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Morelli F, Leveau LM, Mikula P, MacGregor-Fors I, Bocelli ML, Quesada-Acuña SG, González-Lagos C, Gutiérrez-Tapia P, Dri GF, Delgado-V CA, Zavala AG, Campos J, Ortega-Álvarez R, Contreras-Rodríguez AI, López DS, Toledo MCB, Sarquis A, Giraudo A, Echevarria AL, Fanjul ME, Martínez MV, Haedo J, Sanz LGC, Dominguez YAP, Fernandez V, Marinero V, Abilhoa V, Amorin R, Fontana CS, da Silva TW, Vargas SSZ, Escobar Ibañez JF, Juri MD, Camín SR, Marone L, Piratelli AJ, Franchin AG, Crispim L, Benitez J, Benedetti Y. Are birds more afraid in urban parks or cemeteries? A Latin American study contrasts with results from Europe. Sci Total Environ 2023; 861:160534. [PMID: 36574545 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.160534] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/05/2022] [Revised: 11/23/2022] [Accepted: 11/23/2022] [Indexed: 06/17/2023]
Abstract
The escape behaviour, measured as flight initiation distance (FID; the distance at which individuals take flight when approached by a potential predator, usually a human in the study systems), is a measure widely used to study fearfulness and risk-taking in animals. Previous studies have shown significant differences in the escape behaviour of birds inhabiting cemeteries and urban parks in European cities, where birds seem to be shyer in the latter. We collected a regional dataset of the FID of birds inhabiting cemeteries and parks across Latin America in peri-urban, suburban and urban parks and cemeteries. FIDs were recorded for eighty-one bird species. Mean species-specific FIDs ranged from 1.9 to 19.7 m for species with at least two observations (fifty-seven species). Using Bayesian regression modelling and controlling for the phylogenetic relatedness of the FID among bird species and city and country, we found that, in contrast to a recent publication from Europe, birds escape earlier in cemeteries than parks in the studied Latin American cities. FIDs were also significantly shorter in urban areas than in peri-urban areas and in areas with higher human density. Our results indicate that some idiosyncratic patterns in animal fearfulness towards humans may emerge among different geographic regions, highlighting difficulties with scaling up and application of regional findings to other ecosystems and world regions. Such differences could be associated with intrinsic differences between the pool of bird species from temperate European and mostly tropical Latin American cities, characterized by different evolutionary histories, but also with differences in the historical process of urbanization.
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Affiliation(s)
- Federico Morelli
- Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Kamýcká 129, CZ-165 00 Prague 6, Czech Republic; Institute of Biological Sciences, University of Zielona Góra, Prof. Z. Szafrana St. 1, PL-65-516 Zielona Góra, Poland.
| | - Lucas M Leveau
- Departamento de Ecología, Genética y Evolución, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires - IEGEBA (CONICET - UBA), Ciudad Universitaria, Pab 2, Piso 4, Buenos Aires 1426, Argentina
| | - Peter Mikula
- Institute of Vertebrate Biology, Czech Academy of Sciences, Kvetna 8, Brno 603 65, Czech Republic
| | - Ian MacGregor-Fors
- University of Helsinki, Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences, Ecosystems and Environment Research Programme, Niemenkatu 73, 15140 Lahti, Finland
| | - M Lucia Bocelli
- Departamento de Ecología, Genética y Evolución, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires - IEGEBA (CONICET - UBA), Ciudad Universitaria, Pab 2, Piso 4, Buenos Aires 1426, Argentina
| | - Sergio Gabriel Quesada-Acuña
- Universidad Estatal a Distancia, Vicerrectoría de Investigación, Laboratorio de Ecología Urbana, 2050 Sabanilla, San José, Costa Rica
| | - César González-Lagos
- Departamento de Ciencias, Facultad de Artes Liberales, Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez, Santiago, Chile; Center of Applied Ecology and Sustainability (CAPES), Santiago, Chile
| | | | - Gabriela Franzoi Dri
- Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Conservation Biology, University of Maine, 5755 Nutting Hall, Room 244, 04469-5755, USA
| | - Carlos A Delgado-V
- Programa de Ecología, Facultad de Ciencias y Biotecnología, Universidad CES, Calle 10A 22-04, Medellín, Colombia
| | - Alvaro Garitano Zavala
- Instituto de Ecología, Facultad de Ciencias Puras y Naturales, Universidad Mayor de San Andrés, Casilla 10077, La Paz, Bolivia
| | | | - Rubén Ortega-Álvarez
- Instituto de Investigaciones en Ecosistemas y Sustentabilidad (IIES) - Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Campus Morelia, Antigua Carretera a Pátzcuaro 8711, Col. San José de la Huerta, Morelia, Michoacán 58190, Mexico
| | | | - Daniela Souza López
- North American Birds Conservation Initiative, CONABIO, Liga Periférico-Insurgentes Sur No. 4903, Parques del Pedregal, 14010 Tlalpan, Ciudad de México, Mexico
| | - Maria Cecília B Toledo
- Laboratório de Ecologia, Instituto Básico de Biociências, Universidade de Taubaté Curso de Pós-graduação em Ciências Ambientais, Brazil
| | - Andres Sarquis
- Instituto Nacional de Limnología (Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas-Universidad Nacional del Litoral), Ciudad Universitaria, Santa Fe, Argentina
| | - Alejandro Giraudo
