scholarly journals Pigeons and People: Resource Ecology and Human Dimensions of Urban Wildlife

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Symone Krimowa
Keyword(s):  
Urban Areas ◽  
Resource Selection ◽  
Central City ◽  
Human Dimensions ◽  
Urban Wildlife ◽  
Human Populations ◽  
Flock Size ◽  
Feral Pigeon ◽  
Negative Attitudes ◽  
Feral Pigeons

<p>Urban areas and human populations are growing. Cities provide highly modified habitat for species that can adapt their feeding and other behaviours. The growth of urban landscapes and human populations may result in an increase in human-wildlife conflict. Businesses which prepare and sell food (food establishments) may be more likely to encounter conflict with urban wildlife, which may lead to negative attitudes towards urban wildlife. Negative attitudes towards wildlife could create polarised communities and possibly affect the success of environmental initiatives. This study sought to understand (1) how feral pigeons use urban environments and the resources key to their distribution and congregation; (2) whether feral pigeons are food limited in Wellington City; and (3) how the interactions of owners and managers of food establishments with feral pigeons influence their attitudes to feral pigeons. I used 8 transects through the central City which covered a representative sample of urban habitats, including the central business district, green space, and waterfront to estimate resource selection. Bird capture and banding were used to determine feral pigeon condition at a range of sites across the City and included a mix of high, medium and low anthropogenic fed sites. A written survey of owners and managers of food establishments in Wellington was conducted to evaluate attitudes to feral pigeons (n = 62). Feral pigeon resource selection is mainly influenced by people and where they choose to eat (∆AIC ≤ W = 0.999), such as sites with outdoor seating where people may directly feed feral pigeons. However, once a site has been selected, areas with tertiary vegetation and disposed food (W = 0.324 and W = 0.297) are the most likely to attract larger flocks of feral pigeons (although a number of other variables also influence flock size, such as availability of freshwater). Feral pigeons do not appear to be food limited in Wellington as condition was not significantly different between sites (n=48, body condition, (body mass/tarsus length) Kruskal-Wallis = 2.06, p = 0.36; keel condition, Kruskal-Wallis = 0.7283, p = 0.6948; feather condition Kruskal-Wallis = 2.7943, p = 0.2473). Attitudes of food establishment owners and managers towards feral pigeons are most influenced by how often they see feral pigeons (∆AICc ≤ W = 0:465). Therefore, direct experience rather than knowledge, engagement, action or socio-demographics has the most influence on attitudes of owners and managers of food establishments. These results suggest that feral pigeon populations are largely dependent on the availability of anthropogenic foods. Reducing the food provided by people may limit feral pigeon populations. Reductions in pigeon populations are also likely to change attitudes of business owners and reduce conflict because they will be less likely to encounter pigeons. Limiting feeding and access to food waste is probably the most effective way of managing pigeon populations.</p>

scholarly journals Pigeons and People: Resource Ecology and Human Dimensions of Urban Wildlife

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Symone Krimowa
Keyword(s):  
Urban Areas ◽  
Resource Selection ◽  
Central City ◽  
Human Dimensions ◽  
Urban Wildlife ◽  
Human Populations ◽  
Flock Size ◽  
Feral Pigeon ◽  
Negative Attitudes ◽  
Feral Pigeons

