Birds and small urban parks: a study in a high plateau city

The goal of the present study was to assess which variables influence the distribution of birds in urban parks. Twenty parks were studied in a city on the Spanish high plateau during the breeding season, and relationships among park characteristics, bird richness, and individual bird presences were established. The park area and tree cover accounted for 73.1% of the variation in bird richness. Although area size was the best predictor of species richness (65% of the variation), some species did not seem to be related to this variable but rather to others, such as vegetation and the degree of park isolation with respect to other areas. Contrary to what is normally expected, the distance from our parks to the river did not influence their bird species richness.

Birds and small urban parks: a study in a high plateau city

The goal of the present study was to assess which variables influence the distribution of birds in urban parks. Twenty parks were studied in a city on the Spanish high plateau during the breeding season, and relationships among park characteristics, bird richness, and individual bird presences were established. The park area and tree cover accounted for 73.1% of the variation in bird richness. Although area size was the best predictor of species richness (65% of the variation), some species did not seem to be related to this variable but rather to others, such as vegetation and the degree of park isolation with respect to other areas. Contrary to what is normally expected, the distance from our parks to the river did not influence their bird species richness.

___

  • Aldrich JW, Coffin RW (1980). Breeding bird populations from forest to Suburbia after 37 years. Am Birds 34: 3–7.
  • Baschak LA, Brown RD (1995). An ecological framework for the planning, design and management of urban river greenways. Landscape Urban Plan 33: 211–225.
  • Beier P, Noss R (1998). Do habitat corridors provide connectivity? Conser Biol 12: 1 241–1252.
  • Beissinger SR, Osborne DR (1982). Effects of urbanization on avian community organization. Condor 84: 75–83.
  • Blair RB (1996). Land use and avian species diversity along an urban gradient. Ecol Appl 6: 506–519.
  • Blair R (2004). The effects of urban sprawl on birds at multiple levels of biological organization. Ecol Soc 9: 21–27.
  • Blondel J (1991). Birds in biological isolates. In: Perrins CM, Lebreton JD, Hirons GJM, editors. Bird Populations Studies. Relevance to Conservation and Management. Oxford, UK: Oxford Ornithology Press. pp. 45–72.
  • Bowman R, Marzluff JM (2001). Integrating avian ecology into emerging paradigms in urban ecology. In: Avian Conservation and Ecology in an Urbanizing World. Marzluff JM, Bowman R, Donelly RE, editors. New York, NY, USA: Kluwer Academic Publ. pp. 569–578.
  • Cicero C (1989). Avian community structure in a large urban park: controls of local richness and diversity. Landscape Urban Plan 17: 221–240.
  • Clergeau P, Croci S, Jokimäki J, Kaisanlathi-Jokimäki ML, Dinetti M (2006). Avifauna homogenisation by urbanisation: analysis at different European latitudes. Biol Conser 127: 336–344.
  • Cornelis J, Henry M (2004). Biodiversity relationships in urban and suburban parks in Flanders. Landscape Urban Plan 69: 385– 40
  • Crooks KR, Suarez VD, Bolger T (2004). Avian assemblages along a gradient of urbanization in a highly fragmented landscape. Biol Conser 115: 451–462.
  • Edgar DR, Kershaw GP (1994). The density and diversity of the bird populations in three residential communities in Edmonton, Alberta. Can Field Nat 108: 156–161.
  • Emlen JT (1974). An urban bird community in Tucson, Arizona: derivation, structure, regulation. Condor 76: 184–197.
  • Erz W (1966). Ecological principles in the urbanization of birds. Ostrich 6: 357–364.
  • Fernández-Juricic E (2000a). Avifaunal use of wooded streets in an urban landscape. Conser Biol 14: 513–521.
  • Fernández-Juricic E (2000b). Bird community composition patterns in urban parks of Madrid: the role of age, size and isolation. Ecol Res 15: 273–283.
  • Fernández-Juricic E (2000c) Local and regional effects of pedestrians on forest birds in a fragmented landscape. Condor 102: 247– 2
  • Fernández-Juricic E (2001a). Avian spatial segregation at edges and interiors of urban parks in Madrid, Spain. Biodivers Conserv 10: 1303–1316.
  • Fernández-Juricic E (2001b). Bird tolerance to human disturbance in urban parks of Madrid (Spain): Management implications.