- Instituto Nacional de Limnología (Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas-Universidad Nacional del Litoral), Ciudad Universitaria, Santa Fe, Argentina
| | - Ada Lilian Echevarria
- Instituto de Vertebrados - Zoología - Fundación Miguel Lillo, Miguel Lillo 251 San Miguel de Tucumán, CP 4000 Tucumán, Argentina
| | - María Elisa Fanjul
- Instituto de Vertebrados - Zoología - Fundación Miguel Lillo, Miguel Lillo 251 San Miguel de Tucumán, CP 4000 Tucumán, Argentina
| | - María Valeria Martínez
- Instituto de Vertebrados - Zoología - Fundación Miguel Lillo, Miguel Lillo 251 San Miguel de Tucumán, CP 4000 Tucumán, Argentina
| | - Josefina Haedo
- Instituto de Ecología Regional (CONICET - UNT), Tucumán, Argentina
| | | | | | - Viviana Fernandez
- Centro de Investigaciones de la Geósfera y la Biósfera-CONICET, Universidad Nacional de San Juan (UNSJ), Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales, Av. Ignacio de la Roza 590 (O), Complejo Universitario "Islas Malvinas", Rivadavia, San Juan, Argentina
| | - Veronica Marinero
- Centro de Investigaciones de la Geósfera y la Biósfera-CONICET, Universidad Nacional de San Juan (UNSJ), Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales, Av. Ignacio de la Roza 590 (O), Complejo Universitario "Islas Malvinas", Rivadavia, San Juan, Argentina
| | - Vinícius Abilhoa
- Museu de História Natural Capão da Imbuia, PMC Rua Prof. Benedito Conceição, 407, 82810-080 Curitiba, PR, Brazil
| | - Rafael Amorin
- Museu de História Natural Capão da Imbuia, PMC Rua Prof. Benedito Conceição, 407, 82810-080 Curitiba, PR, Brazil
| | - Carla Suertegaray Fontana
- Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ecologia e Evolução da Biodiversidade, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul, Av. Ipiranga 6681, prédio 40 sala 110 B, 90619-900, Brazil; Laboratório de Ornitologia, Museu de Ciências e Tecnologia, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, RS 90619-900, Brazil
| | - Thaiane Weinert da Silva
- Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ecologia e Evolução da Biodiversidade, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul, Av. Ipiranga 6681, prédio 40 sala 110 B, 90619-900, Brazil
| | - Sarah Sandri Zalewski Vargas
- Laboratório de Ornitologia, Museu de Ciências e Tecnologia, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, RS 90619-900, Brazil
| | - Juan F Escobar Ibañez
- Red de Ambiente y Sustentabilidad, Instituto de Ecología, A.C. (INECOL), Xalapa, Mexico
| | | | - Sergio R Camín
- ECODES, Grupo de investigación en ecología de comunidades de desierto, IADIZA-CONICET, Mendoza y Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, UNCuyo, Mendoza, Argentina
| | - Luis Marone
- ECODES, Grupo de investigación en ecología de comunidades de desierto, IADIZA-CONICET, Mendoza y Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, UNCuyo, Mendoza, Argentina
| | - Augusto João Piratelli
- Universidade Federal de São Carlos - Depto. Ciências Ambientais/CCTS, Rodovia João Leme dos Santos, Km 110 - Itinga, CEP 18052-780 Sorocaba, SP, Brazil
| | | | - Larissa Crispim
- Universidade Federal de São Carlos - Depto. Ciências Ambientais/CCTS, Rodovia João Leme dos Santos, Km 110 - Itinga, CEP 18052-780 Sorocaba, SP, Brazil
| | - Julieta Benitez
- Centro Austral de Investigaciones Científicas (CADIC), National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET), Houssay 200, 9410 Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego, Argentina
| | - Yanina Benedetti
- Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Kamýcká 129, CZ-165 00 Prague 6, Czech Republic
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Leveau LM, Bocelli ML, Quesada-Acuña SG, González-Lagos C, Gutiérrez Tapia P, Franzoi Dri G, Delgado-V. CA, Garitano-Zavala Á, Campos J, Benedetti Y, Ortega-Álvarez R, Contreras Rodríguez AI, Souza López D, Suertegaray Fontana C, da Silva TW, Zalewski Vargas SS, Barbosa Toledo MC, Sarquis JA, Giraudo A, Echevarria AL, Fanjul ME, Martínez MV, Haedo J, Cano Sanz LG, Peña Y, Fernandez V, Marinero V, Abilhoa V, Amorin R, Escobar Ibáñez JF, Juri MD, Camín S, Marone L, Piratelli AJ, Franchin AG, Crispim L, Morelli F. Bird diversity-environment relationships in urban parks and cemeteries of the Neotropics during breeding and non-breeding seasons. PeerJ 2022. [DOI: 10.7717/peerj.14496] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
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.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | - César González-Lagos
- Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez, Santiago de Chile, Chile
- Center of Applied Ecology and Sustainability (CAPES), Santiago de Chile, Chile
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | - Rubén Ortega-Álvarez
- Investigadoras e Investigadores por México del CONACYT, Dirección Regional Occidente, México
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | - Josefina Haedo
- Instituto de Ecología Regional, San Miguel de Tucumán, Argentina
| | - Luis Gonzalo Cano Sanz
- Museo de Historia Natural de la Universidad Nacional de San Agustín de Arequipa, Arequipa, Perú
| | - Yuri Peña
- Museo de Historia Natural de la Universidad Nacional de San Agustín de Arequipa, Arequipa, Perú
| | | | | | | | - Rafael Amorin
- Museu de História Natural Capão da Imbuia, Curitiba, Brazil
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