Urban Heat Dilemma: Why Birds Abandon Cities and How To Attract Them Back
Sourced from Nature World News
Urbanization is one of the main drivers of global environmental change, affecting not only human well-being, but also biodiversity and ecosystem services.
One of the most noticeable effects of urbanization is the urban heat island (UHI) effect, which is the phenomenon of higher temperatures in urban areas compared to surrounding rural areas.
The UHI effect can have negative impacts on human health, air quality, energy consumption, and water availability.
But how does it affect the diversity and distribution of birds, which are important indicators of ecological health and provide many benefits to humans, such as pollination, pest control, and recreation?
How urban heat affects bird diversity
A new study by researchers from Zhejiang University and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology has addressed this question by analyzing data from 336 cities across China.
The study, published in the journal Global Change Biology, used citizen science data from eBird, a global online platform where birdwatchers can report their observations of birds.
The study also used satellite imagery and climate data to measure the UHI intensity and other environmental variables in each city, and also identified which bird species are most sensitive or tolerant to urban heat, based on their traits and phylogenetic relationships.
The results showed that urban heat reduces bird diversity by up to 15%, depending on the city and season.
For example, birds that are small-bodied, insectivorous, migratory, or belong to certain families, such as woodpeckers, nuthatches, and chickadees, are more sensitive than birds that are large-bodied, omnivorous, resident, or belong to other families, such as pigeons, starlings, and sparrows.
The study also found that urban heat affects bird diversity differently across regions and seasons.
For instance, urban heat has a stronger negative effect on bird diversity in North America than in Europe or Australia, and in summer than in winter.
From the Living Architecture Monitor
