Abstract
The prominent role of the absolute amount of (semi)natural habitats on urban avifauna richness is well documented; however the relative role of habitat availability, heterogeneity and spatial position at the scale of a whole city has not been investigated so far. The main objective of this study was to evaluate the relative influence of these variables on the species richness and rarity value of bird communities in the city of Prague, Czech Republic. We used three modes to describe the urban environment, resulting in different habitat category resolutions. Coarse habitat descriptors were good enough for predicting species richness, but a more detailed resolution was better in explaining the distribution of communities comprising rarer species. The availability of wooded habitats was consistently the most important variable explaining both richness and rarity of bird communities. Habitat heterogeneity enhanced species richness, especially in highly urbanized areas where wooded habitats were scarce. However, rarer species responded to habitat heterogeneity only weakly. The influence of grid cell spatial position on bird community richness was overridden by the impacts of habitat availability and heterogeneity. However, communities comprising rarer species tended to breed at peripheral sites encompassing open habitats and large woodlands. The preservation of sufficient wooded habitats including small patches remains the key tool for bird conservation in cities, and habitat heterogeneity should be supported in areas with less than ca. 3 % of wooded habitats. Rarer species benefit from the maintenance of more extensive patches of greenery in peripheral urban areas.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Andrén H (1994) Effects of habitat fragmentation on birds and mammals in landscapes with different proportions of suitable habitat - a review. Oikos 71:355–366. doi:10.2307/3545823
Blair RB (1996) Land use and avian species diversity along an urban gradient. Ecol Appl 6:506–519. doi:10.2307/2269387
Bolger DT, Allison CA, Soule ME (1991) Occurrence patterns of bird species in habitat fragments: sampling, extinction, and nested species subsets. Am Nat 137:155–166. doi:10.2307/2462110
Breiman L (2001) Random forests. Mach Learn 45:5–32. doi:10.1023/a:1010933404324
Breiman L, Friedman JH, Olshen RA, Stone CJ (1984) Classification and regression trees. Wadsworth & Brooks Monterey, CA
Chace JF, Walsh JJ (2006) Urban effects on native avifauna: a review. Landsc Urban Plan 74:46–69. doi:10.1016/j.landurbplan.2004.08.007
Chiari C, Dinetti M, Licciardello C, Licitra G, Pautasso M (2010) Urbanization and the more-individuals hypothesis. J Anim Ecol 79:366–371. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2656.2009.01631.x
Clergeau P, Jokimäki J, Savard JPL (2001) Are urban bird communities influenced by the bird diversity of adjacent landscapes? J Appl Ecol 38:1122–1134. doi:10.1046/j.1365-2664.2001.00666.x
Clergeau P, Croci S, Jokimäki J, Kaisanlahti-Jokimäki ML, Dinetti M (2006) Avifauna homogenisation by urbanisation: analysis at different European latitudes. Biol Conserv 127:336–344. doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2005.06.035
Connell JH (1978) Diversity in tropical rain forests and coral reefs. Science 199(4335):1302–1310. doi:10.1126/science.199.4335.1302
Croci S, Butet A, Georges A, Aguejdad R, Clergeau P (2008) Small urban woodlands as biodiversity conservation hot-spot: a multi-taxon approach. Landsc Ecol 23:1171–1186. doi:10.1007/s10980-008-9257-0
Cutler DR, Edwards TC, Beard KH, Cutler A, Hess KT (2007) Random forests for classification in ecology. Ecology 88:2783–2792. doi:10.1890/07-0539.1
Dale S, Lifjeld JT, Rowe M (2015) Commonness and ecology, but not bigger brains, predict urban living in birds. BMC Ecol 15:1–14. doi:10.1186/s12898-015-0044-x
De'ath G, Fabricius KE (2000) Classification and regression trees: a powerful yet simple technique for ecological data analysis. Ecology 81:3178–3192. doi:10.1890/0012-9658(2000)081[3178:cartap]2.0.co;2
Donald PF, Fuller RJ (1998) Ornithological atlas data: a review of uses and limitations. Bird Study 45:129–145. doi:10.1080/00063659809461086
Evans KL, Newson SE, Gaston KJ (2009) Habitat influences on urban avian assemblages. Ibis 151:19–39. doi:10.1111/j.1474-919X.2008.00898.x
