103 research outputs found
The extended avian urban phenotype: anthropogenic solid waste pollution, nest design, and fitness
Solid waste pollution (garbage discarded by humans, such as plastic, metal, paper) has received increased attention
given its importance as a global threat to biodiversity. Recent studies highlight how animals incorporate anthropogenic
materials into their life-cycle, for example in avian nest construction. While increasingly monitored in natural
areas, the influence of solid waste pollution on wildlife has been seldomexplored in the urban habitat. There is limited
data on the relationship between anthropogenic solid waste pollution, nest design, and reproductive success in an
urban context.We address this knowledge gap (i) by investigating the presence of environmental solid waste pollution
in the breeding habitats of great tits Parus major and blue tits Cyanistes caeruleus reproducing in a gradient of urbanisation,
and (ii) by quantifying (ii) the contribution of different anthropogenic materials in their nests. We further examine
potential drivers of solid waste pollution by inferring three distinct properties of the urban space:
environmental solid waste pollution on the ground, human presence, and the intensity of urbanisation (e.g impervious
surfaces) in nestbox vicinity. Finally, (iii) we explore the relationship between anthropogenic nest materials and reproductive
success. We found that environmental solid waste pollution was positively associated with human presence
and urbanisation intensity. There was also a positive relationship between increased human presence and the amount
of anthropogenicmaterials in great tit nests. Interestingly, in both species, anthropogenic nest materials covaried negatively
with nest materials of animal origin (fur and feathers).We suggest that fur and feathers â key insulating materials
in nest design â may be scarcer in areas with high levels of human presence, and are consequently replaced with
anthropogenic nest materials. Finally, we report a negative relationship between anthropogenic nest materials and
blue tit reproductive success, suggesting species-specific vulnerability of urban birds to solid waste pollution.Polish National Agency for Academic Exchange (NAWA) PPN/IWA/2019/1/00070
PPN/IWA/2019/1/00069Polish National Science Centre (NCN) 2014/14/E/NZ8/00386
2016/21/B/NZ8/03082Foundation for Polish Science (FNP) scholarship "START
Effects of light and noise pollution on avian communities of European cities are correlated with the speciesâ diet
Urbanization affects avian community composition in European cities, increasing biotic
homogenization. Anthropic pollution (such as light at night and noise) is among the most important
drivers shaping bird use in urban areas, where bird species are mainly attracted by urban greenery.
In this study, we collected data on 127 breeding bird species at 1349 point counts distributed along
a gradient of urbanization in fourteen different European cities. The main aim was to explore the
effects of anthropic pollution and city characteristics, on shaping the avian communities, regarding
speciesâ diet composition. The green cover of urban areas increased the number of insectivorous
and omnivorous bird species, while slightly decreasing the overall diet heterogeneity of the avian
communities. The green heterogeneityâa measure of evenness considering the relative coverage of
grass, shrubs and treesâwas positively correlated with the richness of granivorous, insectivorous,
and omnivorous species, increasing the level of diet heterogeneity in the assemblages. Additionally,
the effects of light pollution on avian communities were associated with the speciesâ diet. Overall,
light pollution negatively affected insectivorous and omnivorous bird species while not affecting
granivorous species. The noise pollution, in contrast, was not significantly associated with changes in
species assemblages. Our results offer some tips to urban planners, managers, and ecologists, in the
challenge of producing more eco-friendly cities for the future.Czech Science Foundation GAÄR (Project
Number 18-16738S)The Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation
(PID2019-107423GA-I00/SRA State Research Agency/10.13039/501100011033)
How are Natura 2000 protected areas covering different components of avian diversity in Spain?
We are grateful to all ornithologists involved in fieldwork, data
collection, and data entry. We would like to thank SEO/Birdlife for
kindly allowing us to use their Spanish Atlas of Breeding Birds (MartĂ &
del Moral 2003) and particularly J.C. del Moral, B. Molina, and V.
Escandell for their help and patience. Finally, we thank anonymous reviewers
for their careful reading of our manuscript and their useful
suggestions, which helped us improve the textâs final version.Protected areas are a relevant conservation tool at our disposal, especially for developing management strategies
of natural habitats. However, explicit tests at large spatial scales about its effectivity protecting different components
of biodiversity are still rare. This study explored the spatial matching between the distribution of three
components of avian diversity (taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic metrics) and the network of Natura 2000
protected areas in Spain, the EU country with the most extensive terrestrial coverage.
