Abstract
Bird species richness (S) and numbers (N) were studied in the breeding season in housing developments of different ages in a small English town and compared with village sites, urban green corridors and adjacent arable farmland. S and N were highest in village and green corridor sites. S in urban plots ranged from 13 to 18 species, similar to farmland, but N was much lower in farmland. Marked differences in the number of individual species between plots were recorded. S and N were independent of age of development and area of gardens within plots but both were correlated with the area of greenspace. Greenspace alone and combined with gardens was correlated with the numbers of several individual species. The results are discussed in relation to proposed new large-scale housing developments in England.
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Mason, C.F. (2006). Avian species richness and numbers in the built environment: can new housing developments be good for birds?. In: Hawksworth, D.L., Bull, A.T. (eds) Human Exploitation and Biodiversity Conservation. Topics in Biodiversity and Conservation, vol 3. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-5283-5_3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-5283-5_3
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