Does Urbanization Filter Birds on the Basis of Their Biological Traits?

Croci, Solène; Butet, Alain; Clergeau, Philippe

doi:10.1525/cond.2008.8409

Cited by 343 publications

(388 citation statements)

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“…However, a greater understanding of the avian community's reaction to urbanisation could be achieved by analysing avian functional and biologically distinct communities through an analysis of species traits (e.g. Croci et al 2008;Evans et al 2010), which could include the species' dietary and foraging strategies, nesting requirements and body size.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Trends in bird species richness, abundance and biomass along a tropical urbanization gradient

et al. 2016

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AcknowledgementsWe thank Lilian Twanza and Osman Mwebe, who also took part in some of the bird counts in Kampala, and to NatureUganda for data from the rural sites. We are also grateful to L. Bennun, J. Roberts, P. Robinson and J. Pierini for providing personal observations on scavenger populations in African cities, and to an anonymous referee whose constructive comments improved the manuscript. 3Abstract Impacts of urbanization on biodiversity are commonly studied using urbanization gradients which provide a space-for-time substitution in estimating consequences of urban expansion. Rates of urbanization and human population growth are high in tropical countries of the developing world, which also hold most of the world's biodiversity hot-spots, yet few studies have considered biodiversity trends along urban gradients in these regions. Bird communities across a gradient of nine sites in Uganda, from the city centre of Kampala to outlying rural locations, were studied over a six year period. These sites were ordered along an urbanization gradient using Principle Components Analysis based on habitat variables estimated at each site. Bird species richness showed a decrease from rural to urban sites, a trend especially evident in forest birds. There was no clear pattern in total abundance, total biomass or biomass per individual along the gradient. However, this latter result was heavily influenced by a colony of Marabou Storks at one site.When this species was omitted, there was evidence of a positive trend with urbanization, showing that as species richness decreased, the bird community was increasingly dominated by larger species with increasing urbanization, which were mainly scavengers able to exploit human refuse. These results provide further support for the negative impacts of urbanization on species richness, but also demonstrate trends in abundance and biomass are variable across different regions. In particular, the increasing dominance of larger species in urban areas may be relevant to certain geographic and/or socioeconomic contexts.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Trends in bird species richness, abundance and biomass along a tropical urbanization gradient

et al. 2016

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“…Por outro lado, a proporção de aves que fazem ninhos altos e em cavidades é maior quanto maior a intensidade de urbanização. A falta de arborização e o aumento da edificação nas áreas com maior intensidade de urbanização certamente refletem este padrão (Lancaster & Rees, 1979;Croci et al, 2008;Conole & Kirkpatrick, 2011;Sacco et al, 2013), assim como interferência direta dos seres humanos e a pressão de predação (Croci et al, 2008;López-Flores et al, 2009). Espécies que preferem nidificar em locais baixos e no solo estão mais suscetíveis à predação pelos animais domésticos, como cães e gatos (Croci et al, 2008), enquanto que ninhos em cavidades ou locais elevados provavelmente são mais protegidos destas ameaças.…”

Section: Discussionunclassified

“…A relação negativa entre o tamanho das espécies -em relação à massa -e a intensidade de urbanização que observamos é oposta ao padrão encontrado em outros estudos (González Oreja et al, 2007;Kark et al, 2007;Croci et al, 2008;Conole & Kirkpatrick, 2011). Ou seja, enquanto em Pelotas as aves tenderam a ser maiores em níveis baixos de urbanização, em outras regiões as aves tenderam a ser menores.…”

Section: Discussionunclassified

“…A onivoria foi o atributo relacionado à dieta predominante em áreas mais urbanizadas, resultado comum encontrado em outros estudos (tais como Lancaster & Rees, 1979;Clergeau et al, 1998;Jokimäki & Suhonen, 1998;Kark et al, 2007;Croci et al, 2008;Conole & Kirkpatrick, 2011;Vignoli et al, 2013). As espécies onívoras apresentam maior vantagem nas cidades, onde existe uma maior variedade de itens, já que os humanos produzem estes recursos, inclusive o lixo (Clergeau et al, 1998).…”

Section: Discussionunclassified

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Perda de diversidade taxonômica e funcional de aves em área urbana no sul do Brasil

Sacco

Rui

Bergmann

et al. 2015

Iheringia, Sér. Zool.

