IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v11y2019i12p3258-d239346.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Chicago’s Urban Cemeteries as Habitat for Cavity-Nesting Birds

Author

Listed:
  • Alexis D. Smith

    (Department of Biological Sciences, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago IL 60607, USA)

  • Emily Minor

    (Department of Biological Sciences, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago IL 60607, USA
    Institute for Environmental Science and Policy, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago IL 60607, USA)

Abstract

Although not explicitly managed for conservation, urban cemeteries may provide a reserve of dead and dying trees for cavity-nesting birds. However, the ability of urban cemeteries to support these birds on current landscapes is largely unknown. We surveyed cavity-nesting birds and their habitat in 18 cemeteries in Chicago, Illinois (USA). At each location, we examined vegetation, availability of gravestones and monuments for perches, and landscape-level environmental conditions. We tested the importance of these variables for presence of individual bird species, and for overall richness of native cavity-nesting birds. We also assessed the availability and characteristics of tree cavities and their distribution among different tree species. We found that most cemeteries contained at least one dead or dying tree. Across all sampled areas, we detected 207 naturally-occurring and 77 excavated tree cavities. Tree species generally supported cavities in proportion to their abundance. We observed 12 native and two non-native cavity-nesting bird species in the cemeteries. Cavity-nesting bird species richness was best explained by landscape-level variables such as canopy cover and distance to water, but local-level variables (e.g., number of graves in a 50 m radius) influenced habitat selection for some species. Based on our results, we make suggestions for how both existing cemeteries and new “green” cemeteries can support biodiversity conservation.

Suggested Citation

  • Alexis D. Smith & Emily Minor, 2019. "Chicago’s Urban Cemeteries as Habitat for Cavity-Nesting Birds," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(12), pages 1-16, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:12:p:3258-:d:239346
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/12/3258/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/12/3258/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Carlton Basmajian & Christopher Coutts, 2010. "Planning for the Disposal of the Dead," Journal of the American Planning Association, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 76(3), pages 305-317.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Ágnes Sallay & Zsuzsanna Mikházi & Imola Gecséné Tar & Katalin Takács, 2022. "Cemeteries as a Part of Green Infrastructure and Tourism," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(5), pages 1-28, March.
    2. Ingo Kowarik & Leonie K. Fischer & Dave Kendal, 2020. "Biodiversity Conservation and Sustainable Urban Development," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(12), pages 1-8, June.
    3. Tanja M. Straka & Maren Mischo & Konstantin J. S. Petrick & Ingo Kowarik, 2022. "Urban Cemeteries as Shared Habitats for People and Nature: Reasons for Visit, Comforting Experiences of Nature, and Preferences for Cultural and Natural Features," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(8), pages 1-21, August.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Riccardo Scalenghe & Ottorino-Luca Pantani, 2019. "Connecting Existing Cemeteries Saving Good Soils (for Livings)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-13, December.
    2. Petio, Maxwell Kwotua, 2023. "Reflections on urbanisation, land supply and the Ghanaian physical planning system towards sustaining cemetery land use in Greater Kumasi Metropolitan Area," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    3. Długozima Anna & Kosiacka-Beck Ewa, 2020. "How to Enhance the Environmental Values of Contemporary Cemeteries in an Urban Context," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(6), pages 1-19, March.
    4. Ti-Ching Peng & Ying-Hui Chiang, 2015. "The non-linearity of hospitals' proximity on property prices: experiences from Taipei, Taiwan," Journal of Property Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(4), pages 341-361, December.
    5. Puzdrakiewicz, Krystian, 2023. "To what extent are cities prepared for their residents’ deaths? An example of cemetery management in large Polish cities," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 129(C).
    6. Allam, Zaheer, 2019. "The city of the living or the dead: On the ethics and morality of land use for graveyards in a rapidly urbanised world," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    7. Christien Klaufus, 2016. "Deathscape politics in Colombian metropolises: Conservation, grave recycling and the position of the bereaved," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 53(12), pages 2453-2468, September.
    8. Gilles Paché, 2022. "Value Chain Analysis in the Context of Funeral Service: A Research Note," Post-Print hal-03946945, HAL.
    9. Nosi, Costanza & D'Agostino, Antonella & Piccioni, Niccolò & Bartoli, Chiara, 2023. "Becoming a tree when I will be dead? Why not! Generation X, Y and Z, and innovative green death practices," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    10. nugroho, anton priyo, 2018. "Determinant Disonansi Kognitifnasabah Bank Syariah," INA-Rxiv 2b6fz, Center for Open Science.
    11. Turkhan Sadigov, 2021. "Death beyond the means: Funeral overspending and its government regulation around the world," Rationality and Society, , vol. 33(3), pages 363-398, August.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:12:p:3258-:d:239346. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.