Ferenc M, Sedláček O, Fuchs R, Dinetti M, Fraissinet M, Storch D (2014a) Are cities different? Patterns of species richness and beta diversity of urban bird communities and regional species assemblages in Europe. Glob Ecol Biogeogr 23:479–489. doi:10.1111/geb.12130
Ferenc M, Sedláček O, Fuchs R (2014b) How to improve urban greenspace for woodland birds: site and local-scale determinants of bird species richness. Urban Ecosyst 17:625–640. doi:10.1007/s11252-013-0328-x
Fernández-Juricic E (2000) Bird community composition patterns in urban parks of Madrid: the role of age, size and isolation. Ecol Res 15:373–383. doi:10.1046/j.1440-1703.2000.00358.x
Fernández-Juricic E (2001) Avian spatial segregation at edges and interiors of urban parks in Madrid, Spain. Biodivers Conserv 10:1303–1316
Fernández-Juricic E (2004) Spatial and temporal analysis of the distribution of forest specialists in an urban-fragmented landscape (Madrid, Spain) - implications for local and regional bird conservation. Landsc Urban Plan 69:17–32. doi:10.1016/j.landurbplan.2003.09.001
Fernández-Juricic E, Jokimäki J (2001) A habitat island approach to conserving birds in urban landscapes: case studies from southern and Northern Europe. Biodivers Conserv 10:2023–2043. doi:10.1023/A:1013133308987
Fuchs R, Škopek J, Formánek J, Exnerová A (2002) Atlas hnízdního rozšíření ptáků Prahy. ČSO, Praha
Garaffa PI, Filloy J, Bellocq MI (2009) Bird community responses along urban-rural gradients: does the size of the urbanized area matter? Landsc Urban Plan 90:33–41. doi:10.1016/j.landurbplan.2008.10.004
Hostetler ME, Holling CS (2000) Detecting the scales at which birds respond to landscape structure in urban landscapes. Urban Ecosyst 4:25–54. doi:10.1023/a:1009587719462
http://www.envis.praha-mesto.cz; Editor (2010). Příroda, krajina a zeleň v Praze. Retrieved August, 2010
http://www.czso.cz; Editor (2013). Databáze demografických údajů za obce ČR. Retrieved July 7, 2013
Husté A, Selmi S, Boulinier T (2006) Bird communities in suburban patches near Paris: determinants of local richness in a highly fragmented landscape. Ecoscience 13:249–257. doi:10.2980/i1195-6860-13-2-249.1
Jarošík V (2011) CART and related methods. In: Simberloff D, Rejmánek M (eds) Encyclopedia of biological invasions. University of California Press, Berkeley, pp. 104–108
Jokimäki J (1999) Occurrence of breeding bird species in urban parks: effects of park structure and broad-scale variables. Urban Ecosyst 3:21–34. doi:10.1023/a:1009505418327
Latta S, Musher L, Latta K, Katzner T (2013) Influence of human population size and the built environment on avian assemblages in urban green spaces. Urban Ecosyst 16:463–479. doi:10.1007/s11252-012-0282-z
Lennon JJ, Koleff P, Greenwood JJD, Gaston KJ (2004) Contribution of rarity and commonness to patterns of species richness. Ecol Lett 7:81–87. doi:10.1046/j.1461-0248.2004.00548.x
Liaw A, Wiener M (2002) Classification and regression by randomForest. R News 2(3):18–22
MacGregor-Fors I, Ortega-Álvarez R (2011) Fading from the forest: bird community shifts related to urban park site-specific and landscape traits. Urban For Urban Green 10:239–246. doi:10.1016/j.ufug.2011.03.004
Marzluff JM (2005) Island biogeography for an urbanizing world: how extinction and colonization may determine biological diversity in human-dominated landscapes. Urban Ecosyst 8:157–177. doi:10.1007/978-0-387-73412-5_23
Marzluff JM, Ewing K (2001) Restoration of fragmented landscapes for the conservation of birds: a general framework and specific recommendations for urbanizing landscapes. Restor Ecol 9:280–292. doi:10.1046/j.1526-100x.2001.009003280.x
Marzluff JM, Bowman R, Donnelly R (2001) A historical perspective on urban bird research: trends, terms, and approaches. In: Marzluff J, Bowman R, Donnelly R (eds.) Avian ecology and conservation in an urbanizing world. (pp. 1–17). Springer Science and Bussiness Media
McKinney ML (2002) Urbanization, biodiversity, and conservation. Bioscience 52:883–890. doi:10.1641/0006-3568(2002)052[0883:ubac]2.0.co;2
McKinney ML (2006) Urbanization as a major cause of biotic homogenization. Biol Conserv 127:247–260. doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2005.09.005
