IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v13y2021i11p6327-d567870.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Niche Analysis and Conservation of Bird Species Using Urban Core Areas

Author

Listed:
  • Vasilios Liordos

    (Department of Forest and Natural Environment Sciences, International Hellenic University, 66100 Drama, Greece)

  • Jukka Jokimäki

    (Arctic Centre, University of Lapland, 96101 Rovaniemi, Finland)

  • Marja-Liisa Kaisanlahti-Jokimäki

    (Arctic Centre, University of Lapland, 96101 Rovaniemi, Finland)

  • Evangelos Valsamidis

    (Department of Forest and Natural Environment Sciences, International Hellenic University, 66100 Drama, Greece)

  • Vasileios J. Kontsiotis

    (Department of Forest and Natural Environment Sciences, International Hellenic University, 66100 Drama, Greece)

Abstract

Knowing the ecological requirements of bird species is essential for their successful conservation. We studied the niche characteristics of birds in managed small-sized green spaces in the urban core areas of southern (Kavala, Greece) and northern Europe (Rovaniemi, Finland), during the breeding season, based on a set of 16 environmental variables and using Outlying Mean Index, a multivariate ordination technique. Overall, 26 bird species in Kavala and 15 in Rovaniemi were recorded in more than 5% of the green spaces and were used in detailed analyses. In both areas, bird species occupied different niches of varying marginality and breadth, indicating varying responses to urban environmental conditions. Birds showed high specialization in niche position, with 12 species in Kavala (46.2%) and six species in Rovaniemi (40.0%) having marginal niches. Niche breadth was narrower in Rovaniemi than in Kavala. Species in both communities were more strongly associated either with large green spaces located further away from the city center and having a high vegetation cover (urban adapters; e.g., Common Chaffinch ( Fringilla coelebs ), European Greenfinch ( Chloris chloris ), Eurasian Blue Tit ( Cyanistes caeruleus )) or with green spaces located closer to the city center and having high gray area cover and anthropogenic disturbance level (urban exploiters; e.g., Western Jackdaw ( Corvus monedula ), House Sparrow ( Passer domesticus ), Eurasian Magpie ( Pica pica )). The eleven species that were common to both study areas similarly used the environmental variables and had similar niches, indicating that birds respond similarly to urbanization irrespective of latitude. Sixteen species in Kavala and eleven species in Rovaniemi were identified as conservation priority species, based on their niche specialization level and conservation status. The management actions proposed for the conservation of priority species will also benefit other species with similar ecological requirements and ultimately help maintain diverse bird communities in small-sized green spaces in urban core areas.

Suggested Citation

  • Vasilios Liordos & Jukka Jokimäki & Marja-Liisa Kaisanlahti-Jokimäki & Evangelos Valsamidis & Vasileios J. Kontsiotis, 2021. "Niche Analysis and Conservation of Bird Species Using Urban Core Areas," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-15, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:11:p:6327-:d:567870
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/11/6327/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/11/6327/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Péter Sólymos & Subhash Lele & Erin Bayne, 2012. "Conditional likelihood approach for analyzing single visit abundance survey data in the presence of zero inflation and detection error," Environmetrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 23(2), pages 197-205, March.
    2. Dray, Stéphane & Dufour, Anne-Béatrice, 2007. "The ade4 Package: Implementing the Duality Diagram for Ecologists," Journal of Statistical Software, Foundation for Open Access Statistics, vol. 22(i04).
    3. Steffen Lehmann, 2021. "Growing Biodiverse Urban Futures: Renaturalization and Rewilding as Strategies to Strengthen Urban Resilience," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-21, March.
    4. Scott R. Loss & Tom Will & Peter P. Marra, 2013. "The impact of free-ranging domestic cats on wildlife of the United States," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 4(1), pages 1-8, June.
    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. Marufa Sultana & Max Müller & Magdalena Meyer & Ilse Storch, 2022. "Neighboring Green Network and Landscape Metrics Explain Biodiversity within Small Urban Green Areas—A Case Study on Birds," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(11), pages 1-11, May.

