HOW MANY BIRD SPECIES INHABIT THE PUNA DESERT OF THE HIGH ANDES OF SOUTH-AMERICA

The puna desert of the high Andes of South America is the second most extensive high altitude desert in the world, after the high altitude d esert of SE Central Asia. Compared with the latter, which apparently h olds only three species of true desert birds (sensu Cowan, 1996), From a larger list of fourteen desert species for the Caspio-Central Asian desert as a whole, the puna desert is richer in desert birds, having twenty species. The reasons for the higher bird species richness of th e puna desert, compared to the lower species richness of the high alti tude deserts of Central Asia, may include both (1) spurious difference s in species numbers due to differences in the definitions of 'desert species', and (2) 'true' biological differences due to the different b iogeographical histories of these two regions.