Temporal Variation of Ecological Factors Affecting Bird Species Richness in Urban and Peri-Urban Forests in a Changing Environment: A Case Study from Milan (Northern Italy)

Canedoli, Claudia; Orioli, Valerio; Padoa‐Schioppa, Emilio; Bani, Luciano; Dondina, Olivia

doi:10.3390/f8120507

Cited by 11 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 61 publications

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“…The resultant selection of 101 species was divided into three habitat association guilds using species’ empirical patterns of occurrence across landscape scales. Avian responses to forest configuration have been shown to vary both regionally 61 – 63 and temporally 64 . For example, the effects of forest configuration on the Wood Thrush ( Hylocichla mustelina ) 65 and Scarlet Tanager have been shown to vary regionally 66 , 67 , which might explain why evidence for area-sensitivity can be equivocal for some species (e.g., 68 ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The relative effects of forest amount, forest configuration, and urban matrix quality on forest breeding birds

Shoffner

Wilson

Tang

et al. 2018

Sci Rep

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Urbanization modifies landscape structure in three major ways that impact avian diversity in remnant habitat: habitat amount is reduced and habitat configuration and matrix quality are altered. The relative effects of these three components of landscape structure are relatively well-studied in agricultural landscapes, but little is known about the relative effect of urban matrix quality. We addressed this gap by investigating the relative effects of forest amount, forest configuration, and matrix quality, indicated by degree of urbanization and agriculture amount, on the diversity of three guilds of forest birds using data from 13,763 point counts from Pennsylvania, USA. Forest amount had the largest independent effect on forest bird diversity, followed by matrix quality, then forest configuration. In particular, urbanization had strong negative effects on the relative abundance and species evenness of all forest birds and the relative abundance of forest generalist birds. To our knowledge, these are the first results of the effect of urban matrix quality on forest bird relative abundance and species evenness independent of forest amount and forest configuration. Our results imply that conservation practitioners in human-modified landscapes prioritize maximizing forest amount, then reducing the effects of disturbances originating in the matrix, and then preserving large, spatially-dispersed forest patches to most effectively conserve forest birds.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The relative effects of forest amount, forest configuration, and urban matrix quality on forest breeding birds

Shoffner

Wilson

Tang

et al. 2018

Sci Rep

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“…This study was carried out in an area of about 2900 km 2 located in the western part of the Lombardy region in northern Italy (45°11’ N 9°05’ E). The lowland area of northern Italy (i.e., the plain of the Po river) is a typical example of a highly fragmented agricultural landscape, with small forest fragments scattered in an intensive cultivated and urbanized matrix (Canedoli et al. 2017).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Species specialization limits movement ability and shapes ecological networks: the case study of 2 forest mammals

et al. 2018

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To counteract the negative effects of forest fragmentation on wildlife, it is crucial to maintain functional ecological networks. We identified the ecological networks for 2 mammals with very different degrees of forest specialization, the European badger Meles meles and the Roe deer Capreolus capreolus, by differentiating 4 agroforestry elements as either nodes or connectivity elements, and by defining the distance that provides the functional connectivity between fragments. Species occurrence data were collected in a wide agroecosystem in northern Italy. To test the role of hedgerows, traditional poplar cultivations, short rotation coppices, and reforestations as ecological network elements for the 2 species we applied the method of simulated species perceptions of the landscape (SSPL), comparing the ability of different SSPLs to explain the observed species distribution. All analyses were repeated considering different scenarios of species movement ability through the matrix. Model outputs seem to show that the specialist and highly mobile Roe deer has the same movement ability throughout the matrix (2 km) as the European badger, a smaller, but generalist species. The ecological network identified for the European badger was widespread throughout the area and was composed of woodlands, poplar cultivations and hedgerows as nodes and short rotation coppices as connectivity elements. Conversely, the ecological network of the Roe deer was mostly limited to the main forest areas and was composed of woodlands, poplar cultivations and reforestations as nodes and short rotation coppices and hedgerows as connectivity elements. The degree of forest specialization strongly affects both species perception of habitat and movement ability throughout the matrix, regardless of species size. This has important implications for species conservation.

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“…One common mechanism behind this green extensification is low-density suburban sprawl, in which new peri-urban developments with high green cover act to "capture" peri-urban green space and increase the average cover across the urban area [66]. Urban sprawl can capture remnant patches of natural or semi-natural vegetation, which can support remaining biodiversity [67]. In other cases, urban sprawl has enveloped agricultural land, resulting in pockets of agricultural production across the suburban landscape that can provide substantial food.…”

Section: Trajectories Of Urban Vegetation Changementioning

confidence: 99%

Global Changes in Urban Vegetation Cover

Richards¹,

Belcher

2019

Remote Sensing

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Urban vegetation provides many ecosystem services that make cities more liveable for people. As the world continues to urbanise, the vegetation cover in urban areas is changing rapidly. Here we use Google Earth Engine to map vegetation cover in all urban areas larger than 15 km 2 in 2000 and 2015, which covered 390,000 km 2 and 490,000 km 2 respectively. In 2015, urban vegetation covered a substantial area, equivalent to the size of Belarus. Proportional vegetation cover was highly variable, and declined in most urban areas between 2000 and 2015. Declines in proportional vegetated cover were particularly common in the Global South. Conversely, proportional vegetation cover increased in some urban areas in eastern North America and parts of Europe. Most urban areas that increased in vegetation cover also increased in size, suggesting that the observed net increases were driven by the capture of rural ecosystems through low-density suburban sprawl. Far fewer urban areas achieved increases in vegetation cover while remaining similar in size, although this trend occurred in some regions with shrinking populations or economies. Maintaining and expanding urban vegetation cover alongside future urbanisation will be critical for the well-being of the five billion people expected to live in urban areas by 2030.

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Temporal Variation of Ecological Factors Affecting Bird Species Richness in Urban and Peri-Urban Forests in a Changing Environment: A Case Study from Milan (Northern Italy)

Cited by 11 publications

References 61 publications

The relative effects of forest amount, forest configuration, and urban matrix quality on forest breeding birds

The relative effects of forest amount, forest configuration, and urban matrix quality on forest breeding birds

Species specialization limits movement ability and shapes ecological networks: the case study of 2 forest mammals

Global Changes in Urban Vegetation Cover

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