  • In: Avian Conservation and Ecology in an Urbanizing World. Marzluff JM, Bowman R, Donelly RE editors. New York, NY, USA: Kluwer Academic Publ. pp. 259–273. Fernández-Juricic E (2001c). Density-depended habitat selection of corridors in a fragmented landscape. Ibis 143: 278–287.
  • Fernández-Juricic E, Jimenez MD, Lucas E (2001). Alert distance as an alternative measure of bird tolerance to human disturbance: implications for park design. Environ Conserv 28: 263–269.
  • Fernández-Juricic E, Jokimäki J (2001). Effects of seasonality on the species–area relationship: a case study with birds in urban parks. Biodivers Conserv 10: 2023–2043.
  • Furness RW, Greenwood JJD, Jarvis PJ (1993). Can birds be used to monitor the environment? In: Furness, RW, Greenwood JJD, editors. Birds as Monitors of Environmental Change. London, UK: Chapman & Hall. pp: 1–41.
  • Gavareski CA (1976). Relation of park size and vegetation to urban bird population in Seattle, Washington. Condor 78: 375–382.
  • Gilbert OL (1989). The Ecology of Urban Habitat. London, UK: Chapman & Hall.
  • Gillies CS, St. Clair CC (2008). Riparian corridors enhance movement of a forest specialist bird in fragmented tropical forest. PNAS 105: 19774–19779.
  • Gilpin ME (1980). The role of stepping-stone islands. Theor Popul Biol 17: 247–253.
  • Haas CA (1995). Dispersal and use of corridors by birds in wooded patches on an agricultural landscape. Conserv Biol 9: 845–854.
  • Hannon SJ, Schmiegelow FKA (2002). Corridors may not improve the conservation value of small reserves for most boreal birds. Ecol Appl 12: 1457–1468.
  • Herrando S, Weiserbs A, Quesada J, Ferrer X, Paquet JY (2012).
  • Development of urban bird indicators using data from monitoring schemes in two large European cities. Animal Biodiv Conserv 35: 141–150. Hinsley SA, Bellamy PE, Newton I, Sparks TH (1995). Factors influencing the presence of individual bird species in woodland fragments. J Avian Biol 26: 94–104.
  • Horiuchi S (1992). Stagnation in the decline of the world population growth rate during the 1980s. Science 257: 761–765.
  • Hosmer DW, Lemeshow S (1989). Applied Logistic Regression. New
  • York, NY, USA: John Wiley. Jokimäki J (1999). Occurrence of breeding bird species in urban parks: effects of park structure and broad-scales variables. Urban Ecosyst 3: 21–34.
  • Jokimäki J, Clergeau P, Kaisanlahthi-Jokimäki MJ (2002). Winter bird communities in urban habitats: a comparative study between central and Northern Europe. J Biogeogr 29: 69–79.
  • Jokimäki J, Kaisanlahthi-Jokimäki M-J (2003). Spatial similarity of urban bird communities: a multiscale approach. J Biogeogr 30: 1183–1193.
  • Jokimäki J, Suhonen J (1998). Distribution and habitat selection of wintering birds in urban environments. Landscape Urban Plan 39: 253–263.
  • Lancaster RK, Rees WE (1979). Bird communities and the structure of urban habitats. Can J Zool 57: 2358–2368.
  • Leveau C (2013). Bird traits in urban–rural gradients: how many functional groups are there? J Ornith 153: 655–662.
  • Magle SB, Hunt VM, Vernon M, Crooks KR (2012). Urban wildlife research: past, present, and future. Biol Conserv 155: 23–32.
  • Martin JL, Gaston A, Hitier S (1995). The effect of island size and isolation on old growth forest habitat and bird diversity in Gwaii Haanas (Queen Charlotte Islands: Canada). Oikos 72: 115–131.
  • Marzluff JM (2005). Island biogeography for an urbanizing world: how extinction and colonization may determinate biological diversity in human-dominated landscapes. Urban Ecosyst 8: 157–177.
  • McArthur RH, Wilson EO (1967). The Theory of Island Biogeography. Princeton, NJ, USA: Princeton University Press. Meffert PJ, Dziock F (2012). What determines occurrence of threatened bird species on urban wastelands? Biol Conserv 153: 87–96.
  • Melles S, Glenn S, Martin K (2003). Urban bird diversity and landscape complexity: species-environment associations along a multi-scale habitat gradient. Conserv Ecol 7: 5–15.
  • Mills GS, Dunning JB, Bates JM (1989). Effects of urbanization on breeding bird community structure in south western desert habitats. Condor 91: 416–428.
  • Murgui E (2007). Effects of seasonality on the species-area relationship: a case study on birds in urban parks. Global Ecol Biogeogr 16: 319–329.
  • Murgui E, Valentín A (2003). Relationships between urban landscape and community of alien birds species in Valencia city (Spain). Ardeola 50: 201–214.
