The influence of habitat types on bird community in urban parks

The bird communities and vegetation communities in Shanghai Century Park and Bingjiang Forest Park were respectively surveyed from December 2011 to November 2012. In accordance with the result of principal components analysis of 12 vegetation variables, the vegetation in the two parks was grouped into 8 types including T type (habitat with developed tree layer), S type (habitat with developed shrub layer), G type (habitat with developed ground cover layer), T+S type (habitat with developed tree layer and shrub layer), T+G type (habitat with developed tree layer and ground cover layer), S+G type (habitat with developed shrub layer and ground cover layer), T+S+G type (habitat with complex vegetation structure), D type (disturbed habitat). Chi-square test suggested that the S type and T+S type habitat in Binjiang Forest Park was significantly more abundant than those in Century Park while G type and T+G type habitat in Century Park was significantly more abundant than those in Binjiang Forest Park. Developed tree layer habitat was abundant both in the two parks and More than 70% of the bird richness and bird abundance were recorded in these habitat. Bird richness was significantly different in habitat types in Century Park, but the richness difference was not significant in Binjiang Forest Park. There were 24 common bird species in the two parks, which were indicated to have performed higher utility rate in Binjiang Park than those in Century Park in accordance with paired sample t test result. Analysis of the bird richness in common habitat types of the two parks showed that the richness of Muscicapidae in Binjiang Park was significantly higher than that of their counterparts in Century Park. Due to the forgoing, we concluded that (1) trees were one of the most important vegetation components that enhanced the bird species richness and diversity in urban green spaces; (2) shrubs were usually treated as being as important as trees for birds living in urban areas, where they provided some forest birds with nesting sites; (3) ground cover layer provided the ground foraging groups with feeding resources. Our research emphasized that habitat types significantly influenced the structure of bird communities in the urban parks in Shanghai. Therefore, we suggest that hierarchical vegetation types should be adopted while planning and constructing large-scale urban parks so that the bird diversity will be improved. Furthermore, in order to perform higher utility rate of urban birds, diversified shrubs and different kinds of herbaceous plant should be planted under the tree layer.