Overall, the spatial distribution of taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic diversity was slightly spatially
congruent, matching with protected areas. However, each avian diversity metric showed differences in the
arrangement of spatial clusters, also regarding the environment type. Species richness was higher in forests while
it was lower in orchards, mixed environments, and arable lands. Functional dispersion was higher in forest and
arable lands, while it was lower in wetlands. In contrast, the highest phylogenetic diversity was associated with
wetlands and water bodies, with shrublands showing the lowest levels for this metric.
All three avian diversity metrics were overall higher within than outside the Natura 2000 network. The species
richness was higher in areas simultaneously protected by the Habitat and Birds Directives. Functional dispersion
was higher in protected areas designed under the Birds Directive. Finally, the evolutionary uniqueness was well
represented in all protected areas, although areas designed under Birds Directive showed the higher values for
this metric. The presence of spatial mismatch among avian diversity components suggests the importance of
considering taxonomic, functional, and evolutionary metrics simultaneously for a better spatial prioritisation in
conservation planning
Spatial Overlap and Habitat Selection of Corvid Species in European Cities
Understanding habitat and spatial overlap in sympatric species of urban areas would aid
in predicting species and community modifications in response to global change. Habitat overlap has
been widely investigated for specialist species but neglected for generalists living in urban settings.
Many corvid species are generalists and are adapted to urban areas. This work aimed to determine
the urban habitat requirements and spatial overlap of five corvid species in sixteen European cities
during the breeding season. All five studied corvid species had high overlap in their habitat selection
while still having particular tendencies. We found three species, the Carrion/Hooded Crow, Rook,
and Eurasian Magpie, selected open habitats. TheWestern Jackdaw avoided areas with bare soil cover,
and the Eurasian Jay chose more forested areas. The species with similar habitat selection also had
congruent spatial distributions. Our results indicate that although the corvids had some tendencies
regarding habitat selection, as generalists, they still tolerated a wide range of urban habitats, which
resulted in high overlap in their habitat niches and spatial distributions.Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation
(PID2019-107423GA-I00/SRA (State Research Agency/10.13039/501100011033)
Status of urban ecology in Africa: A systematic review
Urbanization is an extreme human activity and is expanding worldwide, consequently increasing the attention of scientists across research areas of urban ecology. Recent studies have warned of the lack of information from certain regions, particularly Africa, which is rapidly urbanizing. Thus, we did a detailed literature search to determine the state of knowledge in African urban ecology in the last century. We found 795 relevant papers from where data were collected and tested to understand geographic and ecological mismatches in research effort, allowing us to identify important knowledge gaps (e.g., taxonomy and scientific fields). We also tested the effect of current and future urbanization intensity, human population density, size and conservation status of
ecoregions and Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on research effort. Our results suggest a low turnout of papers and a dearth of knowledge about African urban ecology. Studies were conducted in 72% of African countries, with South Africa alone accounting for almost 40% of all published papers. The studies were either conducted at the city (55%) or local/country (34%) level, suggesting the lack of transnational research collaboration. Interestingly, only country GDP and the size and conservation status of ecoregions significantly predicted the number of publications, suggesting that research effort is driven by economic reasons and the relevance of conservation in African urban ecology. We need to account for these biases to advance our understanding of the impacts of urbanization on African biodiversity.The A.G. Leventis and APLORI Foundations, Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (PID2019-107423GAI00/SRA (State Research Agency/10.13039/501100011033), and the University of Granada/CBUA
Human-nature interactions in the Afrotropics: Experiential and cognitive connections among urban residents in southern Nigeria
Many people are losing direct contact with nature, a phenomenon termed as the extinction of experience. Urban dwellers are particularly affected by this process that influences public health and habitat conservation. We explored the extinction of experience among the urban populace in Nigeria, a clear Global South representative with rapidly increasing human population. We interviewed 600 adults from several cities and performed statistical tests. Results show that most respondents have no contact nor connection with nature, revealing an important distancing from the natural world. The reasons respondents gave for not experiencing nature more often are mainly related to material terms (e.g., lack of time, money and nearby natural areas). We found that respondents with higher nature contact are also more connected to nature, which is promoted by the perception
