Use of native and alien plants during night roosting by urban birds in Beijing

doi:10.17520/biods.2022399

Abstract

Abstract:

Aims: With continually increasing urbanization, urban birds are becoming more reliant on the habitat provided by garden plants. At the same time, the proportion of alien plants in urban gardens have gradually increased, becoming an important part of urban bird habitats. Garden plants are the primary roosting site for urban birds, and their reasonable configuration can provide a suitable night roosting environment for birds and maintain urban bird diversity. Studying the use of night roosting plants by urban birds can provide a reference to conservationists for the construction of urban gardens.

Methods: From 2021 to 2022, infrared thermography was used to observe night-roosting bird behavior in Beijing. The species, diameter at breast height, tree height, canopy of night roosting plants, and perch height of birds were measured and recorded.

Results & Conclusions: A total of 1,865 recordings consisting of 23 species of birds in 12 families and 45 species of roosting plants in 22 families were documented. The number of native plants and alien plants in the study area accounted for 45.08% and 54.92%, respectively. The number of birds that roost in alien plants at night was about four times that of native plants. The plant with the largest number of night-roosting birds was Juniperus chinensis, followed by Fraxinus pennsylvanica, Phyllostachys propinqua, Platanus occidentalis, and Salix matsudana. The highest rarity-weighted richness of night-roosting birds was Juniperus chinensis, followed by Fraxinus pennsylvanica, Phyllostachys propinqua, Pinus tabuliformis, and Ulmus pumila. The diameter at breast height, tree height, canopy and perch height of night-roosting birds of native plants were significantly higher than those of alien plants. Birds utilized a significantly higher percentage of alien plants whilst roosting in winter (95.44%) than in other seasons (75.37%). Our findings suggest that alien plants enriched the night roosting environment of birds in Beijing urban gardens.

Key words: alien plants, urban birds, night roosting plants, seasonal variation, Beijing

Yexi Zhao, Jiayu Zhang, Zihan Li, Qinmijia Xie, Xin Deng, Nan Wang. Use of native and alien plants during night roosting by urban birds in Beijing[J]. Biodiv Sci, 2023, 31(3): 22399.

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URL: https://www.biodiversity-science.net/EN/10.17520/biods.2022399

https://www.biodiversity-science.net/EN/Y2023/V31/I3/22399

Figures/Tables 6

Fig. 1 Distribution of night roosting plants in Beijing Forestry University (A) and Olympic Forest Park (B)

Fig. 2 The relationship between night-roosting birds and plants. The number after the name of the bird on the left indicates the number of individuals recorded to this night-roosting bird. The number before the name of the plant on the right indicates the number of individual birds nocturnally inhabiting the plant. The width of the line indicates the number of birds, and the wider the line, the greater the number of birds.

Fig. 3 Number of plant species used by night-roosting birds. 1, Cyanopica cyanus; 2, Passer montanus; 3, Pica pica; 4, Streptopelia chinensis; 5, Turdus mandarinus; 6, Pycnonotus sinensis; 7, Eophona migratoria; 8, Streptopelia orientalis; 9, Fringilla montifringilla; 10, Muscicapa dauurica; 11, Turdus ruficollis; 12, Ficedula albicilla; 13, Turdus naumanni; 14, Ficedula parva; 15, Zoothera aurea; 16, Turdus hortulorum; 17, Spodiopsar cineraceus; 18, Hirundo rustica; 19, Periparus ater; 20, Muscicapa sibirica; 21, Poecile palustris; 22, Sinosuthora webbiana; 23, Athene noctua.

Table 1 Comparison of native and alien night roosting plants (Kruskal-Wallis test) (mean ± SE)

	本土植物 Native plants	外来植物 Alien plants	χ²	P
胸径 Diameter at breast height (cm)	39.28 ± 0.78	33.80 ± 0.52	71.115	< 0.01
树高 Tree height (m)	14.65 ± 0.15	12.84 ± 0.11	147.18	< 0.01
冠幅 Canopy (m)	10.44 ± 0.16	8.03 ± 0.11	167.71	< 0.01
栖枝高度 Perch height (m)	10.41 ± 0.15	8.46 ± 0.08	147.18	< 0.01

Fig. 4 Proportion of native and alien plants used by night-roosting birds in each season

Fig. 5 Diameter at breast height (A), tree height (B), canopy (C) and perch height (D) of night roosting plants in different season

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