Artificial Green Corridors in an Andean City as Effective Support of Avian Diversity
Ensuring connectivity in the countryside and cities is a key element of nature protection, allowing genetic fluxes between populations in fragmented ecosystems. We tested the hypothesis that artificial green corridors are effective for birds in the city of Cochabamba (Bolivia). We compared the follo...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
MDPI AG
2023-02-01
|
| Series: | Diversity |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/1424-2818/15/2/302 |
| _version_ | 1797621467706294272 |
|---|---|
| author | Alain Hambuckers Johann Delcourt Bryan Leborgne Jennifer R. A. Cahill |
| author_facet | Alain Hambuckers Johann Delcourt Bryan Leborgne Jennifer R. A. Cahill |
| author_sort | Alain Hambuckers |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Ensuring connectivity in the countryside and cities is a key element of nature protection, allowing genetic fluxes between populations in fragmented ecosystems. We tested the hypothesis that artificial green corridors are effective for birds in the city of Cochabamba (Bolivia). We compared the following aspects of natural corridors, with generally preserved vegetation, to those of artificial corridors, constituting parks and gardens in a matrix of streets densely planted with trees: species abundance and richness, functional diversity, and the traits of bird communities. We used canonical redundancy analysis to relate species abundance to the corridor type, noise, tree vegetation structure, richness, and functional diversity. We also tested the explanatory factors for relationships with bird species richness, functional diversity, and traits. We found that most species were shared between the corridor types; the corridor type, nevertheless, had significant effects, with bird species in the green corridors being more common and heavier and having a lower beak depth/mass. By contrast, noise-reflecting urbanization deeply affected all of the studied traits, indicating large shifts in species composition. In conclusion, green corridors seem reliable enough to maintain birds at a level almost comparable to that in linear corridors, but noise is a limiting factor for efficiency for both types. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T08:56:21Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-d9459a522225436aba3aa260248c7635 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1424-2818 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T08:56:21Z |
| publishDate | 2023-02-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Diversity |
| spelling | doaj.art-d9459a522225436aba3aa260248c76352023-11-16T20:05:57ZengMDPI AGDiversity1424-28182023-02-0115230210.3390/d15020302Artificial Green Corridors in an Andean City as Effective Support of Avian DiversityAlain Hambuckers0Johann Delcourt1Bryan Leborgne2Jennifer R. A. Cahill3Behavioural Biology Lab, Unit of Research SPHERES, University of Liège, Quai Van Beneden 22, 4020 Liège, BelgiumBehavioural Biology Lab, Unit of Research SPHERES, University of Liège, Quai Van Beneden 22, 4020 Liège, BelgiumBehavioural Biology Lab, Unit of Research SPHERES, University of Liège, Quai Van Beneden 22, 4020 Liège, BelgiumCentro de Biodiversidad y Genética, Universidad Mayor de San Simón, Cochabamba 4926, BoliviaEnsuring connectivity in the countryside and cities is a key element of nature protection, allowing genetic fluxes between populations in fragmented ecosystems. We tested the hypothesis that artificial green corridors are effective for birds in the city of Cochabamba (Bolivia). We compared the following aspects of natural corridors, with generally preserved vegetation, to those of artificial corridors, constituting parks and gardens in a matrix of streets densely planted with trees: species abundance and richness, functional diversity, and the traits of bird communities. We used canonical redundancy analysis to relate species abundance to the corridor type, noise, tree vegetation structure, richness, and functional diversity. We also tested the explanatory factors for relationships with bird species richness, functional diversity, and traits. We found that most species were shared between the corridor types; the corridor type, nevertheless, had significant effects, with bird species in the green corridors being more common and heavier and having a lower beak depth/mass. By contrast, noise-reflecting urbanization deeply affected all of the studied traits, indicating large shifts in species composition. In conclusion, green corridors seem reliable enough to maintain birds at a level almost comparable to that in linear corridors, but noise is a limiting factor for efficiency for both types.https://www.mdpi.com/1424-2818/15/2/302functional diversitymorphological traitsecological traitsnoisehabitat analysisconnectivity |
| spellingShingle | Alain Hambuckers Johann Delcourt Bryan Leborgne Jennifer R. A. Cahill Artificial Green Corridors in an Andean City as Effective Support of Avian Diversity Diversity functional diversity morphological traits ecological traits noise habitat analysis connectivity |
| title | Artificial Green Corridors in an Andean City as Effective Support of Avian Diversity |
| title_full | Artificial Green Corridors in an Andean City as Effective Support of Avian Diversity |
| title_fullStr | Artificial Green Corridors in an Andean City as Effective Support of Avian Diversity |
| title_full_unstemmed | Artificial Green Corridors in an Andean City as Effective Support of Avian Diversity |
| title_short | Artificial Green Corridors in an Andean City as Effective Support of Avian Diversity |
| title_sort | artificial green corridors in an andean city as effective support of avian diversity |
| topic | functional diversity morphological traits ecological traits noise habitat analysis connectivity |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/1424-2818/15/2/302 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT alainhambuckers artificialgreencorridorsinanandeancityaseffectivesupportofaviandiversity AT johanndelcourt artificialgreencorridorsinanandeancityaseffectivesupportofaviandiversity AT bryanleborgne artificialgreencorridorsinanandeancityaseffectivesupportofaviandiversity AT jenniferracahill artificialgreencorridorsinanandeancityaseffectivesupportofaviandiversity |