Does the Urban Gradient Influence the Composition and Ectoparasite Load of Nests of an Urban Bird Species?

Birds are known to respond to nest-dwelling parasites by altering behaviours. Some bird species, for example, bring fresh plants to the nest, which contain volatile compounds that repel parasites. There is evidence that some birds living in cities incorporate cigarette butts into their nests, but the effect (if any) of this behaviour remains unclear. Butts from smoked cigarettes retain substantial amounts of nicotine and other compounds that may also act as arthropod repellents. We provide the first evidence that smoked cigarette butts may function as a parasite repellent in urban bird nests. The amount of cellulose acetate from butts in nests of two widely distributed urban birds was negatively associated with the number of nest-dwelling parasites. Moreover, when parasites were attracted to heat traps containing smoked or non-smoked cigarette butts, fewer parasites reached the former, presumably due to the presence of nicotine. Because urbanization changes the abundance and type of resources upon which birds depend, including nesting materials and plants involved in self-medication, our results are consistent with the view that urbanization imposes new challenges on birds that are dealt with using adaptations evolved elsewhere.

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Long-term species richness-abundance dynamics in relation to species departures and arrivals in wintering urban bird assemblages

European Journal of Ecology ◽

10.2478/eje-2019-0002 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 5 (1) ◽

pp. 1-10 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Jukka Suhonen ◽

Jukka Jokimäki

Keyword(s):

Species Richness ◽

Bird Species ◽

Total Abundance ◽

Bird Species Richness ◽

Abundance Dynamics ◽

Local Species Richness ◽

Local Species ◽

The Mean ◽

Urban Bird ◽

Number Of Individuals

Abstract Temporal dynamics of local assemblages depend on the species richness and the total abundance of individuals as well as local departure and arrival rates of species. We used urban bird survey data collected from the same 31 study plots and methods during three winters (1991–1992; 1999–2000 and 2009–2010) to analyze the temporal relationship between bird species richness and total number of individuals (abundance). We also evaluated local departures and arrivals of species in each assemblage. In total, 13,812 individuals of 35 species were detected. The temporal variation in bird species richness followed the variation in the total number of individuals. The numbers of local departure and arrival events were similar. Also, the mean number of individuals of the recently arrived species (8.6) was almost the same as the mean number of individuals of the departed species (8.2). Risk of species departure was inversely related to number of individuals. Local species richness increased by one species when the total abundance of individuals increased by around 125 individuals and vice versa. Our results highlight the important role of local population departures and arrivals in determining the local species richness-abundance dynamics in human-dominated landscapes. Local species richness patterns depend on the total number of individuals as well as both the departure-arrival dynamics of individual species as well as the dynamics of all the species together. Our results support the more individuals hypothesis, which suggests that individual-rich assemblages have more species.

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Habitat-of-origin predicts degree of adaptation in urban tolerant birds

10.7287/peerj.preprints.156v2 ◽

2013 ◽

Author(s):

Lawrence E Conole

Keyword(s):

Bird Species ◽

Landscape Scale ◽

Predictor Variables ◽

Indirect Inference ◽

Behavioural Ecology ◽

Urban Rural ◽

Direct Data ◽

Urban Bird ◽

Similar Kind ◽

Urban Exploiter

Urban exploiters and adapters are often coalesced under a term of convenience as ‘urban tolerant’. This useful but simplistic characterisation masks a more nuanced interplay between and within assemblages of birds that are more or less well adapted to a range of urban habitats. Furthermore, cues are generally sought in behavioural ecology and physiology for the degree to which particular bird species are predisposed to urban living. The data in this paper are focused on two assemblages characterised as urban exploiters and suburban adapters from Melbourne, Australia. This study departs from the approach taken in many others of similar kind in that urban bird assemblages that form the basis of the work were identified at the landscape scale and from direct data analyses rather than indirect inference. Further, this paper employs a paired, partitioned analysis of exploiter and adapter preferences for points along the urban-rural gradient that seeks to decompose the overall trend into diagnosable parts for each assemblage. In the present paper I test the hypotheses that the distinct urban exploiter and suburban adapter assemblages within the broad urban tolerant grouping in Melbourne vary in their responses within the larger group to predictor variables, and that the most explanatory predictor variables vary between the two assemblages. In the end, habitat-of-origin better predicts degree of adaptation amongst urban tolerant birds.

