The pattern of distribution and diversity of avifauna over an urbanizing tropical landscape

Njoroge, John Bosco; Ndang’ang’a, Paul K.; Natuhara, Yosihiro

doi:10.1007/s11252-013-0296-1

Cited by 12 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…Although some effects of urbanization on the bird species assemblage were not so clear, the regression models nonetheless showed well known effects of urbanization. The proportion of arboreal vegetation cover was the most important variable predicting an increase in species richness in Canoas, corroborating the known role of green areas as biodiversity enhancers in urban centers (Chace & Walsh, 2006;Evans et al, 2009;Fontana et al, 2011;Ortega-Álvarez & MacGregor-Fors, 2011;Toledo et al, 2012;Njoroge et al, 2013;Aronson et al, 2014;Beninde et al, 2015;Sacco et al, 2015). Open landscapes prevail in the Canoas region, and the arboreal component is characterized by gardens, squares and parks in the urban area; this contrasts with cities with large forested areas on the borders, for instance around Porto Alegre (Fontana et al, 2011).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 65%

“…The availability of green areas and the level of noise are two of the most important features affecting urban avian species assemblages (Chace & Walsh, 2006;Evans et al, 2009;Fontana et al, 2011;Toledo et al, 2012;Njoroge et al, 2013, Beninde et al, 2015Sacco et al, 2015). High bird diversity in urban landscapes has been associated with high densities of trees and the presence of large green spaces connected or near to each other (i.e., not fragmented, but connected by corridors or acting as stepping stones) (Evans et al, 2009;Aronson et al, 2014, Beninde et al, 2015.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Birds' responses to living in urban centers and the effects of disturbance in these areas have been studied for decades in the northern hemisphere (e.g., Marzluff et al, 2001;Chace & Walsh, 2006;Evans et al, 2009;Pickett et al, 2011;Davis et al, 2012;Taylor et al, 2013;Aronson et al, 2014;Sol et al, 2014;Beninde et al, 2015), but are a relatively new research focus in South America (e.g., Fontana et al, 2011;Ortega-Álvarez & MacGregor-Fors, 2011;Toledo et al, 2012;Njoroge et al, 2013;Puga-Caballero et al, 2014;Leveau et al, 2015;Sacco et al, 2015). Although urban species assemblages in South and North America show similar patterns, still there are several gaps to be filled (e.g., demographic patterns, physiological responses, behavioral ecology, biotic homogenization; Ortega-Álvarez & MacGregor-Fors, 2011).…”

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confidence: 99%

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Bird diversity in an urban ecosystem: the role of local habitats in understanding the effects of urbanization

Sonego

Martins

Zilio

2018

Iheringia, Sér. Zool.

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Urbanization causes environment changes that directly affect biotic diversity, and understanding the relationship between fauna and urban features is a key aspect of urban planning. Birds are particularly affected by urbanization. Noise levels, for instance, negatively affect birds’ behavior and social communication, while the presence of green areas promotes bird diversity. The effects of urbanization could differ according with the level of urbanization, and our goal was to understand how bird species assemblages are related to urban features in an intermediate stage of urbanization (a city in Brazil with 2,470 inhabitants/km²). We used canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) and generalized linear models (GLM) analyses to assess how bird species assemblages are affected by urban features (e.g., noise level, abundance of buildings) as well as habitat features (e.g., vegetation cover). Despite we did not find a clear pattern of urbanization both the urban and habitat features had, even if weak, an effect on bird species distribution. Bird species distribution was spatially correlated, and we identified three groups: 1) grassland and wetland species; 2) forest species; 3) species tolerant to habitat degradation. Species richness was positively related to the proportion of trees, abundance of people and presence of buildings, and negatively affected by higher levels of noise. The abundance of species decreased as noise levels increased, but the proportion of green areas (open or forest vegetation) had a positive effect. Agreeing with previous research, our study shows that noise levels and vegetation cover seem to be the best predictors of diversity in urban areas. Nevertheless, the presence of particular habitats (wetlands, grasslands, woodlots), patchily distributed in the urban matrix, could buffer the effects of urbanization on birds. These habitats should thus be taken into account in urban planning.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 65%

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confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Bird diversity in an urban ecosystem: the role of local habitats in understanding the effects of urbanization

Sonego

Martins

Zilio

2018

Iheringia, Sér. Zool.

