关键词: 鸟类, 城市化, 种间互作, 互作网络, 生物多样性

Abstract

Background & Aim: Urbanization has caused widespread changes in species habitats, leading to changes in community composition and species traits. This process has notably transformed the interspecific interactions involving birds, but current research has limited knowledge about this change. In this paper, the modification patterns of predator–prey interactions, host–parasite interactions, competitive interactions, and mutualism interactions involving birds in urban environments are reviewed, to provide suggestions for future research and conservation efforts on birds in urban environments.   

Review Results: With increasing urbanization, the identity of species involved in various forms of interspecific interactions is directly affected by changes in species composition, leading to changes in the process, intensity, and outcomes of interspecific interactions. In predator–prey interactions, anthropogenic disturbances, enhanced resource availability, and habitat changes modify the community composition of both predators and prey. These changes affect the predation behavior of predators and the antipredator behavior of prey. In host–parasite interactions, pollution and zoonotic disease transmission change parasite taxa, while the spatial concentration and diminished diversity of urban bird communities heighten disease transmission risks. Additionally, factors such as dietary quality and environmental disturbances influence host immunophysiology. In competitive interactions, adaptation of birds to urban environment leads to intensification of competitive behavior, and stabilization of the environment and resource availability may increase competitive intensity and promote competitive exclusion. In mutualistic interactions between birds and plants, the loss of native species and the introduction of exotic species reduce the uniqueness of interactions. Landscape features such as habitat fragmentation affect spatial patterns of pollination and seed dispersal. Changes in the participants and processes of interspecific interactions can modify the nodes and edges in interaction networks and the structural characteristics of such networks, decrease in species diversity simplifies the network structure, while the loss of specialist species and rise of generalist species enhance evenness and reduce the specialization of the interactive networks.

Prospect: There are three important directions for future research on interspecific interactions in urban birds: (1) Development of methods for identifying and quantifying interspecific interactions; (2) Development of ecological network theories, including multilayer networks, in the study of interspecific interactions in urban birds; (3) Utilization of interspecific interactions to increase the effectiveness of conservation in urban bird conservation.

Key words: birds, urbanization, species interaction, interaction network, biodiversity