Avian conservation planning in the Caribbean : experience and recommendations from the Dominican Republic

Abstract

The Dominican Republic, on the island of Hispaniola, supports more bird species than any other Caribbean country except Cuba. More than 300 species of birds have been recorded in the country, including 285 native residents and 27 endemics (Keith et al. 2003). The Dominican Republic is also a major wintering site for Neotropical migrants. Despite this ichness, the avifauna is perhaps the least studied in the Greater Antilles and is under increasing pressure from habitat alterations, hunting, trafficking of birds for the pet trade, pollution, and other effects of the human population. Although the Dominican Republic has set aside more than 16 percent of its territory in 40 protected areas for the benefit of wildlife (Ottenwalder 2000), many of these sites are effectively unprotected, and only a few have written management plans (Ottenwalder 2000). There are no management plans for individual threatened species or habitats.