Bird communities across varying landcover types in a Neotropical city

Urbanization poses a serious threat to local biodiversity, yet towns and
cities with abundant natural features may harbor important species
populations and communities.While the contribution of urban greenspaces to
conservation has been demonstrated by numerous studies within temperate
regions, few consider the bird communities associated with different
landcovers in Neotropical cities. To begin to fill this knowledge gap, we
examined how the avifauna of a wetland city in northern Amazonia
(Georgetown, Guyana) varied across six urban landcover types (coastal
bluespace; urban bluespace; managed greenspace; unmanaged greenspace;
dense urban; sparse urban). We measured detections, species richness and a
series of ground cover variables that characterized the heterogeneity of
each landcover, at 114 locations across the city. We recorded >10%
(98) of Guyana’s bird species in Georgetown, including taxa of
conservation interest. Avian detections, richness, and community
composition differed with landcover type. Indicator species analysis
identified 29 species from across dietary guilds, which could be driving
community composition. Comparing landcovers, species richness was highest
in managed greenspaces and lowest in dense urban areas. The canal network
had comparable levels of species richness to greenspaces. The waterways
are likely to play a key role in enhancing habitat connectivity as they
traverse densely urbanized areas. Both species and landcover information
should be integrated into urban land-use planning in the rapidly
urbanizing Neotropics to maximize the conservation value of cities. This
is imperative in the tropics, where anthropogenic pressures on species are
growing significantly, and action needs to be taken to prevent
biodiversity collapse.