Abstract
BackgroundHabitat loss, fragmentation and decrease of habitat quality caused by urbanization have led to a dramatic decline in biodiversity worldwide. For highly urbanized areas, parks have become “islands” or habitat fragments for wildlife. As an important indicator group of urban ecosystem health, the response of birds to urbanization has attracted the global attention of ecologists. Understanding the key factors affecting bird diversity in urbanized environment is crucial to the protection of biodiversity in urban ecosystems.MethodsWe used the line-transect method to survey birds in 37 urban parks in Nanjing, China. We also measured a number of park characteristics (area, isolation, shape index, environmental noise, distance to city center, and habitat diversity) that are commonly assumed to influence bird diversity. We then used the information-theoretic multi-model inference approach to determine which park characteristics had significant impacts on bird species richness.ResultsWe found that park area, habitat diversity and the distance to city center were the best positive predictors of bird species richness in Nanjing urban parks. By contrast, park isolation, park shape and environmental noise had little or no influence on bird diversity.ConclusionsOur study highlights the importance of park area, habitat diversity and the distance to city center in determining bird diversity in Nanjing city parks. Therefore, from a conservation viewpoint, we recommend that large parks with complex and diverse habitats far away from the city center should be retained or constructed to increase bird diversity in urban design and planning.
Highlights
Habitat loss, fragmentation and decrease of habitat quality caused by urbanization have led to a dramatic decline in biodiversity worldwide
Impacts of park characteristics on bird species richness Based on the model selection criterion of A ICc, the multivariable model incorporating park area, habitat diversity, distance to the nearest larger park, and distance to city center was the best model that affected the expected true species richness of birds in Nanjing city parks (ΔAICc = 0, R2 = 0.8190) (Table 2, Additional file 1: Table S3)
We found that park area, habitat diversity and distance to city center were three most important factors positively affecting bird species richness in our system
Summary
Fragmentation and decrease of habitat quality caused by urbanization have led to a dramatic decline in biodiversity worldwide. Parks have become “islands” or habitat fragments for wildlife. As an important indicator group of urban ecosystem health, the response of birds to urbanization has attracted the global attention of ecologists. With the development of urbanization, more and more natural land has been replaced by tall buildings and hardened roads (Ferenc et al 2014). In this context, parks in urban areas often act as "islands" or habitat fragments for wildlife (Fernández-Juricic and Jokimäki 2001). As an important part of biodiversity, birds are an important indicator group of urban ecosystem health (Lepczyk and Warren 2012). The impacts of urbanization on bird diversity and composition has become a hot topic in urban ecology (Evans et al 2009; Aronson et al 2014; Chen and Wang 2017)
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