TY - JOUR
T1 - The urban contrast
T2 - A nationwide assessment of avian diversity in Mexican cities
AU - MacGregor-Fors, Ian
AU - Escobar-Ibáñez, Juan F.
AU - Schondube, Jorge E.
AU - Zuria, Iriana
AU - Ortega-Álvarez, Rubén
AU - Sosa-López, J. Roberto
AU - Ruvalcaba-Ortega, Irene
AU - Almazán-Núñez, R. Carlos
AU - Arellano-Delgado, Moisés
AU - Arriaga-Weiss, Stefan L.
AU - Calvo, Alejandra
AU - Chapa-Vargas, Leonardo
AU - Silvestre Lara, Perla X.
AU - García-Chávez, Juan H.
AU - Hinojosa, Osvel
AU - Koller-González, Juan M.
AU - Lara, Carlos
AU - de Aquino, Samuel López
AU - López-Santillán, Dulce
AU - Maya-Elizarrarás, Elisa
AU - Medina, Juan P.
AU - de Jesús Moreno Navarro, José
AU - Murillo García, Luis E.
AU - Orozco, Landy
AU - Pineda-López, Rubén
AU - Rodríguez-Ruíz, Erick R.
AU - Tinajero Hernández, José R.
AU - Torres Abán, Ligia B.
AU - Vega-Rivera, Jorge H.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2020
PY - 2021/1/20
Y1 - 2021/1/20
N2 - In this study we focused on urban bird diversity across Mexico, a megadiverse country, with a special focus on the relative role of urban greenspaces and heavily-built sites. We considered a country-wide approach, including 24 different sized Mexican cities. Our aims were to describe the urban bird diversity in focal cities and further assess the relationships between it and the biogeographic region where cities are located, their size, elevation, and annual rainfall. Additionally, we evaluated differences in the functional composition of bird communities in both studied urban scenarios (i.e., urban greenspaces, heavily-built sites). Our results confirm that urban greenspaces are home to a large proportion of species when contrasted with heavily-built sites. While total species richness and species richness of greenspaces were related with the cities' biogeographic region –with higher species richness in the Neotropical region and Transition Zone–, the relationship did not hold true in heavily-built sites. We found that annual rainfall was negatively related to bird richness in heavily-built sites, suggesting that species from arid systems can be more tolerant to urbanization. Regarding the bird functional group assessment, results show a clear differentiation between the functional groups of greenspaces and those of heavily-built sites, with granivores and omnivores associated with the latter and a highly diverse array of functional groups associated with urban greenspaces.
AB - In this study we focused on urban bird diversity across Mexico, a megadiverse country, with a special focus on the relative role of urban greenspaces and heavily-built sites. We considered a country-wide approach, including 24 different sized Mexican cities. Our aims were to describe the urban bird diversity in focal cities and further assess the relationships between it and the biogeographic region where cities are located, their size, elevation, and annual rainfall. Additionally, we evaluated differences in the functional composition of bird communities in both studied urban scenarios (i.e., urban greenspaces, heavily-built sites). Our results confirm that urban greenspaces are home to a large proportion of species when contrasted with heavily-built sites. While total species richness and species richness of greenspaces were related with the cities' biogeographic region –with higher species richness in the Neotropical region and Transition Zone–, the relationship did not hold true in heavily-built sites. We found that annual rainfall was negatively related to bird richness in heavily-built sites, suggesting that species from arid systems can be more tolerant to urbanization. Regarding the bird functional group assessment, results show a clear differentiation between the functional groups of greenspaces and those of heavily-built sites, with granivores and omnivores associated with the latter and a highly diverse array of functional groups associated with urban greenspaces.
KW - Birds
KW - Cities
KW - Mexico
KW - Nearctic
KW - Neotropics
KW - Urban ecology
KW - Urban green areas
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85091966337&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.141915
DO - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.141915
M3 - Artículo
C2 - 33207447
AN - SCOPUS:85091966337
SN - 0048-9697
VL - 753
JO - Science of the Total Environment
JF - Science of the Total Environment
M1 - 141915
ER -