Gustavo Orcés, Fernando Ortiz, and the development of ornithology in Ecuador

Abstract:

Ecuadorian ornithology has been dominated from its beginning (1840-1930) by European and North American ornithologists, whose basic contribution to the knowledge of this country's avifauna has allowed the subsequent development of that science since the 1970s by Ecuadorian ornithologists. The contribution of Ecuadorian researchers has been steadily increasing in the last three decades of the 20th century. In this paper, I present a review of the contribution of Ecuadorian ornithologists since the first papers of Gustavo Orcés (1902-1999) and Fernando Ortiz-Crespo (1942-2001). The review is based on the first bibliography of the birds of Ecuador, for the period 1776-2001. The analysis was done according to geographic regions, topics, taxonomic groups, years of publication, and authors. Until 2001, 522 publications on Ecuadorian birds were authored by Ecuadorian ornithologists, of which 194 (37%) dealt with Galápagos birds, and 221 (42%) with continental species. Conservation, distribution, and environmental education are the three topical categories with the highest numbers of references. Among taxonomic groups, there are more publications on seabirds (e.g., Pelecaniformes and Procellariiformes), because of studies on Galápagos species. Although the first paper on Ecuadorian birds by an Ecuadorian author (Orcés) was published back in 1944, ornithology in this country actually only started in the 1970s. In the 1980s and 1990s, the progress of Ecuadorian ornithology was notable. The number of publications increased by an order of magnitude, from 28 publications in the decade 1970-1980 to 247 in 1990-2000. More than 200 authors published items until 2001, whereas in the 1970s there were just 16. This paper provides a thorough analysis of the current status of Ecuadorian ornithology, aiming to contribute to further development of this scientific field in Ecuador. © The Neotropical Ornithological Society.

Año de publicación:

2005

Keywords:

• Decades
• Historical review
• Ecuadorian authors
• RESEARCH
• Ecuadorian ornithology
• ECUADOR

Fuente:

scopus