PARENT SESSION
Poster Session # 8: Agro-Ecology.

Tuesday, August 5 Presentation from 5:00 PM to 6:30 PM. SITCC Exhibit Hall B.

Bird damage evaluation in citrus plantations in Tucumán (Argentina) and Guanacaste (Costa Rica).

Chediack, Ariadna^*,,

ABSTRACT- Citrus growers in Tucumán (Argentina) and Guanacaste (Costa Rica) report bird damage to citrus crops, while other countries do not consider birds a problem. My objectives were to: measure and compare bird damage in both provinces; evaluate economic losses (EL); and correlate bird damage with 3 plantation characteristics (age, structure, and distance to natural forest). I surveyed bird damage in eight mandarin plantations in Tucumán, and in four orange plantations in Guanacaste. In Tucumán, blue-fronted amazon (Amazona aestiva), scaly headed parrot (Pionus maximiliani) and sayaca tanager (Thraupis sayaca); and in Guanacaste, red-lored parrot (Amazona autumnalis) cause damage to citrus fruits. Maximum fruit loss was 6.6% from sayaca tanager and 3.3% from parrots in Tucumán, and 5.4% from parrots in Guanacaste, while in both provinces 57.8% of loss was from other causes. EL was 72.96-1162.73 US$/ha/yr for sayaca tanager; 0-213.70 US$/ha/yr for parrots, and 88.32-2207.04 US$/ha/yr for other causes. Bird damage was higher in older plantations and varied directly with distance to forest, but in Tucumán parrot damage was inversely correlated with distance. Height and canopy area of citrus plants modify bird damage. Some management recommendations are: harvesting the upper canopy first before peak damage season, keeping or creating forest near plantations, and cultivating seedless citrus varieties.

Key words: citrus, Costa Rica, bird damage, Argentina