  • Naiman RJ, Décamps H, Pollock M (1993). The role of riparian corridors in maintaining regional biodiversity. Ecol Appl 3: 209–212.
  • Natuhara Y, Imai C (1999). Prediction of species richness of breeding birds by landscape-level factors of urban woods in Osaka Prefecture, Japan. Biodivers Conserv 8: 239–253.
  • Palomino D, Carrascal LM (2005). Birds on novel island environments. A case study with the urban avifauna of Tenerife (Canary Islands) Ecol Res 20: 611–617.
  • Palomino D, Carrascal LM (2006). Urban influence on birds at a regional scale: a case study with the avifauna of northern Madrid province. Landscape Urban Plan 77: 276–290.
  • Park CH, Lee WS 2000. Relationship between species composition and area in breeding birds of urban woods in Seoul, Korea. Landscape Urban Plan 51: 29–36.
  • Platt A, Lill A (2006). Composition and conservation value of bird assemblages of urban ‘habitat islands’: Do pedestrian traffic and landscape variables exert an influence? Urban Ecosyst 9: 83–
  • Rosenberg DK, Noon BR, Meslow EC (1997). Biological corridors: form, function, and efficacy. BioScience 47: 677–687.
  • Sandström UG, Angelstam P, Mikusinki G (2006). Ecological diversity of birds in relation to the structure of urban green space. Landscape Urban Plan 77: 39–53.
  • Saunders D, Hobbs RJ, Margueles CR (1991). Biological consequences of ecosystem fragmentation: a review. Conserv Biol 5: 18–32.
  • Schoener TW (1968). Sizes of feeding territories among birds. Ecology 49: 123–141.
  • Shwartz A, Shirley S, Kark S (2008). How do habitat variability and management regime shape the spatial heterogeneity of birds within a large Mediterranean urban park? Landscape Urban Plan 84: 219–229.
  • Siegel S, N. Castellan J (1988). Non parametric statistics for the Behavioural Sciences. New York, NY, USA: McGraw-Hill.
  • Simon U, Kübler S, Böhner J (2007). Analysis of breeding bird communities along an urban-rural gradient in Berlin, Germany, by Hasse Diagram Technique. Urban Ecosyst 10: 17–
  • Skagen SK, Melcher CP, Howe WH, Knopf FL (1998). Comparative use of riparian corridors and oases by migrating birds in southeast Arizona. Conserv Biol 12: 896–909.
  • Sodhi NS (1992). Comparison between urban and rural bird communities in prairie Saskatchewan: urbanization and shortterm population trends. Can Field Nat 106: 210–215.
  • Suhonen J, Jokimäki J (1988). A biogeographical comparison of the breeding bird species assemblages in twenty Finnish urban parks. Ornis Fennica 65: 76–83.
  • Ter Braak CJF (1995). Ordination. In: Jongman RHG, Ter Braak CJF, Van Tongeren OFR, editors. Data Analysis in Community and Landscape Ecology. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, pp: 91–173.
  • Trexler JC, Travis C (1993). Non-traditional regression and analyses. Ecology 74: 1629–1637.
  • Tilghman NG (1987). Characteristics of urban woodlands affecting breeding bird diversity and abundance. Landscape Urban Plan 14: 481–495.
  • Tweit RC, Tweit JC (1986). Urban development effects on the abundance of some common resident birds of the Tucson area of Arizona. Am. Birds 40: 431–436.
  • Vitousek PM, Mooney HA (1997). Human domination of Earth’s ecosystems. Science 277: 494–499.
  • White JG, Antos MJ, Fitzsimons JA, Palmer GC (2005). Non-uniform bird assemblages in urban environments: the influence of streetscape vegetation. Landscape Urban Plan 71: 123–135.
  • White RR (1994). Urban Environmental Management: Environmental Change and Urban Design. Chichester, UK: John Wiley.
  • Wilkox BA, Murphy DD (1985). Conservation strategy: the effects of fragmentation on extinction. Am Nat 125: 879–887.
  • Williamson RD, DeGraaf RM (1980). Habitat associations of ten bird species in Washington, DC. Urban Ecol 5: 125–136.
  • World Resources Institute (2006). World Resources. A Guide of the Global Environment: the Urban Environment. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
  • Zhou D, Chu LM (2012). How would size, age, human disturbance, and vegetation structure affect bird communities of urban parks in different seasons. J Ornith 153: 1101–1112.
  • Zhou D, Fung T, Chu LM (2012). Avian community structure of urban parks in developed and new growth areas: a landscapescale study in Southeast Asia. Landscape Urban Plan 108: 91–102.
Turkish Journal of Zoology-Cover
  • ISSN: 1300-0179
  • Yayın Aralığı: Yılda 6 Sayı
  • Yayıncı: TÜBİTAK
Sayıdaki Diğer Makaleler

