Long-term Christmas Bird Counts describe neotropical urban bird diversity

A significant gap in understanding the response of biodiversity to urban areas is the lack of long-term studies. Most of the information on urban birds comes from studies carried out in the northern hemisphere, and they include data that don´t exceed three years. Although short-term studies contribu...

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Main Authors: María Angela Echeverry-Galvis, Pabla Lozano Ramírez, Juan David Amaya-Espinel
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2023-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9891503/?tool=EBI
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author María Angela Echeverry-Galvis
Pabla Lozano Ramírez
Juan David Amaya-Espinel
author_facet María Angela Echeverry-Galvis
Pabla Lozano Ramírez
Juan David Amaya-Espinel
author_sort María Angela Echeverry-Galvis
collection DOAJ
description A significant gap in understanding the response of biodiversity to urban areas is the lack of long-term studies. Most of the information on urban birds comes from studies carried out in the northern hemisphere, and they include data that don´t exceed three years. Although short-term studies contribute to knowledge about bird community diversity and their spatial distribution in urban areas, they could be biased towards more conspicuous species. One of the few multi-temporal datasets available for birds in urban areas is the Christmas Bird Count (CBC). Using annual CBC data available between 2001 and 2018 from 21 urban and peri-urban sample sites assessed from the main cities of Colombia, we identified and analyzed long-term trends on the cumulative diversity of bird communities as well as on their spatial distribution. We estimated comparative trends in richness, number of individuals counted, similarity, and complementarity of avifauna for each city and sample site based on their responses to urbanization and dietary guilds. We identified almost a quarter of the species registered in Colombia (464 of 1954). The representativeness of the community obtained for 18 years exceeds 84%, showing richness that ranges between 214 and 278 species in the three cities. Bird species and individuals registered showed wide variation of the sample sites. We found more dwellers, insectivorous and granivorous species in urban areas, with frugivores relegated to peri-urban sites, usually coinciding with avoider species. Natural peri-urban areas and intra-urban wetlands and urban parks were the most important refuges for birds and maintained the highest avoider and utilizer species richness. Long-term inventories are fundamental for determining consolidated bird diversity and distributional patterns. This information established a baseline for decision-making and applying recommendations that allow reconciling the growing demand for urban areas with the need to preserve the native avifauna in megadiverse Neotropical countries such as Colombia.
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spelling doaj.art-15c7f2789c0045658dba92ea75e7b8a62023-02-05T05:31:00ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032023-01-01182Long-term Christmas Bird Counts describe neotropical urban bird diversityMaría Angela Echeverry-GalvisPabla Lozano RamírezJuan David Amaya-EspinelA significant gap in understanding the response of biodiversity to urban areas is the lack of long-term studies. Most of the information on urban birds comes from studies carried out in the northern hemisphere, and they include data that don´t exceed three years. Although short-term studies contribute to knowledge about bird community diversity and their spatial distribution in urban areas, they could be biased towards more conspicuous species. One of the few multi-temporal datasets available for birds in urban areas is the Christmas Bird Count (CBC). Using annual CBC data available between 2001 and 2018 from 21 urban and peri-urban sample sites assessed from the main cities of Colombia, we identified and analyzed long-term trends on the cumulative diversity of bird communities as well as on their spatial distribution. We estimated comparative trends in richness, number of individuals counted, similarity, and complementarity of avifauna for each city and sample site based on their responses to urbanization and dietary guilds. We identified almost a quarter of the species registered in Colombia (464 of 1954). The representativeness of the community obtained for 18 years exceeds 84%, showing richness that ranges between 214 and 278 species in the three cities. Bird species and individuals registered showed wide variation of the sample sites. We found more dwellers, insectivorous and granivorous species in urban areas, with frugivores relegated to peri-urban sites, usually coinciding with avoider species. Natural peri-urban areas and intra-urban wetlands and urban parks were the most important refuges for birds and maintained the highest avoider and utilizer species richness. Long-term inventories are fundamental for determining consolidated bird diversity and distributional patterns. This information established a baseline for decision-making and applying recommendations that allow reconciling the growing demand for urban areas with the need to preserve the native avifauna in megadiverse Neotropical countries such as Colombia.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9891503/?tool=EBI
spellingShingle María Angela Echeverry-Galvis
Pabla Lozano Ramírez
Juan David Amaya-Espinel
Long-term Christmas Bird Counts describe neotropical urban bird diversity
PLoS ONE
title Long-term Christmas Bird Counts describe neotropical urban bird diversity
title_full Long-term Christmas Bird Counts describe neotropical urban bird diversity
title_fullStr Long-term Christmas Bird Counts describe neotropical urban bird diversity
title_full_unstemmed Long-term Christmas Bird Counts describe neotropical urban bird diversity
title_short Long-term Christmas Bird Counts describe neotropical urban bird diversity
title_sort long term christmas bird counts describe neotropical urban bird diversity
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9891503/?tool=EBI
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AT pablalozanoramirez longtermchristmasbirdcountsdescribeneotropicalurbanbirddiversity
AT juandavidamayaespinel longtermchristmasbirdcountsdescribeneotropicalurbanbirddiversity