Bird diversity-environment relationships in urban parks and cemeteries of the Neotropics during breeding and non-breeding seasons
Lucas M. Leveau, M. Lucía Bocelli, Sergio Gabriel Quesada-Acuña, César González‐Lagos, Pablo Gutiérrez Tapia, Gabriela Franzoi Dri, Carlos A. Delgado-V, Álvaro Garitano‐Zavala, Jackeline Campos, Yanina Benedetti, Rubén Ortega‐Álvarez, Antonio Isain Contreras Rodríguez, Daniela Souza López, Carla Suertegaray Fontana, Thaiane Weinert da Silva, Sarah Sandri Zalewski Vargas, Maria Cecília Barbosa de Toledo, Juan A. Sarquis, Alejandro R. Giraudo, Ada Lilian Echevarría, María Elisa Fanjul, María Valeria Martínez, Josefina Haedo, Luis Gonzalo Cano Sanz, Yuri A. Peña, Viviana Fernandez, Verónica Marinero, Vinícius Abilhôa, Rafael Amorin, Juan F. Escobar‐Ibáñez, María Dolores Juri, Sergio R. Camín, Luis Marone, Augusto João Piratelli, Alexandre Gabriel Franchin, Larissa Crispim, Federico Morelli
Abstract
Background Urbanization will increase in the next decades, causing the loss of green areas and bird diversity within cities. There is a lack of studies at a continental scale analyzing the relationship between urban green areas, such as parks and cemeteries, and bird species richness in the Neotropical region. Bird diversity-environment relationships in urban parks and cemeteries may be influenced by latitudinal gradients or species-area relationships. However, the seasonal variation of species diversity- environment has not been analyzed at a continental scale in the Neotropics. Methods Bird surveys were conducted in 36 cemeteries and 37 parks within 18 Neotropical cities during non-breeding and breeding seasons. Bird diversity was assessed through Hill numbers, focusing on species richness, the effective number of species derived from Shannon index and the Simpson index. Environmental variables included latitude, altitude, and local scale variables such as area size, habitat diversity and pedestrian traffic. Results Species richness and Shannon diversity were higher during the breeding season, whereas Simpson diversity did not vary between seasons. During both seasons, species richness increased with area size, was negatively related to altitude, and was the highest at 20° latitude. Species richness was also positively related to habitat diversity, pedestrian traffic, and was highest in suburban areas during the non-breeding season. Shannon and Simpson diversity showed significant relationships with habitat diversity and area size during the breeding season. Bird diversity was similar between parks and cemeteries. Discussion Our results showed that urban parks and cemeteries have similar roles in conserving urban bird diversity in Neotropical cities. However, species diversity-environment relations at the continental scale varied between seasons, highlighting the importance of conducting annual studies.