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On the interplay between phylogeny and environment on behaviour of two urban bird species,Columba liviaandCorvus corone(Aves)

Italian Journal of Zoology ◽

10.1080/11250003.2015.1118562 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 83 (1) ◽

pp. 98-102 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Z. Skandrani ◽

A.-C. Prevot ◽

N. E. Baldaccini ◽

J. Gasparini

Keyword(s):

Bird Species ◽

Urban Bird

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Hobby and business on trading birds: Case study in bird market of Sukahaji, Bandung, West Java and Splendid, Malang, East Java (Indonesia)

Biodiversitas Journal of Biological Diversity ◽

10.13057/biodiv/d200522 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 20 (5) ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

BUDIAWATI S ISKANDAR ◽

JOHAN ISKANDAR ◽

RUHYAT PARTASASMITA

Keyword(s):

Urban Areas ◽

Quantitative Methods ◽

Environmental Changes ◽

Bird Species ◽

Development Program ◽

Economic Benefits ◽

West Java ◽

Urban Bird ◽

The City

Abstract. Iskandar BS, Iskandar J, Partasasmita R. 2019. Hobby and business on trading birds: Case study in bird market of Sukahaji, Bandung, West Java and Splendid, Malang, East Java (Indonesia). Biodiversitas 20: 1316-1332. Bird species have various ecological and socio-economic-cultural functions for the human being. Ecologically, birds have beneficial functions in the ecosystem, such as helping plant pollinators, spreading plant seeds, participating in controlling agricultural pests, and monitoring environmental changes. Meanwhile, bird functions for the social-economic and culture of the community among them are known as sources of protein food, mystical functions, sources of material stories, sources of inspiration to make songs, craft materials, the source of gene pool, and become pets and trade animals. With the rise of the urban population hobby of raising birds and also the development of various bird contest activities in the urban, causing of the bird trade is very widespread in urban areas, such as in bird markets. In some cities in Indonesia, various bird markets have been popularly known for a long time. This study aimed to elucidate species diversity, folk classification, bird populations, bird prices, constraints to bird trade, and the positive and negative effects of bird trade in the urban bird market. The research method used a mixture of qualitative and quantitative methods with the ethnoecological approach. The results of this study showed that from a survey of 60 bird traders in the bird market of Sukahaji, Bandung, and Splendid, Malang, a total of 160 bird species, representing 38 families were documented. Among them, 10 species representing 7 families recorded as protected bird by law in Indonesia, based on recent government regulation of the Minister of Environment and Forestry of Republic of Indonesian No.106/MENLHK/SETJEN/KUM.1/12/2018. A total of 2,950 individuals were recorded in Sukahaji; while in Splendid were recorded 3,558 individuals. Prices of birds that are traded varied greatly depending on the species and characteristics of birds. It has been revealed that bird trade in the bird market has been various economic benefits for many people. However, due to the bird trade in bird markets in the city which has not been properly managed, the sustainability system of the bird trade in the city is very alarming caused of many factors, including decreasing of bird population over time in rural ecosystem as main supply of urban bird trading in the bird markets. Therefore, bird trading in the bird markets must be properly managed based on the sustainable development program concept, namely pro-economic, pro-social, and pro-environment.

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Habitat-of-origin predicts degree of adaptation in urban tolerant birds

10.7287/peerj.preprints.156v3 ◽

2014 ◽

Author(s):

Lawrence E Conole

Keyword(s):

Bird Species ◽

Landscape Scale ◽

Predictor Variables ◽

Indirect Inference ◽

Behavioural Ecology ◽

Urban Rural ◽

Direct Data ◽

Urban Bird ◽

Similar Kind ◽

Urban Exploiter

Urban exploiters and adapters are often coalesced under a term of convenience as ‘urban tolerant’. This useful but simplistic characterisation masks a more nuanced interplay between and within assemblages of birds that are more or less well adapted to a range of urban habitats. Furthermore, cues are generally sought in behavioural ecology and physiology for the degree to which particular bird species are predisposed to urban living. The data in this paper are focused on two assemblages characterised as urban exploiters and suburban adapters from Melbourne, Australia. This study departs from the approach taken in many others of similar kind in that urban bird assemblages that form the basis of the work were identified at the landscape scale and from direct data analyses rather than indirect inference. Further, this paper employs a paired, partitioned analysis of exploiter and adapter preferences for points along the urban-rural gradient that seeks to decompose the overall trend into diagnosable parts for each assemblage. In the present paper I test the hypotheses that the distinct urban exploiter and suburban adapter assemblages within the broad urban tolerant grouping in Melbourne vary in their responses within the larger group to predictor variables, and that the most explanatory predictor variables vary between the two assemblages. In the end, habitat-of-origin better predicts degree of adaptation amongst urban tolerant birds.

