Testing the Likeable, Therefore Abundant Hypothesis: Bird Species Likeability by Urban Residents Varies Significantly with Species Traits

Abstract

The urbanization of landscapes filters bird communities to favor particular species traits, driven in part by the changes that homeowners make to the amount and quality of habitat in yards. We suggest that an ultimate driver of these proximate mechanisms underlying bird community change with respect to urbanization is the likeability of species traits by urban residents. We hypothesize that bird species likeability, modulated by species traits, influences the degree to which homeowners alter the availability and quality of habitat on their properties and thereby affects species population sizes in urbanized landscapes. We refer to this new hypothesis as the Likeable, therefore Abundant Hypothesis. The Likeable, therefore Abundant Hypothesis predicts that (1) bird species likeability varies with species morphological and behavioral traits, (2) homeowners use trait-based likeability as a motivator to modify habitat availability and quality on their properties, and (3) residential habitat availability and quality influences species populations at landscape scales. We tested the first prediction of the Likeable, therefore Abundant Hypothesis using a survey of 298 undergraduate students at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte who were asked to rank their preferences for 85 forest generalist and edge/open country songbird species grouped according to 10 morphological and behavioral traits. Survey respondents preferred very small, primarily blue or black species that are insectivorous, aerial or bark foragers, residents, and culturally unimportant. On the other hand, respondents disliked large or very large, primarily yellow or orange species that forage on the ground and/or forage by flycatching, are migratory, and are culturally important. If the Likeable, therefore Abundant Hypothesis is true, natural resource managers and planners could capitalize on the high likeability of species that are nevertheless negatively affected by urbanization to convince homeowners and residents to actively manage their properties for species conservation.

The Joy of birds: the effect of rating for joy or counting garden bird species on wellbeing, anxiety, and nature connection

“…Consistent with research suggesting a preference for smaller birds (e.g., Bjerke and Ostdahl 2004;Collins et al 2021), species with smaller wingspans brought greater ratings of joy. The larger birds accorded lower joy ratings have characteristics that are associated with being less wellliked -such as being generalist feeders (Charles and Linklater 2013) ground-feeding (e.g., Collins et al 2021), and sounding less pleasant (Ratcliffe et al 2013). These preferences and cultural factors can be observed in the joy ratings and confidence intervals, with larger birds scoring lower than smaller birds for example.…”

“…Collins et al's (2021) North American study found that people prefer smaller birds over larger birds, and insectivores, aerial or bark foragers, over birds that forage on the ground. Birds with blue feathers (Collins et al 2021;Frynta et al 2010;Liskova and Frynta 2013;Liskova et al 2015) and with colourful or contrasting plumages are generally preferred (Echeverri et al 2020;Garnett et al 2018;Schuetz and Johnson 2019;Stoudt et al 2021). The acoustic and aesthetic properties of bird song predict their restorative potential (Ratcliffe et al 2020).…”

Urban socioeconomic variation influences the ecology and evolution of trophic interactions

“…They may also vary over time as aesthetic sensibilities and levels of environmental awareness change. Overall, urban planning, conservation and restoration practices in cities can reshape urban ecosystems to better meet the needs of current residents (Avolio et al, 2021;Collins et al, 2021;Roman et al, 2018). Addressing these future directions will help to build a more complete understanding of the biological consequences of human actions and decision making, which is essential for the development of equitable and sustainable cities as urbanization increases throughout the world.…”

Perceptions of Birds by Urban Residents in an Australian Regional City and Implications for Conservation

“…The ways in which urban residents perceive specific taxonomic groups is becoming an important question for conservation in cities [3][4][5]. Surprisingly, few studies have considered the ways in which urban residents perceive birds in their neighbourhoods (although see [6][7][8]. It is widely accepted that cities around the world support significant components of national, regional, and local biodiversity.…”