<p>Urban areas and human populations are growing. Cities provide highly modified habitat for species that can adapt their feeding and other behaviours. The growth of urban landscapes and human populations may result in an increase in human-wildlife conflict. Businesses which prepare and sell food (food establishments) may be more likely to encounter conflict with urban wildlife, which may lead to negative attitudes towards urban wildlife. Negative attitudes towards wildlife could create polarised communities and possibly affect the success of environmental initiatives. This study sought to understand (1) how feral pigeons use urban environments and the resources key to their distribution and congregation; (2) whether feral pigeons are food limited in Wellington City; and (3) how the interactions of owners and managers of food establishments with feral pigeons influence their attitudes to feral pigeons. I used 8 transects through the central City which covered a representative sample of urban habitats, including the central business district, green space, and waterfront to estimate resource selection. Bird capture and banding were used to determine feral pigeon condition at a range of sites across the City and included a mix of high, medium and low anthropogenic fed sites. A written survey of owners and managers of food establishments in Wellington was conducted to evaluate attitudes to feral pigeons (n = 62). Feral pigeon resource selection is mainly influenced by people and where they choose to eat (∆AIC ≤ W = 0.999), such as sites with outdoor seating where people may directly feed feral pigeons. However, once a site has been selected, areas with tertiary vegetation and disposed food (W = 0.324 and W = 0.297) are the most likely to attract larger flocks of feral pigeons (although a number of other variables also influence flock size, such as availability of freshwater). Feral pigeons do not appear to be food limited in Wellington as condition was not significantly different between sites (n=48, body condition, (body mass/tarsus length) Kruskal-Wallis = 2.06, p = 0.36; keel condition, Kruskal-Wallis = 0.7283, p = 0.6948; feather condition Kruskal-Wallis = 2.7943, p = 0.2473). Attitudes of food establishment owners and managers towards feral pigeons are most influenced by how often they see feral pigeons (∆AICc ≤ W = 0:465). Therefore, direct experience rather than knowledge, engagement, action or socio-demographics has the most influence on attitudes of owners and managers of food establishments. These results suggest that feral pigeon populations are largely dependent on the availability of anthropogenic foods. Reducing the food provided by people may limit feral pigeon populations. Reductions in pigeon populations are also likely to change attitudes of business owners and reduce conflict because they will be less likely to encounter pigeons. Limiting feeding and access to food waste is probably the most effective way of managing pigeon populations.</p>

Urban Greening and Human-Wildlife Relations in Philadelphia: From Animal Control to Multispecies Coexistence?

2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 67-87 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Hunold
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Green Infrastructure ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Urban Runoff ◽  
Urban Wildlife ◽  
Wildlife Habitat ◽  
Wild Animals ◽  
Urban Greening ◽  
Human Needs ◽  
Animal Control

City-scale urban greening is expanding wildlife habitat in previously less hospitable urban areas. Does this transformation also prompt a reckoning with the longstanding idea that cities are places intended to satisfy primarily human needs? I pose this question in the context of one of North America's most ambitious green infrastructure programmes to manage urban runoff: Philadelphia's Green City, Clean Waters. Given that the city's green infrastructure plans have little to say about wildlife, I investigate how wild animals fit into urban greening professionals' conceptions of the urban. I argue that practitioners relate to urban wildlife via three distinctive frames: 1) animal control, 2) public health and 3) biodiversity, and explore the implications of each for peaceful human-wildlife coexistence in 'greened' cities.

Urban wildlife in times of COVID-19: What can we infer from novel carnivore records in urban areas?

2020 ◽  
pp. 142713 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eduardo A. Silva-Rodríguez ◽  
Nicolás Gálvez ◽  
George J.F. Swan ◽  
Jeremy J. Cusack ◽  
Darío Moreira-Arce
Keyword(s):  
Urban Areas ◽  
Urban Wildlife

Assessing the seasonal variability of shallow underground waters quality from a volcanic – sedimentary formation during El Niño event in Panama

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mario Luis Miranda Montenegro ◽  
Ana Garcia ◽  
Raizha Batista ◽  
Obdulia de Montilla ◽  
Arkin Tapia ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Drinking Water ◽  
El Niño ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
El Nino ◽  
Anthropogenic Activity ◽  
Human Populations ◽  
Ph Values ◽  
El Niño Event ◽  
Geological Conditions ◽  
Groundwater Reserves

