Urban green spaces with high connectivity and complex vegetation promote occupancy and richness of birds in a tropical megacity

Abstract

Abstract The growth of urban areas promotes land-use change, resulting in the loss of biodiversity and human benefits. In urban zones, green areas facilitate physicochemical processes, undertake multiple gains to human beings, and support numerous vertebrate populations, including birds. In tropics, the capacity of green spaces to maintain bird populations is regulated by characteristics of these areas (e.g., vegetation structure) and environmental seasonality. To generate proposals that address the negative effects of Mexico City's growth, in this study (1) we defined the park characteristics that most influence the detection and occupation probabilities of birds by season and (2) evaluated bird richness in green areas between seasons. From four sampling seasons between 2021 and 2022, detection records of 108 bird species were obtained in 101 green areas. We estimate that air temperature (in the second season) and sampling time (in the other three) explained the detection for most birds. In the first and fourth seasons, the occupancy and bird richness was higher in parks close to other green areas. The occupation and richness of birds increased with tree richness in the second and fourth seasons. Flower abundance explained the occupancy and richness in the third season. In both years, we estimated differences in species richness between seasons. In 2021, we estimated the highest richness during the dry season, and in 2022, the highest richness was estimated during the rainy season. With these results, we aim to promote responsible management practices for green areas, bird conservation and, their benefits for the urban ecosystems.