as a result of silvopastoril management, and determine the contribution that silvopastoral systems make to diversity conservation of birds.

The researcher detailed that 41 producers were worked on in 3 indigenous territories, on a small scale, 1-2-3 hectares, it was worked with living fences with barbed wires, trees of erythrin sp (helequeme), gliricidia sepium (black wood), brosimum sp (eye), improved grass: brachiaria humidicola (plain), brizantha xaraés (toledo), inside mosaics of vegetation, with patches of forest of at least 2000 meters away , with natural forest being the reference to evaluate changes.

Fabricio Díaz pointed out that with producers a conservation agreement was reached where natural regeneration processes, plant species diversification, reforestation, increased plant strata, reduction of fire use in productive practices (potreros and agriculture), changes in practices and attitudes, improving connectivity at landscape level, beyond the silvopastoril system, increasing plant cover , and facilitating the colonization of birds at landscape scale.

Diaz added that as main results were found that bird communities in forests unchanged and remain homogeneous, and less influenced by silvopastoryl management.

Bird communities in forests unchanged and remain homogeneous and less influenced by forest management. The community of birds of open areas with the greatest wealth of species, with transformation from open area to tacotal, increasing the difference of open areas with the communities of tacotal and forest birds, as an effect of the increasing connectivity between the latter favored by the silvopastoral systems.

Fabricio Díaz indicated that these factors have implicit changes in the practices, attitudes and knowledge of beneficiaries in the management of livestock areas: reduction/elimination of fires in previously burned areas for extensive livestock; incorporation of natural restoration/regeneration processes of plant cover around silvopastoral systems, and the assessment and incorporation of forage trees in grass areas, as food of high nutritional value, directly favoring the conservation of water sources and the availability of shade for livestock.