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“…Generally, settlements have fewer bird species, but higher abundances compared to surrounding ecosystems. Consistent with the consensus in previous research, we found that bird abundance was greatest at medium and high levels of human settlement in both ecoregions (Chace and Walsh, 2006;Faeth et al, 2012;Njoroge, 2014).…”

Section: Changes In Avian Community Structuresupporting

confidence: 92%

Bird Communities Across Different Levels of Human Settlement: A Comparative Analysis from Two Northern Amazonian Ecoregions

Hayes

O'Shea²,

Pierre

et al. 2023

Preprint

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“…Researchers have commonly observed lower species richness in urban areas relative to that of the surrounding rural landscapes (Clergeau, Croci, Jokim€ aki, Kaisanlahti-Jokim€ aki, & Dinetti, 2006;Sandstr€ om, Angelstam, & Mikusinski, 2006). However, these patterns are by no means universal, and other studies have found a non-linear response, in which areas with intermediate levels of urbanization exhibit the highest richness (Blair, 1996;Marzluff, 2001;McKinney, 2002;Tratalos et al, 2007), whilst overall bird abundance often increases from rural to urban areas (Chace & Walsh, 2006;Faeth, Bang, & Saari, 2011;Njorge, NdaNg'ang'a, & Natuhara, 2014) although other studies have found no trend (Chamberlain, Kibuule, Skeen, & Pomeroy, 2017) or inconsistent responses across different cities (Garaffa, Filloy, & Bellocq, 2009;Jokim€ aki, Clergeau, & Kaisanlahti-Jokim€ aki, 2002).…”

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confidence: 99%

Non‐linearities in bird responses across urbanization gradients: A meta‐analysis

Batáry

Kurucz

Suarez‐Rubio

et al. 2017

Global Change Biology

114

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Urbanisation is one of the most extreme forms of environmental alteration, posing a major threat to biodiversity. We studied the effects of urbanisation on avian communities via a systematic review using hierarchical and categorical meta-analyses. Altogether, we found 42 observations from 37 case studies for species richness and 23 observations from 20 case studies for abundance. Urbanisation had an overall strong negative effect on bird species richness, whereas abundance increased marginally with urbanisation. There was no evidence that city size played a role in influencing the relationship between urbanisation and either species richness or abundance. Studies that examined long gradients (i.e. from urban to rural) were more likely to detect negative urbanisation effects on species richness than studies that considered short gradients (i.e. urban vs. suburban or urban vs. rural areas). In contrast, we found little evidence that the effect of urbanisation on abundance was influenced by gradient length. Effects of urbanization on species richness were more negative for studies including public green spaces (parks and other amenity areas) in the sampled landscapes. In contrast, studies performed solely in the urban matrix (i.e., no green spaces) revealed a strong positive effect on bird abundance. When performing subset analyses on urban-suburban, suburbanrural and suburban-natural comparisons, species richness decreased from natural to urban areas, but with a stronger decrease at the urban-suburban interface, whereas bird abundance showed a clear intermediate peak along the urban-rural gradient, although abundance in natural areas was comparable to that in suburban areas. This suggests that species loss happens especially at the urban-suburban interface, and that the highest abundances occur in suburban areas compared to urban or rural areas. Thus, our study shows the importance of suburban areas, where the majority of birds occur with fairly high species richness.3

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The pattern of distribution and diversity of avifauna over an urbanizing tropical landscape

Cited by 12 publications

References 31 publications

Bird diversity in an urban ecosystem: the role of local habitats in understanding the effects of urbanization

Bird diversity in an urban ecosystem: the role of local habitats in understanding the effects of urbanization

Bird Communities Across Different Levels of Human Settlement: A Comparative Analysis from Two Northern Amazonian Ecoregions

Non‐linearities in bird responses across urbanization gradients: A meta‐analysis

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