Abstract Providing drinking water to growing populations has become a worldwide concern. Therefore, in many countries some groundwater reserves are now being used to supply drinking water in remote urban areas. The state of these groundwater reserves is strongly influenced by the local geological conditions. Furthermore, climate change has caused a decrease in the periodicity of environmental conditions such as rainfalls, a key driver in replenishing these reserves. In 2019, the weak El Niño event affected the rainfall pattern, as well as physical and chemical quality of shallow ground waters in Panama. Within this study, the northwestern central region of Panama groundwaters have been systematically characterized during El Niño 2018 – 2019 event. Our results indicate that changes in values of physicochemical parameters such as alkalinity, pH and conductivity are related to changes in the amount of rainfall reported in the region starting from dry season (DS) to the rainy season (RS). Chloride was recorded as an indicator of anthropogenic activity and/or the effect of human populations on specific sites in the aquifer recharge zones. Lead (Pb2+), Zinc (Zn2+), Manganese (Mn2+), and Copper (Cu2+) concentrations in the groundwater were evaluated during the DS and RS 2019. Recorded data indicates sub – lethal concentrations of Pb2+, Zn2+, Mn2+ were associated to changes in alkalinity values of groundwater during the DS. While during the RS, a decrease in pH values favored the dissolution of Cu2+ and Zn2+. Our findings suggest that seasonal rainfall deficits modify shallow underground water alkalinity and pH values, inducing the redissolution of Pb2+, Zn2+, Mn2+, Cu 2+and exposing populations to sub – lethal concentrations of those microelements.

Belled collars reduce catch of domestic cats in New Zealand by half

2010 ◽  
Vol 37 (5) ◽  
pp. 372 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. K. Gordon ◽  
C. Matthaei ◽  
Y. van Heezik
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Experimental Studies ◽  
Urban Wildlife ◽  
Control Measures ◽  
Domestic Cats ◽  
The Public ◽  
Negative Impacts ◽  
Catch Rates ◽  
The Uk

Context. As evidence accumulates implicating domestic cats as significant predators of urban wildlife, the need for effective mitigation of potentially negative impacts becomes more pressing. Belled collars are probably one of the cheapest and least intrusive methods, although the opinion of a proportion of members of the public in New Zealand is that they are not effective. Aims. We aimed to determine whether belled collars reduced prey catch. Methods. Prey caught and brought back home by cats that were regular hunters during 6 weeks when they wore a belled collar was compared with prey caught during 6 weeks when they did not wear a collar. Key results. Predation of birds and rodents was reduced by 50% and 61%, respectively. The number of rats, lizards and insects was not significantly reduced; however, these constituted a small proportion of the total catch. Sex and age of cats, as well as time did not affect catch rates, with the exception that older cats were more likely to catch rats (Rattus spp.) than were younger cats. Most of the cats in the study were young, reflecting our selection criteria that cats be regular and frequent hunters. Conclusions. The degree to which catch of birds and rodents was reduced is similar to that reported in two experimental studies in the UK, and confirms that belled collars are effective in the New Zealand environment. Implications. In New Zealand, small mammals are introduced pests and hunters of native wildlife; predation by cats may regulate their populations in urban areas and so care should be taken when instituting cat-control measures. It is also possible that a 50% reduction in predation may be insufficient to ensure viability for some urban wildlife populations.

The Role of Road Infrastructure and Air Pollution in the Recent Suburbanization of India’s Cities

2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 151-169 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew J. Holian ◽  
Kala Seetharam Sridhar
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Population Density ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Regression Models ◽  
Central City ◽  
Road Transport ◽  
Transport Infrastructure ◽  
Multiple Regression Models ◽  
Indian Cities

This article re-examines the suburbanization of Indian cities by calculating population density gradients, for a large number of urban agglomerations, using recent data and Mills’ two-point method. In the next step, we estimate multiple regression models to explore the determinants of suburbanization. This study presents several methodological advances over previous research, by incorporating new measures of transport infrastructure, air pollution and city–suburb income ratios as determinants of suburbanization of Indian cities. Our results clearly show that suburbanization is higher in urban areas with higher population and lower central city–suburban literacy ratios. We find some evidence that suburbanization is higher in urban areas with more road transport infrastructure, consistent with our expectations, though results concerning air pollution run counter to expectations. However, these could relate to caveats regarding the data and methods.