Rutilus panosi Bogutskaya & Iliadou, 2006 specimens lacking pelvic fins

Olga PETRIKI, Dimitra BOBORI

A study of the genus Empidideicus Becker, 1907 (Diptera: Mythicomyiidae) in northern Iran, with description of a new species

Saeedeh HAKIMIAN, Ali Asghar TALEBI, Babak GHARALI, Neal EVENHUIS

Gammarus komareki aznavensis subsp. nov., a new amphipod subspecies from Iran (Amphipoda: Gammaridae)

Murat ÖZBEK, Hamidreza RASOULI

Morphological differentiation among species of the genus Mugil Linnaeus, 1758 (Mugilidae) from Côte d'Ivoire

Kouakou Théodore KONAN, Abouo Béatrice ADEPO-GOURENE, Koffi Mexmin KONAN, Germain GOURENE

Reproductive cycle of the traditionally exploited sea cucumber Holothuria tubulosa (Holothuroidea: Aspidochirotida) in Pagasitikos Gulf, western Aegean Sea, Greece

Georgios KAZANIDIS, Alexios LOLAS, Dimitris VAFIDIS

Fight or flight: agonistic interactions between females of Acanthogonatus centralis Goloboff 1995 (Araneae, Mygalomorphae)

Nelson FERRETTI, Sofía COPPERI, Gabriel POMPOZZI

Birds and small urban parks: a study in a high plateau city

Salvador PERIS, Tinguaro MONTELONGO

Effects of salinity tolerances on survival and life history of 2 cladocerans

Didem GÖKÇE, Duygu ÖZHAN TURHAN

Seasonal distribution of Trachurus mediterraneus (Steindachner, 1868) in the Golden Horn Estuary, İstanbul

Nazlı DEMİREL, Ahsen YÜKSEK

Morphological differentiation among species of the genus Mugil Linnaeus, 1758 (Mugilidae) from Côte d'Ivoire

Kouakou Théodore KONAN, Abouo Béatrice ADEPO-GOURENE, Koffi Mexmin KONAN, Germain GOURENE