    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. Wenzel Kröber & Martin Böhnke & Erik Welk & Christian Wirth & Helge Bruelheide, 2012. "Leaf Trait-Environment Relationships in a Subtropical Broadleaved Forest in South-East China," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 7(4), pages 1-11, April.
    2. Przemysław Ciesiółka & Barbara Maćkiewicz, 2022. "In Search of Social Resilience? Regeneration Strategies for Polish Cities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-14, September.
    3. Pengfei Song & Wen Qin & YanGan Huang & Lei Wang & Zhenyuan Cai & Tongzuo Zhang, 2020. "Grazing Management Influences Gut Microbial Diversity of Livestock in the Same Area," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(10), pages 1-12, May.
    4. Nausheen Masood & Alessio Russo, 2023. "Community Perception of Brownfield Regeneration through Urban Rewilding," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-15, February.
    5. la Grange, Anthony & le Roux, Niël & Gardner-Lubbe, Sugnet, 2009. "BiplotGUI: Interactive Biplots in R," Journal of Statistical Software, Foundation for Open Access Statistics, vol. 30(i12).
    6. Jonas Eberle & Renier Myburgh & Dirk Ahrens, 2014. "The Evolution of Morphospace in Phytophagous Scarab Chafers: No Competition - No Divergence?," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 9(5), pages 1-16, May.
    7. Liesbeth François & Katrien Wijnrocx & Frédéric G Colinet & Nicolas Gengler & Bettine Hulsegge & Jack J Windig & Nadine Buys & Steven Janssens, 2017. "Genomics of a revived breed: Case study of the Belgian campine cattle," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(4), pages 1-14, April.
    8. Walston, Leroy J. & Rollins, Katherine E. & LaGory, Kirk E. & Smith, Karen P. & Meyers, Stephanie A., 2016. "A preliminary assessment of avian mortality at utility-scale solar energy facilities in the United States," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 405-414.
    9. Hammond, Jim & Rosenblum, Nathaniel & Breseman, Dana & Gorman, Léo & Manners, Rhys & van Wijk, Mark T. & Sibomana, Milindi & Remans, Roseline & Vanlauwe, Bernard & Schut, Marc, 2020. "Towards actionable farm typologies: Scaling adoption of agricultural inputs in Rwanda," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 183(C).
    10. Calenge, Clément, 2007. "Exploring Habitat Selection by Wildlife with adehabitat," Journal of Statistical Software, Foundation for Open Access Statistics, vol. 22(i06).
    11. Sara Rachik & Urania Christaki & Luen Luen Li & Savvas Genitsaris & Elsa Breton & Sébastien Monchy, 2018. "Diversity and potential activity patterns of planktonic eukaryotic microbes in a mesoeutrophic coastal area (eastern English Channel)," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(5), pages 1-26, May.
    12. Serra W. Buchanan & Megan Baskerville & Maren Oelbermann & Andrew M. Gordon & Naresh V. Thevathasan & Marney E. Isaac, 2020. "Plant Diversity and Agroecosystem Function in Riparian Agroforests: Providing Ecosystem Services and Land-Use Transition," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-12, January.
    13. Catharine Prussing & Kevin J Emerson & Sara A Bickersmith & Maria Anice Mureb Sallum & Jan E Conn, 2019. "Minimal genetic differentiation of the malaria vector Nyssorhynchus darlingi associated with forest cover level in Amazonian Brazil," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(11), pages 1-16, November.
    14. Genevieve C. Perkins & Amanda E. Martin & Adam C. Smith & Lenore Fahrig, 2021. "Weak Effects of Owned Outdoor Cat Density on Urban Bird Richness and Abundance," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(5), pages 1-19, May.
    15. Anna Favati & Josefina Zidar & Hanne Thorpe & Per Jensen & Hanne Løvlie, 2016. "The ontogeny of personality traits in the red junglefowl, Gallus gallus," Behavioral Ecology, International Society for Behavioral Ecology, vol. 27(2), pages 484-493.
    16. repec:jss:jstsof:22:i01 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Luca Freschi & Roger Vargas & Ashaque Husain & S. M. Mostofa Kamal & Alena Skrahina & Sabira Tahseen & Nazir Ismail & Anna Barbova & Stefan Niemann & Daniela Maria Cirillo & Anna S. Dean & Matteo Zign, 2021. "Population structure, biogeography and transmissibility of Mycobacterium tuberculosis," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 12(1), pages 1-11, December.
    18. Wen‐Han Hwang & Richard Huggins & Jakub Stoklosa, 2022. "A model for analyzing clustered occurrence data," Biometrics, The International Biometric Society, vol. 78(2), pages 598-611, June.
    19. Thompson, Brielle K. & Sims, Charles & Fisher, Teresa & Brock, Sarah & Dai, Yi & Lenhart, Suzanne, 2022. "A discrete-time bioeconomic model of free-roaming cat management: A case study in Knox County, Tennessee," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 201(C).
    20. Sólymos, Péter, 2009. "Processing Ecological Data in R with the mefa Package," Journal of Statistical Software, Foundation for Open Access Statistics, vol. 29(i08).
    21. Alessandro Bellino & Daniela Baldantoni & Vittoria Milano & Lucia Santorufo & Jérôme Cortet & Giulia Maisto, 2021. "Spatial Patterns and Scales of Collembola Taxonomic and Functional Diversity in Urban Parks," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(23), pages 1-11, November.

    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:13:y:2021:i:11:p:6327-:d:567870. 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.