Urban Development and Civic Community: A Comparative Analysis

1996 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-23 ◽  
Author(s):  
David McKay
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Central City ◽  
The United States ◽  
Urban Systems ◽  
Social Forces ◽  
Market Place ◽  
Economic Market ◽  
Explanatory Factors ◽  
Civic Community

This article attempts to explain why it is that in spite of being exposed to similar economic and social forces, cities in Europe and the United States have followed distinctive patterns of development. In continental Europe core urban areas have remained relatively resilient compared with equivalent areas in Britain and the United States. While economic and demographic factors are important explanatory factors, they cannot account for all of the important differences characteristic of the three urban systems, whether measured in quantitative or qualitative terms. It is argued that Continental cities are better protected because of a long-established elite commitment to specific urban areas which has its roots in the development of the modern state. This commitment is labelled ‘civic community’ which finds political expression through complex representational networks at the local, regional and national levels. In Britain no equivalent networks exist and civic community is low. As a result, elites have little commitment to core urban areas. In the United States, complex representational networks do exist, but they are not linked to a historically established elite commitment to core city areas. Instead, the economic market place determines the fortunes of central cities. It is concluded that these contrasting paths of development place considerable constraints on public policies designed to regenerate central city areas.

scholarly journals Temporal and Spatial Analyses of the Landscape Pattern of Wuhan City Based on Remote Sensing Images

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (9) ◽  
pp. 340 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jianjun Lv ◽  
Teng Ma ◽  
Zhiwen Dong ◽  
Yao Yao ◽  
Zehao Yuan
Keyword(s):  
Landscape Pattern ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Agricultural Landscape ◽  
Urban Landscape ◽  
Landscape Heterogeneity ◽  
Central City ◽  
National Level ◽  
Landscape Patterns ◽  
Wuhan City ◽  
Entire Area

With the acceleration of the process of building a national-level central city in Wuhan, the landscape pattern of the city has undergone tremendous changes. In this paper, remote images are classified through the neural network classification method, based on texture extraction, and the evolution of landscape patterns was quantitatively analyzed, based on the method of moving windows, landscape metrics and urban density calculation, in order to accurately extract landscape types and perform quantitative analyses. Wuhan City is taken as an example. The surface coverage of Wuhan City from 1989 to 2016 is divided into four types: agricultural landscape clusters, forest landscape clusters, water landscape clusters, and urban landscape clusters. It was concluded that, during the study period, the landscape heterogeneity of the entire area in Wuhan has increased, but the central urban area in Wuhan has decreased. The development of urban areas has compacted inwards but expanded outwards. In addition, the western part of Wuhan City developed better than the eastern part.

scholarly journals More Urbanization, Fewer Bats: The Importance of Forest Conservation in Honduras

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manfredo A. Turcios-Casco ◽  
Richard K. LaVal ◽  
Marcio Martínez ◽  
Hefer D. Ávila-Palma
Keyword(s):  
Urban Areas ◽  
Forest Conservation ◽  
Private Property ◽  
Central City ◽  
Activity Patterns ◽  
Old Growth ◽  
Bat Activity ◽  
The Family ◽  
Agricultural Use ◽  
Urbanized Areas

Urbanization is a phenomenon that results in fragmentation and eventual destruction of forests. Suburbanization is a subset of that same phenomenon in which fragmentation has resulted in the retention of small patches of the original forest and surviving old growth trees. Alternatively, the area surrounding the central city had been cleared for agricultural use and the suburban residents have planted many trees in parks and private property. This fragmentation will of course affect many species of bats, including species of the family Phyllostomidae. In this work, we estimate and compare the diversity of phyllostomid bats in three landscapes in Honduras: forests, suburban, and urban areas, from 2015 to 2018. Concurrently, we compared bat activity patterns based on the hour and percentage of moonlight at the time they were captured, and we compared external measurements, forearm and ear length. Urban areas are the least diverse and exhibited the lowest abundance. The forearm and ear length were significantly different only between forests and urban areas. The degree of lunar phobia also differed among those landscapes, but the time of capture did not differ. This is the first attempt to describe the activity patterns of phyllostomids in these studied areas and the effect of urbanization on Honduran bats. As expected, we found that from forests to cities, the diversity and abundance of phyllostomids decreased. However, there are many gaps in our knowledge of how totally or partially urbanized areas are affecting phyllostomid bats in Honduras.

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