Movement of feeder-using songbirds: the influence of urban features
Cox, DTC; Inger, R; Hancock, S; et al.Anderson, K; Gaston, KJ
Date: 23 November 2016
Article
Journal
Scientific Reports
Publisher
Nature Publishing Group
Publisher DOI
Abstract
Private gardens provide vital opportunities for people to interact with nature. The most
popular form of interaction is through garden bird feeding. Understanding how landscape
features and seasons determine patterns of movement of feeder-using songbirds is key to
maximising the well-being benefits they provide. To determine these ...
Private gardens provide vital opportunities for people to interact with nature. The most
popular form of interaction is through garden bird feeding. Understanding how landscape
features and seasons determine patterns of movement of feeder-using songbirds is key to
maximising the well-being benefits they provide. To determine these patterns we established
three networks of automated data loggers along a gradient of greenspace fragmentation. Over
a 12-month period we tracked 452 tagged blue tits Cyantistes caeruleus and great tits Parus
major moving between feeder pairs 9,848 times, to address two questions: (i) Do urban
features within different forms, and season, influence structural (presence-absence of
connections between feeders by birds) and functional (frequency of these connections)
connectivity? (ii) Are there general patterns of structural and functional connectivity across
forms? Vegetation cover increased connectivity in all three networks, whereas the presence
of road gaps negatively affected functional but not structural connectivity. Across networks
structural connectivity was lowest in the summer when birds maintain breeding territories,
however patterns of functional connectivity appeared to vary with habitat fragmentation.
Using empirical data this study shows how key urban features and season influence
movement of feeder-using songbirds, and we provide evidence that this is related to
greenspace fragmentation.
Biosciences - old structure
Collections of Former Colleges
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