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Impact of Urbanization to an Island and the Continent: Species Turnover and Nestedness in Neotropical Bird Assemblages

Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution ◽

10.3389/fevo.2021.727879 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 9 ◽

Author(s):

Sabina A. Caula ◽

Virginia Sanz D'Angelo

Keyword(s):

Negative Impact ◽

Species Turnover ◽

Bird Species ◽

Urban Environments ◽

Individual Species ◽

Similar Species ◽

Urban Gradient ◽

Building Density ◽

Urbanized Areas ◽

Urban Matrix

Islands are well-known as particular and vulnerable ecosystems with evolutionary histories, environmental characteristics, and original communities different from those of continents. On the contrary, urban environments are recent, artificial, and structurally similar among distant regions. To assess the relative importance of regional and local processes on urban biota, we chose two urban environments, i.e., one on the mainland and another on an island in the same ecoregion. We asked whether the urbanization process affects the avian biodiversity of the ISLAND in the same way as in the continent. We defined an urban gradient with three levels of building density, namely, patches of native vegetation (remnant woodlands in the urban matrix), medium density urbanized areas that maintain vegetation along the streets and gardens, and residential areas with less vegetation cover and higher building density. In each geographical locality, we selected three sites (replicates) for each level of the urban gradient and did bird surveys. We found two times as many species in the urban landscape of the continent (69) as on the island (35), with the analogous richness decrease along the gradient in both regions. Species similarity was higher between urbanized sites of both regions compared with the similarity between woodlands and urbanized sites, showing that urban matrix filters similar species of each pool regionally. Individual species responded to urban structure in different ways. We found 32% of bird species were urban exploiters, 48% urban tolerant, and 20% urban avoiders in both regions. However, some species showed different frequencies of occurrence on the island and the continent. Species turnover contributed more than richness differences to species dissimilarity along the urban gradient on the continent. Contrarily, the nestedness component (i.e., species being a strict subset of the species at a richer site) was higher on the island. We concluded that the negative impact of highly urbanized areas on birds was stronger on the island than on the continent. Our results may help to assess the implications of beta-diversity loss, especially on islands.

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Structure of the breeding bird community along the urban gradient in a town on the Zambezi River, north-eastern Namibia

Biologija ◽

10.6001/biologija.v66i1.4185 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 66 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Grzegorz Kopij

Keyword(s):

Riparian Forest ◽

Bird Species ◽

Similarity Index ◽

Columba Livia ◽

Urban Gradient ◽

Feeding Guild ◽

Breeding Bird ◽

Urbanization Gradient ◽

The Town ◽

Zambezi River

A simplified mapping method was employed to quantify avian assemblages in three study plots in a modified riparian forest on the Zambezi River in the town of Katima Mulilo, NE Namibia. The plots were arranged along the urbanization gradient: plot A (34 ha; 0–1 km from centre of the town), plot B (27 ha; 1–2 km from the centre), and plot C (24 ha; 2–3 km from the centre; periphery). In total, 51 breeding bird species were recorded in all three plots. Five of them, Columba livia domestica, Passer diffusus, Pycnonotus tricolor, Streptopelia senegalensis, and Uraeginthus angolensis were classified as dominant species. The cumulative dominance was 69.9%. The overall population density of all breeding species increased with the urban gradient. In general, granivorous birds were by far the most numerous feeding guild comprising 68.7% of all breeding birds. Two other guilds, frugivorous and insectivorous birds, together comprised 28.9%. While the proportion of granivores decreased along the urban gradient from the town centre to its periphery, the proportion of insectivores increased. The proportion of birds nesting in/on buildings decreased, and the share of tree/shrub- and hole-nesting birds increased along the urban gradient. The diversity indices were relatively high in all plots. They decreased only slightly along the urban gradient (from the centre to the periphery). However, the Pielou’s Evenness Index was comparatively low, but on a slight increase along the urbanization gradient. The Sorensen Similarity Index was low, but the values of the three studied plots were very similar.

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