Primary productivity and habitat diversity predict bird species richness and composition along urban-rural gradients of central Argentina

Leveau, Lucas M.

doi:10.1016/j.ufug.2019.05.011

Cited by 28 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 67 publications

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“…Although for most animal groups species richness decreases in response to increasing urbanization intensity, there are several studies reporting a higher species richness at intermediate levels of urbanization (Blair 1996;McKinney 2008;Leveau 2019). A few studies report peaks of plant and invertebrate diversity at the highest levels of urbanization, a situation that, however, has been never observed in vertebrates (McKinney 2008).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Influence of urbanization on the avian species-area relationship: insights from the breeding birds of Rome

2020

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The species-area relationship (SAR) is one of the most investigated patterns in ecology and conservation biology, yet there is no study testing how different levels of urbanization influence its shape. Here we tested the impact of urbanization on avian SARs along a rural-urban gradient using the breeding birds of Rome (Central Italy). We divided the city into 360 cells of 1 km2. Each cell was classified as rural, suburban or urban using the proportion of impervious surface calculated from remote sensing data. For each of these three landscape categories, we constructed a SAR as a species accumulation curve (Gleason function) using bird species distribution data. SAR intercepts (i.e. the number of species per unit area) decreased from rural to urban areas, which indicates that urbanization depressed the number of species, reflecting the loss of specialized species strictly associated with natural habitats. The slope was highest for the rural curve, indicating that natural landscapes have the highest turnover due to their higher habitat heterogeneity. A higher slope for the urban cells, compared to the suburban ones, can be explained by the presence of green spaces embedded in the built-up matrix which host different avian communities. Previous studies that compared whole cities with natural areas failed to find differences in the respective SARs. Our study, which constructed SARs for different levels of urbanization, indicated significant changes in the SARs along the rural-urban gradient. Further analyses in other cities and taxa will be useful to test how general are our findings.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Influence of urbanization on the avian species-area relationship: insights from the breeding birds of Rome

2020

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“…Bird species richness was the highest in suburban areas, and this pattern may be related to a higher habitat complexity and more resources in suburban areas compared to urban and rural ones (Guthrie 1974, Vale and Vale 1976, Blair 1996, Leveau 2019). On the other hand, urban areas were dominated by a few exotic species that nest in buildings and have an omnivorous diet, such as the House Sparrow and the Rock Dove, and this pattern has been documented by several authors worldwide (Blair 1996;Clergeau et al 1998;Conole and Kirkpatrick 2011;van Rensburg et al 2009;Silva et al 2016;Escobar-Ibáñez et al 2020).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…Three habitat types were selected for bird surveys: (1) rural, composed of crops and pastures; (2) suburban, composed of detached houses with yards; and (3) urban dominated by impervious surfaces (see Leveau, 2019 for details). Five 100 × 50-m transects separated by at least 200 m were placed in each habitat (see also Rajashekara and Venkatesha 2015).…”

Section: Bird Surveysmentioning

confidence: 99%

Consistency in bird community assembly over medium-term along rural-urban gradients in Argentina

Leveau

2021

Ecol Process

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Background The analysis of bird community assembly rules is fundamental to understand which mechanisms determine the composition of bird species in urban areas. However, the long-term variation of community assembly rules has not been analyzed yet. The objectives of this study are (1) to analyze the variation of community assembly rules along rural-urban gradients of three cities in central Argentina and (2) to compare the patterns of community assembly between two periods separated by 6 years. Bird surveys were performed along transects in urban, suburban, and rural habitats during 2011 and 2017. Departures from null models that took into account differences in species richness (standardized effect size, SES) were calculated for functional and phylogenetic diversities. Results A total of 57 species were recorded. Bird species richness was higher in suburban than in urban and rural habitats. SES of functional diversity increased over the years and was significantly lower in urban habitats than in rural habitats, showing a pattern of functional clustering in the most urbanized areas and functional randomness in rural ones. Phylogenetic diversity was higher in both suburban and urban habitats than rural ones, and the phylogenetic clustering in rural bird assemblages changed to randomness in suburban and urban habitats. Conclusions Bird communities in urban habitats were phylogenetically random and functionally clustered, evidencing environmental filtering by urbanization. In contrast, bird communities in rural areas tended to be phylogenetically clustered, evidencing that certain clades are adapted to rural areas. The processes structuring bird communities along rural-urban gradients were consistent between the 2 years compared.

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“…Secondly, the expansion and urban arrival can be related to an increase in potential prey, such as the Picazuro Pigeon, the Spot-winged Pigeon ( Patagioenas maculosa ), and the Eared Dove ( Zenaida auriculata ) [ 31 , 36 ]. Eared doves are abundant in urban areas of Buenos Aires province [ 44 ], and, according to personal unpublished data, their abundance has increased between 2004 and 2016 in Mar del Plata and Buenos Aires city. This increase in potential prey favoring urban raptor colonization has also been suggested in the case of Northern goshawks ( Accipiter gentilis ) in Hamburg, Germany [ 18 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Harris Hawk (Parabuteo unicinctus) in Urban Areas of Argentina: Arrival in Mar Del Plata City and Green Area Use in Buenos Aires City

Leveau

2021

Animals

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Urbanization has a negative impact on raptor species diversity and abundance. However, some species can adapt to urban areas, and the process of city colonization by raptors has been documented scarcely in the Northern Hemisphere. Information about city colonization by raptors in the Southern Hemisphere is null, and studies about habitat use by raptors are scarce. The objectives of this study were: (1) to describe an event of Harris Hawk (Parabuteo unicinctus) arrival in Mar del Plata city, Argentina, and (2) to analyze its green area use in a recently colonized city, Buenos Aires. Long-term data collected during 2002–2019, along an urbanization gradient of Mar del Plata, was used to describe the city arrival by the Harris Hawk. Surveys of green areas in Buenos Aires were used to model the Harris Hawk occurrence in relation to green area size and isolation to other green spaces. The Harris Hawk arrival was observed during 2019, mainly in periurban areas of Mar del Plata, and at least three pairs were breeding. In Buenos Aires, the occurrence of the Harris Hawk in green areas was related to the proximity to other large green areas. The results obtained suggest the importance of green areas for raptor colonization in cities.

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Primary productivity and habitat diversity predict bird species richness and composition along urban-rural gradients of central Argentina

Cited by 28 publications

References 67 publications

Influence of urbanization on the avian species-area relationship: insights from the breeding birds of Rome

Influence of urbanization on the avian species-area relationship: insights from the breeding birds of Rome

Consistency in bird community assembly over medium-term along rural-urban gradients in Argentina

The Harris Hawk (Parabuteo unicinctus) in Urban Areas of Argentina: Arrival in Mar Del Plata City and Green Area Use in Buenos Aires City

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