Having our yards and sharing them too: the collective effects of yards on native bird species in an urban landscape

Abstract

Residential yards comprise a substantial portion of urban landscapes, and the collective effects of the management of many individual yards may “scale up” to affect urban biodiversity. We conducted bird surveys and social surveys in Chicago-area (Illinois, USA) residential neighborhoods to identify the relative importance of yard design and management activities for native birds. We found that groups of neighboring yards, in the aggregate, were more important for native bird species richness than environmental characteristics at the neighborhood or landscape scale. The ratio of evergreen to deciduous trees in yards and the percentage of yards with trees and plants with fruits or berries were positively associated with native bird species richness, whereas the number of outdoor cats had a negative association. The number of birdfeeders was not an important predictor for native species richness. We also found that migratory birds were observed on transects with more wildlife-friendly features in yards, and nonnative birds were observed on transects with greater numbers of outdoor cats and dogs. Our results highlight the potential importance of residential matrix management as a conservation strategy in urban areas.

Resident perceptions of natural resources between cities and across scales in the Pacific Northwest

“…At the most basic level, resident population is the metric used to define city size (USDC 2014). Behaviors by this key subset of urban stakeholders at the property level translate into patterns across neighborhoods and urban landscapes (Kinzig et al 2005, Cook et al 2012, Belaire et al 2014. Revealed and stated preference models (Champ et al 2003, Freeman 2003 have suggested the influence of environmental characteristics, such as water quality , open space proximity (Geoghegan 2002), trees (Donovan and Butry 2010), and green stormwater management (Ando and Freitas 2011), on property values.…”

Urban birds and planting design: strategies for incorporating ecological goals into residential landscapes

“…This is consentient with MacArthur and MacArthur's (1961) classic hypothesis that it is the vertical profile of plants that drives bird species diversity given the role complex vegetation plays in many bird species' life cycles as locations for foraging and nesting. It has also been suggested, however, that increasing the ratio of conifer to deciduous species is another way to productively increase avian species diversity (Belaire et al 2014;Fontana et al 2011;Palomino and Carrascal 2006), further exemplifying the multitude of ways that a designer might productively think about incorporating structural complexity.…”

“…window collisions) in the United States (Loss et al 2012(Loss et al , 2013. The impacts of cat predation are significant, especially for native species (Belaire et al 2014;van Heezik et al 2010;Thomas et al 2012) and at nesting sites (Stracey 2011). Though the relative risks of predation in urban areas compared to rural environments are debated (see for example review by Shochat et al 2010) there may be other indirect impacts of predator presence in cities that negatively affect avian populations.…”

“…However, there is substantial potential to improve the ecological performance of landscapes and gardens of private residences ). Expanding habitat opportunities for wildlife in the urban Bmatrix^of private property has been identified as an important strategy to complement public land conservation (Belaire et al 2014;Cooper et al 2007;Goddard et al 2010;Marzluff and Rodewald 2008;Rudd et al 2002).…”

Full Issue

“…Transects were located !500 m apart to minimize spatial dependencies. Our study sites were primarily located in middle-to high-income neighborhoods; this sample characteristic was an artifact of selecting sites near forest preserves for a related study (Belaire et al 2014) and was not an intentional design. We collected data about both bird communities and human residents along each transect.…”