Abstract:

Aim: Against the backdrop of rapid urbanization, urban parks have increasingly served as critical biodiversity refugia. However, quantitative studies on the composition characteristics of park avian communities and the effects of park spatial features (area, waterbody distribution) on avian species richness remain scarce at the national scale.
Methods: This study used standardized observational data from BirdReport (https://www.birdreport.cn/), including records from 942 parks in 175 Chinese prefecture-level cities (as of December 31, 2023). We analyzed national-scale patterns of avian diversity in urban parks, examined environmental driving mechanisms, and compiled the first comprehensive Checklist of Birds in Urban Parks of China.
Results: A total of 751 bird species (22 orders, 91 families) were documented in urban parks, representing 49.8% of China’s total avian species. This included 26 nationally Class I protected species, 46 Class II protected species, 4 species listed as Critically Endangered (CR) and 8 as Endangered (EN) on the IUCN Red List. Birds in parks are predominantly migratory. The proportion of resident birds in urban parks in southern China is significantly higher than that in northern China, whereas the proportion of migratory birds is higher in northern China. Bird species in urban parks in northern China are more inclined to insectivory and herbivory (granivory), whereas those in southern China are more inclined to insectivory and omnivory. Park area (Estimate = 0.1899, P < 0.001), presence of internal waterbodies (Estimate = 0.2512, P < 0.001), and presence of external waterbodies within a 0.5 km buffer (Estimate = 0.2581, P = 0.004) all exerted significantly positive effects on avian species richness. Notably, waterbodies (especially external ones) emerged as a more critical driver than park area.
Conclusions: Given the dominance of insectivorous migratory birds (40.8%) and the high dependency of threatened species on waterbody habitats, we recommend prioritizing the creation of semi-natural shrub habitats and optimizing waterbody-ecological corridor networks to enhance the conservation function of urban parks.

Key words: urban park, water bodies, avian species richness, threatened avian species, Checklist of Birds in Urban Parks of China