Since colonial times, Brazilian land use has been made under an extractivist model at the expense of deforestation, increasing soil and vegetation depletion, stream siltation, as well as loss of biodiversity. An ecological-economic zoning (EEZ) has been taken as feasible alternative to guide public policies aimed at city land-use planning. This study focused on designing an EZZ for the city of Altinópolis, in São Paulo state (Brazil), by means of geographical information systems (GIS). Information and maps delineated six land-use areas, in which 30% covered areas under environmental protection, 45% over areas with groundwater recharge potential, which should be intended to restoration. Furthermore, around 70% of the territory show potential to be grown with agroforestry systems due to soil, climate and relief conditions. These results point out demand for further public policies to encouraging preservation of existing forests and restoration of degraded areas, mainly those covering groundwater-recharge areas.

Birds play a key role in ecosystem dynamics, including urban and rural areas, bringing environmental quality improvements and ecological stability. Species contribute directly to natural regeneration of vegetation and succession processes, by offering ecosystem services as seed dispersal, an important role in human-modified areas. We studied the assemblages of fruit-eating birds in riparian environments of Monjolinho basin, central São Paulo state, southeastern Brazil. Birds were recorded in 41 points distributed in riparian ecosystems alongside waterbodies, in landscapes with five types of surrounding matrices: urban, periurban, farmland, and native vegetation. We described how assemblages are structured aiming to evaluate the possible influence of seasonality and landscape type. We recorded 39 bird species that can play a role as seed-dispersers, 32 in wet season and 32 in dry season. There were no significant differences in the diversity and dominance of species between seasons considering the entire area, indicating stability of basic assemblage structure. However, total number of individuals of all species recorded in different landscapes were influenced by seasonality. Also, the composition and abundance of species significantly changed between seasons, leading to a high dissimilarity with almost 50% of the species contributing with almost 90% of the observed variation. A higher taxonomic diversity and distinctness pointed to a wider array of possible seed dispersal services in natural areas, while the lowest values of indexes were found in human-modified areas. The higher number of non-related bird species during dry season contrasted with the higher number of individuals during wet season, indicating that there is more possible ecosystem services offered by frugivorous birds in driest period of the year, while in the rainy period the carrying capacity of the riparian environments was increased.

∙ Birds have received special attention in urban areas. Due to their conspicuousness and quick response to habitat changes, they perfectly fit the requirements as a bioindicator group. In this study, we assessed the relationships between urbanization intensity and vegetation characteristics and bird richness in greenspaces of the Federal University of São Carlos, São Paulo, Brazil. We found a significant positive relationship between exotic tree abundance and maximum tree height, and bird species richness; but no interaction effect between exotic tree abundance and maximum tree height. The results of this study suggest that the size and resources provided by trees are affecting bird richness in our study site. Although many of the resources (e.g., flowers, fruits, nesting sites) are provided by exotic plants in our study site, native ones were clearly underrepresented. Given the negative effects that exotic plant species can have on ecosystems, it is crucial to consider planting alternative native species that can offer resources similar to those currently available through exotic ones.RESUMO ∙ Vegetação, urbanização e riqueza de aves em uma área peri‐urbana Brasileira As aves tem recebido uma atenção especial em áreas urbanas por serem facilmente detectáveis e responderem facilmente às mudanças de habitat, enquadrando‐se perfeitamente como grupo bioindicador nesses ambientes. Neste estudo foram avaliadas as relações entre a intensidade da urbanização e as características da vegetação das áreas verdes e a avifauna da Universidade Federal de São Carlos, São Paulo, Brasil. Foi encontrado uma relação positiva entre a riqueza de espécies de aves e a abundância de árvores exóticas e altura máxima das árvores, mas nenhuma interação entre a abundância de árvores exóticas e altura máxima das árvores foi registrada. Os resultados deste estudo apontam que a quantidade de recursos oferecido pelas árvores e o tamanho delas afetam diretamente a riqueza de aves na área estudada. Muitos dos recursos (ej. flores, frutos, locais de nidificação) são fornecidos por plantas exóticas, pois as nativas estão sub‐representadas na área. Levando‐se em conta os efeitos negativos que as espécies exóticas podem exercer sobre os ecossistemas, é fundamental considerar espécies nativas alternativas que possam oferecer recursos semelhantes aos atualmente disponíveis através das espécies exóticas.

The diversity and spatial distribution of trees on the Federal University of São Carlos campus were analyzed. Eighty percent of total individuals of studied area were visited and 130 species belonging to 106 genres and 46 families were founded, of which 51 species are native to the region and 79 exotic species. A satisfactory species diversity was found (H'= 3.89) for an urbanized area. Although the study reveals low dominance of species, the results indicate a same species individuals' aggregation, which all species with the highest abundance have an aggregated spatial distribution. The exotic species number present is bigger than the native species number and should be avoided, especially when it comes to potentially invasive exotic species. The analysis of species distribution in the landscape was a great help to identify the same species individuals' aggregation and to direct management activity on these regions, given the pests and diseases emergence.