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ABSTRACT. Reduction in taxonomic and functional bird diversity in an urban area in Southern Brazil. Urbanization is a globally process studied and considered one of the most drastic environmental disturb on biodiversity. This study aimed to evaluate how different intensities of urbanization act in the structure of birds in a medium size city inserted in a wetland area. In addition to the traditional metrics richness, abundance and taxonomic composition, it was found as the functional diversity and redundancy of birds are influenced by urban gradient. The urban area studied was the Pelotas city (31°46''S, 52°20'W) situated at the southernmost part of Brazil in a humid region of Pampa biome. A total of 216 fixed observation points along an urbanization gradient were used to sample the avifauna and four independent variables: number of trees, number of buildings with two or more floors, presence of aquatic habitat, and presence of open habitat. Functional traits of species characterized the biomass, diet, forage substrate and nesting substrate. The richness, abundance and functional diversity of avifauna were negatively related to the increase of urban intensity while the redundancy, different from the expected, did not respond to the urban gradient. The traits related to the areas with more intense urbanization (building with two or more floors) were: preference for foraging in the air, omnivory and cavity nesting. Areas with less intense urbanization (more trees and open habitats) were related to the preference for nesting on vegetation and in lower sites, and carnivory. The study showed the importance of the presence of open and aquatic habitats for the avifauna, landscape features typically not cited in urban studies, which highlight the need to adequate the mitigation actions for conservation efforts inside urban habitats according to the regional pool of species.KEYWORDS. Biotic homogenization, Rao's functional diversity, wetlands, Pampa biome. RESUMO.A urbanização é um processo globalmente estudado e considerado um dos distúrbios mais drásticos sobre a biodiversidade. Este estudo teve como objetivo avaliar como diferentes intensidades de urbanização atuam na estruturação da avifauna em uma cidade de tamanho médio e inserida em região de área úmida. Além das métricas tradicionais de riqueza, abundância e composição taxonômica, verificou-se como a diversidade e redundâncias funcionais das aves são influenciadas pelo gradiente urbano. A área urbana estudada foi a cidade de Pelotas (31°46'S, 52°20'W), extremo sul do Brasil, que está inserida em uma área úmida do bioma Pampa. A amostragem das aves e a medida das variáveis urbanas (número de árvores, número de construções de até dois andares ou de mais de dois andares, presença de ambiente aquático e presença de ambiente aberto) foram realizadas em 216 pontos fixos de observação que foram marcados em diferentes intensidades de urbanização. Os atributos funcionais utilizados para caracterizar as espécies foram os relacionados à massa, dieta, substrato de forrageame...

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“…Factors that potentially affect breeding success are of considerable interest, and species that utilise nest boxes offer a practical way to explore these effects (Croci et al 2008). There are several possible ways that urbanisation can influence bird nests.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Use of anthropogenic material affects bird nest arthropod community structure: influence of urbanisation, and consequences for ectoparasites and fledging success

et al. 2017

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Nests are a critically important factor in determining the breeding success of many species of birds. Nevertheless, we have surprisingly little understanding of how the local environment helps determine the materials used in nest construction, how this differs among related species using similar nest sites, or if materials used directly or indirectly influence the numbers of offspring successfully reared. We also have little understanding of any potential links between nest construction and the assemblage of invertebrates which inhabit nests, in particular, ectoparasites. We addressed these questions by monitoring the success rates of Blue Tits Cyanistes caeruleus and Great Tits Parus major, using nest boxes in rural, urban greenspace and urban garden settings. We collected used nests, identified the arthropods present, and measured the proportions of highly processed anthropogenic materials used in nest construction. Twenty-five percent of Great Tit nest materials were of anthropogenic origin and this was consistent across habitats, while Blue Tits used little (1-2%) anthropogenic material except in gardens (*16%), suggesting that Great Tits preferentially sought out these materials. In fledged nests, an increasing use of anthropogenic material was associated with a lower general arthropod diversity and ectoparasite predator abundance (Blue Tits only), but higher levels of Siphonaptera (fleas).Higher arthropod diversity was associated with lower flea numbers, suggesting that increased diversity played a role in limiting flea numbers. No direct link was found between breeding success and either anthropogenic material usage or arthropod diversity and abundance. However, breeding success declined with increasing urbanisation in both species and increased with nest weight in Blue Tits. The interplay between urbanisation and bird ecology is complex; our work shows that subtle anthropogenic influences may have indirect and unexpected consequences for urban birds.

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Does Urbanization Filter Birds on the Basis of Their Biological Traits?

Cited by 343 publications

References 47 publications

Trends in bird species richness, abundance and biomass along a tropical urbanization gradient

Trends in bird species richness, abundance and biomass along a tropical urbanization gradient

Perda de diversidade taxonômica e funcional de aves em área urbana no sul do Brasil

Use of anthropogenic material affects bird nest arthropod community structure: influence of urbanisation, and consequences for ectoparasites and fledging success

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