Movement of feeder-using songbirds: the influence of urban features.

Daniel T C Cox,Kevin J Gaston,Steven Hancock,Karen Anderson,Richard Inger

doi:10.1038/srep37669

Daniel T C Cox, Kevin J Gaston + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1038/srep37669

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Abstract

Private gardens provide vital opportunities for people to interact with nature. The most popular form of interaction is through garden bird feeding. Understanding how landscape features and seasons determine patterns of movement of feeder-using songbirds is key to maximising the well-being benefits they provide. To determine these patterns we established three networks of automated data loggers along a gradient of greenspace fragmentation. Over a 12-month period we tracked 452 tagged blue tits Cyantistes caeruleus and great tits Parus major moving between feeder pairs 9,848 times, to address two questions: (i) Do urban features within different forms, and season, influence structural (presence-absence of connections between feeders by birds) and functional (frequency of these connections) connectivity? (ii) Are there general patterns of structural and functional connectivity across forms? Vegetation cover increased connectivity in all three networks, whereas the presence of road gaps negatively affected functional but not structural connectivity. Across networks structural connectivity was lowest in the summer when birds maintain breeding territories, however patterns of functional connectivity appeared to vary with habitat fragmentation. Using empirical data this study shows how key urban features and season influence movement of feeder-using songbirds, and we provide evidence that this is related to greenspace fragmentation.

Highlights

As urbanization increases globally, green spaces in cities and towns are becoming of greater importance for the provision of ecosystem services[1,2]
Networks of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) readers can be used to record individual movement in time and space as birds visit different feeders. This allows the influence of different urban features on structural and functional connectivity to be determined, structural connectivity here being the presence-absence of connections made by birds moving between feeders and functional connectivity the frequency of those connections
We set up three networks of custom-designed low-powered RFID equipped bird feeders within domestic gardens in the Cranfield triangle in Southern England, UK, with each network within a different urban form that is common in Europe; these had, respectively, low, medium or high green space fragmentation

Summary

Introduction

Green spaces in cities and towns are becoming of greater importance for the provision of ecosystem services[1,2]. Domestic green spaces are often characterised by numerous small and densely packed gardens that are utilised and managed by an equivalent number of households[4,5] This results in individual birds typically moving between multiple gardens to forage and visit feeders, where they will be seen by, and so provide benefits to, multiple people. Networks of RFID readers can be used to record individual movement in time and space as birds visit different feeders. This allows the influence of different urban features on structural and functional connectivity to be determined, structural connectivity here being the presence-absence of connections made by birds moving between feeders and functional connectivity the frequency of those connections. There were 17 feeders per network, and these were operated continuously over a 12-month period to explore two general questions: 1. How do different features within each urban form, and season, influence general patterns of structural and functional connectivity for birds?

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