Graduate Program in Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts 01003, USA.
Ecol Appl. 2011 Jun;21(4):1327-39. doi: 10.1890/10-0423.1.
Urbanization is recognized as one of the greatest threats to biodiversity throughout the world. However, the vegetation within an urbanized landscape is diverse and includes a variety of native and exotic plant species. This variation allows for testing whether certain landscape designs outperform others in the support of native biodiversity. Residential yards represent a large component of an urban landscape and, if managed collectively for birds and other wildlife, could offset some of the negative effects of urbanization. In addition, many urbanites have their primary interaction with the natural world in their front and back yards. Therefore, ensuring positive wildlife experiences for them is essential in promoting urban biodiversity. At the Central Arizona-Phoenix Long-Term Ecological Research site we tested the efficacy of native landscaping in residential yards in attracting native birds. We also explored the links between socioeconomic factors, landscape designs, and urban gradient measurements with the urban bird communities. A redundancy analysis suggested that native desert bird species increased in abundance in neighborhoods with desert landscaping designs, neighborhoods closer to large desert tracts, and higher-income neighborhoods. Variance partitioning showed that collectively these three sets of environmental variables explained almost 50% of the variation in the urban bird community. Results suggested racial and economic inequities in access to biodiversity, whereby predominantly Hispanic and lower-income neighborhoods had fewer native birds. We also found that residents' satisfaction with bird diversity was positively correlated with actual bird diversity. Our study provides new insights into the relative importance of socioeconomic variables and common urban ecological measurements in explaining urban bird communities. Urban planners can use this information to develop residential landscapes that support the well-being of both birds and people.
城市化被认为是全球范围内对生物多样性的最大威胁之一。然而，城市景观中的植被是多样的，包括各种本地和外来植物物种。这种变化使得我们可以测试某些景观设计在支持本地生物多样性方面是否优于其他设计。住宅庭院是城市景观的重要组成部分，如果为鸟类和其他野生动物进行集体管理，可以抵消城市化的一些负面影响。此外，许多城市居民与自然世界的主要互动是在前院和后院。因此，确保他们获得积极的野生动物体验对于促进城市生物多样性至关重要。在亚利桑那州中部-凤凰城长期生态研究站，我们测试了住宅庭院中本地景观设计对吸引本地鸟类的效果。我们还探讨了社会经济因素、景观设计以及与城市梯度测量相关的因素与城市鸟类群落之间的联系。冗余分析表明，在具有沙漠景观设计的社区、靠近大型沙漠地带的社区以及高收入社区中，本地沙漠鸟类物种的数量增加。方差分解表明，这三组环境变量共同解释了城市鸟类群落变异的近 50%。结果表明，在获得生物多样性方面存在种族和经济不平等，主要是西班牙裔和低收入社区的本地鸟类较少。我们还发现，居民对鸟类多样性的满意度与实际鸟类多样性呈正相关。我们的研究提供了关于社会经济变量和常见城市生态测量在解释城市鸟类群落方面的相对重要性的新见解。城市规划者可以利用这些信息来开发支持鸟类和人类福祉的住宅景观。