of neighborhood safety. Respondents living in Lagos, and those with lower levels of income and education show greater dissociation from nature. The relationships between real and perceived neighborhood naturalness and bird species are decoupled, but the perception of naturalness and bird species richness correlates. Our study provides novel information on the loss of human-nature interactions and its determinants in the Afrotropics. We recommend different actions necessary to ameliorate this problem.A.G. Leventis FoundationAPLORI FoundationSociety for Conservation Biology African SectionSpanish Ministry of Science and Innovation as part of the project PID2019-107423GA-I00 funded by the MCIN/ AEI/10.13039/501100011033Spanish Ministry of Universities (FPU19/02396)University of Granada/CBU
Migration behavior and performance of the great spotted cuckoo (Clamator glandarius)
The study of brood parasitism has traditionally been focused on the breeding period, but recent
evidence suggests that it urgently needs a new spatio-temporal perspective to explore novel
avenues on brood parasite-host co-evolutionary interactions. Many brood parasites are
migrants, but their ecology outside their short breeding season is poorly known. The great
spotted cuckoo (Clamator glandarius) is one of the classical models in the study of brood parasitism,
however, there is very little information on its migratory strategy, route and wintering
grounds. Furthermore, there is no previous information on the geographical distribution of mortality
and its causes in this species; information that is critical to understand the fluctuations in
cuckoo populations and detect potential conservation risks. Using satellite tracking technology,
we provide novel insight into the migratory behavior and performance of the great spotted
cuckoo. We found individuals from southern Spain to be long-distance nocturnal migrants that
use the East Atlantic Flyway for both post and pre-breeding migration, and that winter in the
western Sahel. We found evidence of individual variation in their migration route, particularly
regarding their post-breeding behavior in Spain. Our study also suggests that the south of
Morocco is the most dangerous area due to a large number of deaths during the post-breeding
migratory period. Furthermore, we found that natural predation seems to be the main cause of
death, probably due to raptors, although human activities (i.e. hunting) could also played a role
in the southern Mediterranean shore. Our study offers novel findings and challenges traditional
ideas on the ecology of this species providing a good example of how the new spatio-temporal
perspective can expand our knowledge on brood parasites.This study was partially funded by the
Spanish Ministerio de EconomĂa y Competitividad/
FEDER (research projects CGL2011-25634/BOS
and CGL2017-89338-P to M.S.)
Urbanisation and nest building in birds: a review of threats and opportunities
SJR would like to thank his undergraduate (Connor Barnes, Clare Davies, Emily Elwell, Corrie Grafton, Jacob Haddon, Claire Herlihy, Derek Law, Eleanor Leanne, Holly Mynott, Penny-Serena Pratt, Anna Smith, Peter Tasker, Alison Wildgoose, Amy Williams and Daniel Woodward) and postgraduate (Richard Bufton, Dan Hunt, Victoria Pattison-Willits and Jen Smith) ânestâ students, and Charles Deeming, who have all provided new insights about urban nests over the last few years. MCM thanks Charles Deeming, Tom Martin, Bret Tobalske and Blair Wolf for useful discussions on the topic of urban nesting birds. PS would like to thank the participants of the âHuman-Raptor InteractionsâFrom Conservation Priorities to Conflict Mitigationâ symposium, Arjun Amar, Daniel Berkowic, Shane McPherson and Steve Redpath for the useful discussions on the topic of urban conservation regarding humanâwildlife conflicts. JDI-Ă would like to thank Olivia Sanllorente for providing interesting discussions on the topic and her constant support. Finally, we all thank Dan Chamberlain and an anonymous reviewer for helpful comments that improved the manuscript significantly.The world is urbanising rapidly, and it is predicted that by 2050, 66% of the global human population will be living in urban areas. Urbanisation is characterised by land-use changes such as increased residential housing, business development and transport infrastructure, resulting in habitat loss and fragmentation. Over the past two decades, interest has grown in how urbanisation influences fundamental aspects of avian biology such as life-history strategies, survival, breeding performance, behaviour and individual health. Here, we review current knowledge on how urbanisation influences the nesting biology of birds, which determines important fitness-associated processes such as nest predation and community assembly. We identify three major research areas: (i) nest sites of birds in urban areas, (ii) the composition of their nests, and (iii) how these aspects of their nesting biology influence their persistence (and therefore conservation efforts) in urban areas. We show that birds inhabiting urban areas nest in a wide variety of locations, some beneficial through exploitation of otherwise relatively empty avian ecological niches, but others detrimental when birds breed in ecological traps. We describe urban-associated changes in nesting materials such as plastic and cigarette butts, and discuss several functional hypotheses that propose the adaptive value and potential costs of this new nesting strategy. Urban areas provide a relatively new habitat in which to conserve birds, and we show that nestboxes and other artificial nest sites can be used successfully to conserve some, but not all, bird species. Finally, we identify those subject areas that warrant further research attention in the hope of advancing our understanding of the nesting biology of birds in urban areas
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