Abstract
Environmental seasonality leads to variation in the composition and structure of bird communities over the year that might alter biodiversity and nestedness patterns in urban parks and other frag-mented habitats. These changes could have important implications in the management and conservation of urban green areas and their populations, but they are largely unexplored. In this study, the composition, diversity and nestedness of the breeding and wintering avian communities in 31 urban parks of Vitoria–Gasteiz (Spain) were analysed. Avian diversity was significantly greater during breeding than during the winter period, although the most diverse parks during breeding were also the most diverse during winter. Most of the among–park variation in diversity was explained by park size, while tree density had a marginal contribution that was only significant during winter. Avian communities showed a significant nested subset pattern that was similar between seasons, with these patterns being mainly mediated by park size. Although the distribution of seven out of the 16 species occurring all–year–round changed significantly from one season to the other, the park ranks in the nestedness matrices were strongly correlated between seasons. This was caused by the reduction in the park distribution of some species from one season to the other that was compensated by the expansion of other species that were initially less common. These results support the idea that, in small and medium–sized cities, park size is the main constraint on avian diversity, and the presence of relatively large parks (> 10 ha) should be encouraged to promote a rich avifauna all year round.
Highlights
Urbanisation is a major driver of environmental deterioration worldwide (McDonald et al, 2013)
For species occurring in both seasons in at least one park/visit, the common chaffinch Fringilla coelebs, pied wagtail Motacilla alba and great tit Parus major were significantly more common during winter than during the breeding season, while the European goldfinch Carduelis carduelis, the European greenfinch Chloris chloris, the European serin Serinus serinus and the Eurasian collared dove Streptopelia decaocto were more widely distributed during the breeding season than during winter
Seven out of the 16 species that occurred all–year round showed significant differences in their park occupancy rates between the breeding and the wintering period: four of them were more common during the breeding season and three were more common during the winter
Summary
Urbanisation is a major driver of environmental deterioration worldwide (McDonald et al, 2013). North Americans spend more than 90 per cent of their time in buildings (87 %) or cars (6 %; Klepeis et al, 2001), drastically reducing their chances of interacting with nature. This is not of minor importance from a conservation perspective because direct experiences with the natural world trigger environmental awareness and conservation actions (Dearborn and Kark, 2010). Urban ecosystems play a key role as a last–resort bond between urban human population and nature, contributing indirectly to global biodiversity conservation (see pigeon paradox; Dunn et al, 2006)
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