Area is still the greatest predictor of avian biodiversity in urban green spaces, but urban built form matters too

Background/Question/Methods

Urban biodiversity plays an important role in ecological processes and ecosystem services within cities, making conservation a priority in many municipal sustainability plans. Urban green spaces (UGS) have been a key strategy for conservation by providing habitat for wildlife, including avian communities. While the ecological attributes necessary to enhance the habitability of UGS for avian communities are relatively well known, an understanding of how variation of surrounding urban built form influences avian richness outcomes in these spaces is less understood. As new urban areas continue to develop and UGS become increasingly important habitat areas, urban designers and planners will need a better understanding of the ways in which urban built form patterns influence avian biodiversity outcomes in UGS. To that end, this study investigates the influence of 5 urban built form metrics and 8 site level metrics of UGS on total avian richness and avian richness by foraging guild using generalized linear model methods. This analysis was conducted using high resolution land cover data, building LiDAR data, and twenty years of bird occurrence data from the eBird community science program in well-surveyed UGS in Los Angeles, California.

Results/Conclusions

Several urban built form metrics were found to have a significant influence on total avian richness patterns and on carnivore, granivore, insectivore foraging guilds. However, the best predictor of avian richness patterns was the area of the UGS, confirming previous findings. These findings contribute to a more complete understanding of how urban built form patterns influence avian biodiversity outcomes.