Park size and prey density limit occurrence of Eurasian Sparrowhawks in urban parks during winter

作     者：Claudia Schütz Christian H.Schulze 

作者机构：Department of Botany and Biodiversity ResearchUniversity of ViennaRennweg 141030 ViennaAustria 

出 版 物：《Avian Research》 (鸟类学研究（英文版）)

年 卷 期：2018年第9卷第3期

页      面：206-213页

核心收录：

学科分类：0710[理学-生物学] 0830[工学-环境科学与工程（可授工学、理学、农学学位）] 07[理学] 0905[农学-畜牧学] 0906[农学-兽医学] 09[农学] 0713[理学-生态学] 

基　　金：The authors received no specific funding for this work 

主　　题：Birds of prey Bird feeders Prey abundance Habitat connectivity Tree cover Urban ecology 

摘      要：Background: Eurasian Sparrowhawks(Accipiter nisus) increasingly represent successful city-dwellers. Thereby, a rich food supply indicated by high numbers of small birds is believed to be the key driver for this bird-eating raptor species to settle in urban environments. However, as small passerine birds show particularly strong antipredator responses, sparrowhawks may not simply focus on patches of highest prey densities, but rather respond strategically to prey behavior, raising the importance of other parameters in determining the occurrence within urban ***: To deepen our knowledge on habitat requirements of urban sparrowhawks, bird surveys were carried out during winter between December 2005 and January 2017 in 36 city parks in Vienna, Austria. Besides food supply also park size, canopy heterogeneity and the connectivity with other green spaces were ***: Occurrence of sparrowhawks was positively affected by increasing park size, prey density and the interaction between both. Bird feeder density and park connectivity with other green spaces were of minor importance in explaining the presence of this species. Canopy heterogeneity didn t affect city park occupancy by Eurasian ***: Our results suggest that large city parks, particularly when characterized by high prey densities, substantially contribute to protect and preserve ecologically important bird species such as raptors within the urban environment—a landscape already struggling with biodiversity losses and functional homogenization.