Bird diversity-environment relationships in urban parks and cemeteries of the Neotropics during breeding and non-breeding seasons

LM LEVEAU ET AL.

PeerJ

PeerJ

Año: 2022

2167-8359

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 relation between urban green spaces, such as parks and cemeteries, and bird species richness in the Neotropical region. Latitudinal gradients or species-area relationships may influence bird diversity-environment relations in urban parks and cemeteries. However, the seasonal variation of species diversity-environment has yet to be 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 and the effective number of species derived from Shannon and Simpson indices. Environmental variables included latitude, altitude, and local scale variables such as area size, habitat diversity and pedestrian traffic. Results. Species richness was higher during the breeding season, whereas Shannon and 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 20º latitude. Species richness was also positively related to habitat diversity 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.