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Urban Ecosyst (2009) 12:249263
DOI 10.1007/s11252-009-0092-0
Enrique Murgui
Published online: 21 March 2009# Springer Science + Business Media, LLC 2009
Abstract Studies on bird fauna of urban environments have had a long history, but the potential of studies mapping the distribution of birds in cities probably has not fully developed. The bird fauna of the municipality of Valencia (Spain) was studied to determine the influence of urbanization on bird species richness and abundance. Birds were censused during winter and the breeding season of years 19971998 in 197 squares measuring 49 ha each from a rural and an urbanized area. Across seasons the number of species decreased around 40% in the city compared with the rural landscape surrounding it. Such pattern could be attributed to the low number of farmland species capable to use the habitats inside the city, and the limited ability of urban parks in attracting woodland species. In the urban landscape, the influence of the dimensions and spatial arrangement of habitat patches was outweighed by the amount of each habitat per square. Bird richness and the abundance of most species were negatively related with the amount of built-up habitat per square and positively with the amount of urban parks, and of habitat diversity. Conversely, bird fauna was largely independent of mean park size per square especially during winter, indicating that at the landscape scale even small patches of habitat could play an ecological role. Conservation of urban bird diversity could benefit of two complementary strategies: (i) the protection of the surrounding rural landscape from urban development; (ii) habitat enhancement within the city. Particularly, a proper design and habitat management of urban parks could improve their suitability for urban bird fauna.
Keywords Bird . Conservation . Landscape . Rural . Seasonality . Urban
Introduction
Urbanization covers a wide range of biophysical, ecological and social phenomena that operate at different temporal and spatial scales (for a review see Pickett et al. 2001). These
E. Murgui (*)
Grupo para el Estudio de las Aves, G.V. Marqus del Turia 28, 46005 Valencia, Spain e-mail: [email protected]
Influence of urban landscape structure on bird fauna:a case study across seasons in the city of Valencia (Spain)
250 Urban Ecosyst (2009) 12:249263
phenomena have attracted the attention of ecologists for many...