Changes in breeding bird richness and abundance in Montreal parks over a period of 15 years

Morneau, François; Décarie, Robert; Pelletier, Réjean; Lambert, Daniel; DesGranges, Jean-Luc; Savard, Jean‐Pierre L.

doi:10.1016/s0169-2046(99)00002-x

Cited by 41 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…The size of each landscape element also influences BSR by fulfilling minimum area requirements of species (Hohtola 1978;Tilghman 1987;Jokimäki 1999). In addition, urban feeders can not only change the density but also the composition of bird assemblages, as well as increase bird diversity (Jokimäki & Suhonen 1998;Morneau et al 1999).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Are urban bird communities influenced by the bird diversity of adjacent landscapes?

Clergeau

Jokimäki

Savard³

2001

Journal of Applied Ecology

268

168

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Summary1. The species diversity of adjacent landscapes influences the conservation or restoration of several animal groups in urban areas, but the effect on birds is unclear. To address this question, we compared bird species richness (BSR) and community composition between periurban (area surrounding the town) and urban (suburban and centre areas) landscapes across three spatial scales. 2. At a large biogeographical scale (temperate and boreal climatic zone), relationships between the BSR of urban areas and their surrounding landscapes were examined in a meta-analysis of 18 published studies. In general, BSR was negatively correlated with latitude and urbanization. The BSR of suburban and centre landscapes correlated positively with the BSR of periurban landscapes. However, latitudinal effects were also involved, as BSR in urban and periurban landscapes declined as town latitude increased. Similarity indices were low (50%) between periurban and centre bird communities. 3. At a regional scale, we assessed winter bird data from several towns within three regions of temperate and boreal countries (western France, northern Finland and eastern Canada). The type of periurban landscape, number of inhabitants and town diameter did not affect BSR. BSR was similar between the cities of a given biogeographical area. Bird communities were more similar between similar habitat types of different cities than between different habitats of the same city. 4. At a local scale, we tested the influence of proximity to the periurban landscape on BSR in parks of western French towns of different size. Neither BSR nor community similarity changed in relation to the distance of the park from the periurban landscape. 5. Guild composition according to diet and feeding habitat did not vary between urban and periurban locations at regional or local scales. 6. We conclude that, at regional and local scales, urban bird communities are independent of the bird diversity of adjacent landscapes, and that local features are more important than surrounding landscapes in determining BSR. Whatever the biodiversity quality of the periurban landscape, site-specific actions such as shrub and tree planting, water restoration and increasing vegetation diversity can change bird diversity in towns and improve the quality of human-wildlife contacts.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Are urban bird communities influenced by the bird diversity of adjacent landscapes?

Clergeau

Jokimäki

Savard³

2001

Journal of Applied Ecology

268

168

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“…Urbanization is arguably the most damaging, persistent and rapid form of anthropogenic pressure on animals (Morneau et al 1999;Park and Lee 2000;Marzluff 2001;Porter et al 2001;Clergeau et al 2006;Shochat et al 2006). The loss of vegetation from urban environments in particular threatens the survival of bird species that rely on vegetation for food and shelter.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Variation in baseline corticosterone levels of Tree Sparrow (Passer montanus) populations along an urban gradient in Beijing, China

et al. 2011

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Rapid urbanization is a major anthropogenic pressure on bird species that rely on vegetation for food and shelter. Since the baseline corticosterone concentration (BCC) in some bird species has been found to increase slightly in response to environmental challenges, we hypothesized that urbanization could also induce an increase in BCC. To test this hypothesis, we compared the BCC of Tree Sparrow (Passer montanus) populations in five urban and two rural habitats and analyzed the relationship between BCC and the degree of urbanization. Here, we show that the BCCs of Tree Sparrow populations were strongly and positively correlated with the degree of urbanization of the habitat. Average BCC of Tree Sparrows from high-rise residential areas and a university campus were significantly higher than those from rural areas, suggesting that Tree Sparrows living in highly urbanized areas have greater environmental challenges than those in rural areas. However, the average BCC of birds from an urban park was not significantly different to that of birds at rural sites and also differed significantly from that of birds at two of the other urban sites. These results suggest that urbanization could pose environmental challenges for Tree Sparrows, a species that appears relatively well-adapted to human-modified environments. The marked variation in BCC between different urban sites indicates that conclusions drawn from data collected at single sites must be interpreted with caution.

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“…Domestic gardens are thus unlikely to have been significant for the species considered here, and there is no evidence that they have changed in their attractiveness to birds over the period covered by the two atlas projects, so we do not explore this relationship further in this paper. Also, the increase in birds breeding in urban parks in Montreal, Canada, was accompanied by an increase in cover by large trees, and a reduction in shrubs, but attributed mostly to installation of bird feeding stations (Morneau et al 1999): there has also been a substantial rise in the provision of food for birds in the UK (Cannon 1999) but we doubt that there has been a differential increase between Halton and Warrington and the rest of the county. Moreover, only seven of the species in our defined guilds make significant use of bird feeders (Great Spotted Woodpecker, Long-tailed Tit, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Coal Tit, Nuthatch and Chaffinch) so we reject this as a significant contributor to our results.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Avian population dynamics and human induced change in an urban environment

2010

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Changes in breeding bird richness and abundance in Montreal parks over a period of 15 years

Cited by 41 publications

References 13 publications

Are urban bird communities influenced by the bird diversity of adjacent landscapes?

Are urban bird communities influenced by the bird diversity of adjacent landscapes?

Variation in baseline corticosterone levels of Tree Sparrow (Passer montanus) populations along an urban gradient in Beijing, China

Avian population dynamics and human induced change in an urban environment

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