Department of Biological Sciences, Fordham University, Bronx, NY, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2018 Aug 29;13(8):e0202298. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0202298. eCollection 2018.
The world is rapidly urbanizing, and many previously biodiverse areas are now mostly composed of impervious surface. This loss of natural habitat causes local bird communities to become dominated by urban dweller and urban utilizer species and reduces the amount of habitat available for migrating and breeding birds. Green roofs can increase green space in urban landscapes, potentially providing new habitat for wildlife. We surveyed birds and arthropods, an important food source for birds, on green roofs and nearby comparable conventional (non-green) roofs in New York City during spring migration and summer breeding seasons. We predicted that green roofs would have a greater abundance and richness of both birds and arthropods than conventional roofs during both migration and the breeding season for birds. Furthermore, we predicted we would find more urban avoider and urban utilizer bird species on green roofs than conventional roofs. We found that both birds and arthropods were more abundant and rich on green roofs than conventional roofs. In addition, green roofs hosted more urban avoider and utilizer bird species than conventional roofs. Our study shows that birds use green roofs as stopover habitat during migration and as foraging habitat during the breeding season. Establishing green roofs in urban landscapes increases the amount of habitat available for migrating and breeding birds and can partially mitigate the loss of habitat due to increasing urbanization.
世界正在迅速城市化，许多以前生物多样性丰富的地区现在主要由不透水面组成。这种自然栖息地的丧失导致当地鸟类群落主要由城市居民和城市利用者物种主导，并减少了候鸟和繁殖鸟类可用的栖息地数量。绿色屋顶可以增加城市景观中的绿地面积，为野生动物提供潜在的新栖息地。我们在春季迁徙和夏季繁殖季节期间，在纽约市的绿色屋顶和附近可比的传统（非绿色）屋顶上调查了鸟类和节肢动物，它们是鸟类的重要食物来源。我们预测，在迁徙和鸟类繁殖季节期间，绿色屋顶上的鸟类和节肢动物的丰富度和丰富度都将高于传统屋顶。此外，我们预计在绿色屋顶上会发现比传统屋顶更多的城市回避者和城市利用者鸟类物种。我们发现，鸟类和节肢动物在绿色屋顶上的数量和丰富度都高于传统屋顶。此外，绿色屋顶上栖息着比传统屋顶更多的城市回避者和利用者鸟类物种。我们的研究表明，鸟类在迁徙期间将绿色屋顶用作中途停留栖息地，在繁殖季节将其用作觅食栖息地。在城市景观中建立绿色屋顶可以增加候鸟和繁殖鸟类可用的栖息地数量，并在一定程度上缓解由于城市化不断增加而导致的栖息地丧失。