McKinney ML (2008) Effects of urbanization on species richness: a review of plants and animals. Urban Ecosyst 11:161–176. doi:10.1007/s11252-007-0045-4
Melles S, Glenn S, Martin K (2003) Urban bird diversity and landscape complexity: species-environment associations along a multiscale habitat gradient. Conserv Ecol 7:1
Mörtberg UM (2001) Resident bird species in urban forest remnants; landscape and habitat perspectives. Landsc Ecol 16:193–203. doi:10.1023/a:1011190902041
Murgui E (2009) Influence of urban landscape structure on bird fauna: a case study across seasons in the city of Valencia (Spain). Urban Ecosyst 12:249–263. doi:10.1007/s11252-009-0092-0
Patón D, Romero F, Cuenca J, Escudero JC (2012) Tolerance to noise in 91 bird species from 27 urban gardens of Iberian peninsula. Landsc Urban Plan 104:1–8. doi:10.1016/j.landurbplan.2011.09.002
Purvis A, Gittleman JL, Cowlishaw G, Mace GM (2000) Predicting extinction risk in declining species. Proc R Soc B Biol Sci 267:1947–1952. doi:10.1098/rspb.2000.1234
R Core Team (2013). R: a language and environment for statistical computing. R foundation for statistical computing. Vienna, Austria. URL: http://www.R-project.org/
Šálek M, Marhoul P, Pintíř J, Kopecký T, Slab L (2004) Importance of unmanaged wasteland patches for the Grey partridge Perdix perdix in suburban habitats. Acta Oecol 25:23–33. doi:10.1016/j.actao.2003.10.003
Šálek M, Chrenková M, Dobrý M, Kipson M, Grill S, Radovan V (2016) Scale-dependent habitat associations of a rapidly declining farmland predator, the little owl Athene noctua, in contrasting agricultural landscapes. Agric Ecosyst Environ 224:56–66. doi:10.1016/j.agee.2016.03.031
Sandström UG, Angelstam P, Mikusinski G (2006) Ecological diversity of birds in relation to the structure of urban green space. Landsc Urban Plan 77:39–53. doi:10.1016/j.landurbplan.2005.01.004
Shannon CE (1948) A mathematical theory of communication. Bell System Technical Journal 27:379–423
Sharrock JR (1976) The atlas of breeding birds in Britain and Ireland. British Trust for Ornithology/Irish Wildbird Conservancy, Tring
Šímová P, Šťastný K, Šálek M (2015) Refugial role of urbanized areas and colonization potential for declining crested lark (Galerida cristata) populations in the Czech Republic, Central Europe. J Ornithol 156:915–921. doi:10.1007/s10336-015-1203-8
Sorace A, Gustin M (2010) Bird species of conservation concern along urban gradients in Italy. Biodivers Conserv 19:205–221. doi:10.1007/s10531-009-9716-1
SPSS (1998) Sigma Scan Pro 5.0. SPSS Science Marketing Dep., Chicago
Šťastný K, Procházka P, Bejček V, Hudec K (1997) Atlas hnízdního rozšíření ptáků v České republice 1985–1989. H & H, Praha
Strobl C, Malley J, Tutz G (2009) An introduction to recursive partitioning: rationale, application, and characteristics of classification and regression trees, bagging, and random forests. Psychol Methods 14:323–348. doi:10.1037/a0016973
Therneau T, Atkinson B, Ripley B (2013) Rpart: recursive partitioning. R Package Version 4:1–1
Tratalos J, Fuller RA, Evans KL, Davies RG, Newson SE, Greenwood JJD, Gaston KJ (2007) Bird densities are associated with household densities. Glob Chang Biol 13:1685–1695. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2486.2007.01390.x
Turner WR, Nakamura T, Dinetti M (2004) Global urbanization and the separation of humans from nature. Bioscience 54:585–590. doi:10.1641/0006-3568(2004)054[0585:guatso]2.0.co;2
Acknowledgments
We are grateful to the 153 volunteers who collected data on the distribution of breeding birds in Prague. David Hardekopf improved the English of the paper. We thank the editor and anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments on previous versions of the manuscript.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Electronic supplementary material
ESM 1
(DOCX 77 kb)
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Ferenc, M., Sedláček, O., Mourková, J. et al. Disentangling the influences of habitat availability, heterogeneity and spatial position on the species richness and rarity of urban bird communities in a central European city. Urban Ecosyst 19, 1265–1281 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11252-016-0558-9
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11252-016-0558-9