TY - JOUR

T1 - Pocket parks in a compact city

T2 - How do birds respond to increasing residential density?

AU - Ikin, Karen

AU - Beaty, R Matthew

AU - Lindenmayer, David B.

AU - Knight, Emma J.

AU - Fischer, J.

AU - Manning, Adrian D.

N1 - Copyright 2013 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.

PY - 2013/1/1

Y1 - 2013/1/1

N2 - The desire to improve urban sustainability is motivating many city planners to adopt growth strategies that increase residential density, leading to substantial changes to urban landscapes. What effect this change will have on biodiversity remains unclear, but it is expected that the role of public greenspace in providing wildlife habitat will become critical. We explored the role of urban "pocket parks" as habitat for birds, and how this role changed with increasing residential density in the surrounding neighbourhood. We found that parks in neighbourhoods with high levels of public greenspace (corresponding to less residential land) supported more bird species and individuals overall, and more woodland-dependent species, insectivores and hollow-nesters. Total greenspace area was more important (included in the best ranked models for all bird responses) than the configuration (number, average size and connectivity) of greenspace patches. The majority of species were common suburban birds, indicating that species we assume are tolerant to urban areas will be negatively affected by increasing residential density. Parks form part of an interconnected network of urban open space. For parks to continue to support a diverse native bird community, the network must be viewed, managed, and maintained in its entirety. We suggest three key management actions to improve the bird diversity values of urban greenspaces in compact cities: (1) Increase urban greenspace cover in residential neighbourhoods. (2) Increase vegetation structure in greenspace. (3) Encourage homeowners to plant trees and shrubs.

AB - The desire to improve urban sustainability is motivating many city planners to adopt growth strategies that increase residential density, leading to substantial changes to urban landscapes. What effect this change will have on biodiversity remains unclear, but it is expected that the role of public greenspace in providing wildlife habitat will become critical. We explored the role of urban "pocket parks" as habitat for birds, and how this role changed with increasing residential density in the surrounding neighbourhood. We found that parks in neighbourhoods with high levels of public greenspace (corresponding to less residential land) supported more bird species and individuals overall, and more woodland-dependent species, insectivores and hollow-nesters. Total greenspace area was more important (included in the best ranked models for all bird responses) than the configuration (number, average size and connectivity) of greenspace patches. The majority of species were common suburban birds, indicating that species we assume are tolerant to urban areas will be negatively affected by increasing residential density. Parks form part of an interconnected network of urban open space. For parks to continue to support a diverse native bird community, the network must be viewed, managed, and maintained in its entirety. We suggest three key management actions to improve the bird diversity values of urban greenspaces in compact cities: (1) Increase urban greenspace cover in residential neighbourhoods. (2) Increase vegetation structure in greenspace. (3) Encourage homeowners to plant trees and shrubs.

KW - Ecosystems Research

KW - compact

KW - Bird diversity

KW - Landscape composition

KW - Landscape configuration

KW - Object based image analysis

KW - Planning and management

KW - Southeast Australia

KW - Spatial analysis

KW - Urban form

KW - Urban greenspace

KW - Urban sustainability

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84872647412&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1007/s10980-012-9811-7

DO - 10.1007/s10980-012-9811-7

M3 - Journal articles

AN - SCOPUS:84872647412

VL - 28

SP - 45

EP - 56

JO - Landscape Ecology

JF - Landscape Ecology

SN - 0921-2973

IS - 1

ER -