Anthropogenic noise reduces bird species richness and diversity in urban parks

Periilo, A, Mazzoni, LG, Goulart, VDLR, Passos, LF, Duca, C and Young, RJ ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8407-2348 2017, 'Anthropogenic noise reduces bird species richness and diversity in urban parks' , Ibis, 159 (3) , pp. 638-646.

PDF - Published Version Restricted to Repository staff only Download (482kB) | Request a copy

Abstract

Anthropogenic noise is becoming more prevalent in the world and has been shown to affect many animal species, including birds. The impact of such noise was measured in Neotropical urban parks to assess how the noise affects avifauna diversity and species richness. We sampled bird species, and concurrently measured sound pressure (noise) levels (Leq, equivalent noise levels) in eight urban green areas or parks located in a large city (Belo Horizonte) in south-eastern Brazil over a 1-year period. The diversity of sampled points was measured by means of total species richness, Fisher’s alpha and Shannon–Wiener diversity indices. Noise levels within all parks were greater than those in natural areas. We found that an increase in noise levels and the area of open habitats surrounding sampling points were negatively related to species richness. Social factors reflecting increased urbanization, such as higher incomes, were also negatively correlated with bird species richness. However, noise was the factor that explained most of the variance. These results suggest that anthropogenic noise can have a significant negative impact on the conservation value of urban parks for bird species.

Item Type:	Article
Schools:	Schools > School of Environment and Life Sciences > Ecosystems and Environment Research Centre
Journal or Publication Title:	Ibis
Publisher:	Blackwell Publishing
ISSN:	1474-919X
Related URLs:	Publication
Funders:	FAPEMIG, CAPES, CNPq
Depositing User:	Professor Robert Young
Date Deposited:	13 Jun 2017 08:39
Last Modified:	16 Feb 2022 18:20
URI:	https://usir.salford.ac.uk/id/eprint/42329

Actions (login required)

Edit record (repository staff only)