Climate-resilient conservation strategies for an endemic forest bird, the Black-cheeked Ant-Tanager

As biodiversity declines and climate change causes shifts in species distribution, the knowledge of species’ ecological needs is vital to conserve biodiversity. On Costa Rica’s Osa Peninsula and its adjacent forests, a rich mosaic of ecosystems hosting numerous threatened and endemic species, conservationists lack clarity on the basic habitat requirements of the endemic Black-cheeked Ant-Tanager (Habia atrimaxillaris). Numerous attempts have been made to understand its habitat requirements, resulting in contradictory conclusions. This study integrates new field data, thousands of community science observations, and comments in historical literature ranging over 50 years to complement the more localized studies. We explore the species’ habitat requirements, diet, and distribution in protected areas and biological corridors to better understand the species’ conservation needs and, in doing so, suggest a strategy to protect the Black-cheeked Ant-Tanager in a changing climate. We illustrate that Black-cheeked Ant-Tanagers occur in secondary forests, which they also use for foraging and nesting, suggesting that the conservation and restoration of secondary forests may help protect this range-restricted forest bird, especially through a targeted conservation strategy within biological corridors to build connectivity with higher elevations