Bird Diversities and Their Responses to Urbanization in China

Chen, Shuihua; Wang, Siyu

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-43314-1_4

Cited by 6 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…These results provide a novel extension of previous work on factors influencing urban biodiversity (e.g. Pellissier et al, 2012;Aronson et al, 2014;Bellocq et al, 2017;Chen and Wang, 2017) and extends the work of a study conducted within a single city at a finer spatial scale that found higher avian functional diversity in locations with greater vegetation cover (Schütz and Schulze, 2015). Crucially we demonstrate that less densely populated cities with a greater amount of vegetation will enhance functional diversity at the city scale.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 79%

Impacts of Urban Areas and Their Characteristics on Avian Functional Diversity

Hagen

Ibáñez‐Álamo

et al. 2017

Front. Ecol. Evol.

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Urban development is rapidly expanding across the globe and is a major driver of environmental change. Despite considerable improvements in our understanding of how species richness responds to urbanization, there is still insufficient knowledge of how other measures of assemblage composition and structure respond to urban development. Functional diversity metrics provide a useful approach for quantifying ecological function. We compare avian functional diversity in 25 urban areas, located across the globe, with paired non-urban assemblages using a database of 27 functional traits that capture variation in resource use (amount and type of resources and how they are acquired) across the 529 species occurring across these assemblages. Using three standard functional diversity metrics (FD, MNTD, and convex hull) we quantify observed functional diversity and, using standardized effect sizes, how this diverges from that expected under random community assembly null models. We use regression trees to investigate whether human population density, amount of vegetation and city size (spatial extent of urban land), bio-region and use of semi-natural or agricultural assemblages as a baseline modulate the effect of urbanization on functional diversity. Our analyses suggest that observed functional diversity of urban avian assemblages is not consistently different from that of non-urban assemblages. After accounting for species richness avian functional diversity is higher in cities than areas of semi-natural habitat. This creates a paradox as species responses to urban development are determined by their ecological traits, which should generate assemblages clustered within a narrow range of trait space. Greater habitat diversity within cities compared to semi-natural areas dominated by a single habitat may enhance functional diversity in cities and explain this paradox. Regression trees further suggest that smaller urban areas, lower human population densities and increased vegetation all enhance the functional diversity of urban areas. A city's attributes can thus influence the functional diversity of its biological assemblages, and their associated ecological functions. This has important implications for the debate regarding how we should grow the world's cities whilst maintaining their ecological function.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 79%

Impacts of Urban Areas and Their Characteristics on Avian Functional Diversity

Hagen

Ibáñez‐Álamo

et al. 2017

Front. Ecol. Evol.

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“…Such bird species often occur at lower densities in towns and cities than in more natural habitats (Lim and Sodhi , Chace and Walsh , Kark et al. , Chen and Wang ; but see Evans et al. ) suggesting that insufficient natural food supply during the breeding season may be one factor regulating urban population sizes of these species.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Our findings imply that urbanization will reduce the reproductive success of bird species for which caterpillars are key components of the nestling diet. Such bird species often occur at lower densities in towns and cities than in more natural habitats (Lim and Sodhi 2004, Chace and Walsh 2006, Kark et al 2007, Chen and Wang 2017; but see Evans et al 2011) suggesting that insufficient natural food supply during the breeding season may be one factor regulating urban population sizes of these species. It is thus important to devise urban planning and management strategies to improve foraging conditions for those urban bird species whose nestlings rely on caterpillars or, more generally, on phytophagous insects.…”

Section: Management Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of urbanization on abundance and phenology of caterpillars and consequences for breeding in an insectivorous bird

Seress

Hammer

Bókony

et al. 2018

Ecological Applications

124

168

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Urbanization can have marked effects on plant and animal populations' phenology, population size, predator-prey, interactions and reproductive success. These aspects are rarely studied simultaneously in a single system, and some are rarely investigated, e.g., how insect phenology responds to urban development. Here, we study a tri-trophic system of trees, phytophagous insects (caterpillars), and insectivorous birds (Great Tits) to assess how urbanization influences (1) the phenology of each component of this system, (2) insect abundance, and (3) avian reproductive success. We use data from two urban and two forest sites in Hungary, central Europe, collected over four consecutive years. Despite a trend of earlier leaf emergence in urban sites, there is no evidence for an earlier peak in caterpillar abundance. Thus, contrary to the frequently stated prediction in the literature, the earlier breeding of urban bird populations is not associated with an earlier peak in caterpillar availability. Despite this the seasonal dynamics of caterpillar biomass exhibited striking differences between habitat types with a single clear peak in forests, and several much smaller peaks in urban sites. Caterpillar biomass was higher in forests than urban areas across the entire sampling period, and between 8.5 and 24 times higher during the first brood's chick-rearing period. This higher biomass was not associated with taller trees in forest sites, or with tree species identity, and occurred despite most of our focal trees being native to the study area. Urban Great Tits laid smaller clutches, experienced more frequent nestling mortality from starvation, reared fewer offspring to fledging age, and their fledglings had lower body mass. Our study strongly indicates that food limitation is responsible for lower avian reproductive success in cities, which is driven by reduced availability of the preferred nestling diet, i.e., caterpillars, rather than phenological shifts in the timing of peak food availability.

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“…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).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The influence of urban park characteristics on bird diversity in Nanjing, China

et al. 2020

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Background Habitat 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. Methods We 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. Results We 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. Conclusions Our 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.

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Bird Diversities and Their Responses to Urbanization in China

Cited by 6 publications

References 28 publications

Impacts of Urban Areas and Their Characteristics on Avian Functional Diversity

Impacts of Urban Areas and Their Characteristics on Avian Functional Diversity

Impact of urbanization on abundance and phenology of caterpillars and consequences for breeding in an insectivorous bird

The influence of urban park characteristics on bird diversity in Nanjing, China

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