Ecological traits predict population trends of urban birds in Europe
(2024) In Ecological Indicators 160.- Abstract
The population dynamics of urban animals has been so far remarkably understudied. At the same time, urban species’ population trends can provide important information on the consequences of environmental changes in cities. We modelled long-term population trends of 93 bird species breeding in urban areas in 16 European countries as a function of species’ traits, characterising variability in their urbanization and ecology. We found that: (i) earlier colonisers have more negative population trends than recent colonisers; (ii) more urbanized open habitat species had more positive population trends than less urbanized open habitat species; (iii) highly urbanized birds breeding above the ground had more negative trends than highly urbanized... (More)
The population dynamics of urban animals has been so far remarkably understudied. At the same time, urban species’ population trends can provide important information on the consequences of environmental changes in cities. We modelled long-term population trends of 93 bird species breeding in urban areas in 16 European countries as a function of species’ traits, characterising variability in their urbanization and ecology. We found that: (i) earlier colonisers have more negative population trends than recent colonisers; (ii) more urbanized open habitat species had more positive population trends than less urbanized open habitat species; (iii) highly urbanized birds breeding above the ground had more negative trends than highly urbanized ground breeders. These patterns can be explained by several processes occurring in cities as well as outside city borders. Namely, (i) pre-industrial colonisers might struggle to persist in rapidly changing urban areas, limiting their foraging and breeding opportunities of the birds. (ii) Open habitats are under pressure of intensive agricultural exploitation in rural areas, which may negatively affect populations of less urbanized birds. In contrast, urban areas do not experience such pressure keeping the trends of urbanized open habitat species more positive. (iii) Differences in population trends between highly urbanized ground and above-ground breeders suggest that the latter may lose their breeding opportunities in modern buildings that do not provide suitable breeding sites. Our results indicate that even once successful, city dwellers may not keep pace with changes in urban areas, but these areas may also provide suitable habitats for biodiversity.
(Less)
- author
- Grünwald, Jan
; Auniņš, Ainārs
; Brambilla, Mattia
; Escandell, Virginia
; Eskildsen, Daniel Palm
; Chodkiewicz, Tomasz
; Fontaine, Benoît
; Jiguet, Frédéric
; Kålås, John Atle
; Kamp, Johannes
; Klvaňová, Alena
; Kuczyński, Lechosław
; Lehikoinen, Aleksi
LU
; Lindström, Åke
LU
; Nellis, Renno
; Jostein Øien, Ingar
; Šilarová, Eva
; Strebel, Nicolas
; Vikstrøm, Thomas
; Voříšek, Petr
and Reif, Jiří
(Less) - organization
- publishing date
- 2024
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- Bird ecology, Population dynamics, Time since urbanization, Urban birds, Urban ecology, Urbanization
- in
- Ecological Indicators
- volume
- 160
- article number
- 111926
- publisher
- Elsevier
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:85188666299
- ISSN
- 1470-160X
- DOI
- 10.1016/j.ecolind.2024.111926
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 0c70b715-7b03-4f90-8523-8c655c2ed590
- date added to LUP
- 2024-04-11 14:17:02
- date last changed
- 2024-04-11 14:18:28
@article{0c70b715-7b03-4f90-8523-8c655c2ed590,
abstract = {{<p>The population dynamics of urban animals has been so far remarkably understudied. At the same time, urban species’ population trends can provide important information on the consequences of environmental changes in cities. We modelled long-term population trends of 93 bird species breeding in urban areas in 16 European countries as a function of species’ traits, characterising variability in their urbanization and ecology. We found that: (i) earlier colonisers have more negative population trends than recent colonisers; (ii) more urbanized open habitat species had more positive population trends than less urbanized open habitat species; (iii) highly urbanized birds breeding above the ground had more negative trends than highly urbanized ground breeders. These patterns can be explained by several processes occurring in cities as well as outside city borders. Namely, (i) pre-industrial colonisers might struggle to persist in rapidly changing urban areas, limiting their foraging and breeding opportunities of the birds. (ii) Open habitats are under pressure of intensive agricultural exploitation in rural areas, which may negatively affect populations of less urbanized birds. In contrast, urban areas do not experience such pressure keeping the trends of urbanized open habitat species more positive. (iii) Differences in population trends between highly urbanized ground and above-ground breeders suggest that the latter may lose their breeding opportunities in modern buildings that do not provide suitable breeding sites. Our results indicate that even once successful, city dwellers may not keep pace with changes in urban areas, but these areas may also provide suitable habitats for biodiversity.</p>}},
author = {{Grünwald, Jan and Auniņš, Ainārs and Brambilla, Mattia and Escandell, Virginia and Eskildsen, Daniel Palm and Chodkiewicz, Tomasz and Fontaine, Benoît and Jiguet, Frédéric and Kålås, John Atle and Kamp, Johannes and Klvaňová, Alena and Kuczyński, Lechosław and Lehikoinen, Aleksi and Lindström, Åke and Nellis, Renno and Jostein Øien, Ingar and Šilarová, Eva and Strebel, Nicolas and Vikstrøm, Thomas and Voříšek, Petr and Reif, Jiří}},
issn = {{1470-160X}},
keywords = {{Bird ecology; Population dynamics; Time since urbanization; Urban birds; Urban ecology; Urbanization}},
language = {{eng}},
publisher = {{Elsevier}},
series = {{Ecological Indicators}},
title = {{Ecological traits predict population trends of urban birds in Europe}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2024.111926}},
doi = {{10.1016/j.ecolind.2024.111926}},
volume = {{160}},
year = {{2024}},
}