DELIBERATIONS OF CBRO
CBRO’s first task is to prepare three lists of birds for Brazil as a whole:
1. Primary list: species with at least one record for Brazil backed by physical evidence (such as a skin, photo, audio or video recording).
2. Secondary list: species which probably occur in Brazil, with published records for the country, but where the physical evidence is absent or unknown.
3. Tertiary list: species that are unlikely to occur in Brazil, with a published record for the country but where the evidence is absent or questionable. This list also includes species whose records have been rejected in published discussions.
The primary list took as a starting point the species included in the 1997 edition of Helmut Sick’s Ornitologia Brasileira (Rio de Janeiro: Ed. Nova Fronteira), revised and expanded by José Fernando Pacheco. CBRO will proceed to compile and modify the three lists on the basis of Resolutions, which may include species not covered by Sick (1997), and may transfer species from one list to another.
Species on the primary list which lack physical evidence for Brazil or whose records for Brazil are considered unsubstantiated may be transferred to the second and third lists respectively, after examination of the information available to CBRO. These transfers may, in appropriate cases, be reverted if fresh information becomes available.
The deliberations of CBRO consist of Resolutions, Alterations and Recommendations. These are all numbered sequentially and contain a deliberative text and an abstract.
RESOLUTIONS
So far the Resolutions have added, transferred (simultaneously removing from one list and adding to another), replaced or restored species to and from CBRO’s three Brazilian lists. In the future they may also be used to ratify CBRO’s treatment of a species on the lists (in the face of information in the literature to the contrary) or redefine the geographical range of a species or its staus (as resident, visitor, accidental etc).
A Resolution may change a decision already expressed in a previous resolution, rendering it without effect.
ALTERATIONS
An Alteration makes a minor modification to an earlier deliberation without making any substantive alteration as to status, nomenclature or systematic order. It serves as an erratum.
RECOMMENDATIONS
As the name implies a Recommendation suggests specific action in relation to one or more species covered by Resolutions of the Committee, or makes general suggestions towards a better understanding of the distribution, taxonomy or nomenclature of the birds of Brazil. It is directed at those persons who may be involved with the matter at stake. A typical example is a recommendation to publish information that might question, complement or alter a deliberation of CBRO.
FORMAT OF RESOLUTIONS
In addition to the sequential number, deliberative text and abstract, the Resolutions contain the following items:
Justificativa... A summary of the reasons for the Resolution
Informações de referência: Used only when a species is added to or removed from the primary list for the first time. It consists of the following:
Ano da divulgação… Year of publishing (the year in which the first record for Brazil was first published in the literature. This is NOT the year in which the first record occurred).
Fonte básica… Basic source (published reference that first mentions the record; also any other references that complement the original record, i.e. provide additional information about the first record. References to subsequent records do not appear in this item).
Localidade original… Original location (place where the species was first recorded, as given in the basic source).
Autor(es) do registro … Name(s) of the person(s) who made the first record.
Data do registro em campol… Date of the original record, as given in the basic source
Documentação… Physical evidence for the record, such as skin, sound recording, photograph, videotape etc.
Depósito da documentação…. Place where the documentation is deposited (institution, serial number etc).
Súmula… A short account of the circumstances of the first record and any further comments or information about the record.
Citações por compilação… Derived references (works that refer to the original record without adding new information). Underlining indicates errors found in the literature.
Registros posteriores… Subsequent records of the species in Brazil, whether published or not, with observer’s name, date, location and bibliographical reference, if available).
Citações selecionadas: Citations used to demonstrate a tendency in the taxonomic or nomenclatural treatment in the literature of the matter in question, when no specific work exists to justify this treatment.
Precedentes: Describes the treatment of the species in question in specific work(s) of taxonomy or nomenclature.
Comentários adicionais: Additional comments, as required.
Bibliographical references: In the resolutions these will be given in summarized form by author, year and page number. The works will be listed in full at the end of each issue of Nattereria.