Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Avian metapopulation dynamics in a fragmented urbanizing landscape

  • Published:
Urban Ecosystems Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

As urbanization transforms landscapes around the globe, we are challenged to find ways for urban habitats to contribute to ongoing wildlife conservation efforts. Yet aside from basic distributions and relative abundance, we know little about the population dynamics of most species occupying urban habitats and almost nothing about the extent to which local populations serve as source or sink habitats. We analyzed the spatial synchrony and persistence of local populations of 16 avian species breeding in 14 mature riparian forests in central Ohio, USA during 2005–2011. In addition, we examined demographic growth rates (λ) for 2 focal species (northern cardinal, Cardinalis cardinalis, and Acadian flycatcher, Empidonax virescens) to understand source-sink structure. Our results showed high rates of population turnover for the majority of species and negative growth rates for both focal species, indicating that most populations functioned as sinks. Local populations showed little evidence of population synchrony, as we found consistently low or negative spatial autocorrelation and relatively high rates of population turnover for both migratory and resident species. Collectively our results suggest that long-term persistence of regional populations of birds breeding in Midwestern riparian forest fragments may be facilitated by metapopulation dynamics.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Ainley DG, Ballard G, Barton KJ, Karl BJ, Rau GH, Ribic CA, Wilson PR (2003) Spatial and temporal variation of diet within a presumed metapopulation of adelie penguins. Condor 105(1):95–106

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ausprey IJ (2010) Post-fledging ecology of two songbird species across a rural-to-urban landscape gradient. Masters Thesis. The Ohio State University

  • Ausprey IJ, Rodewald AD (2011) Postfledging survivorship and habitat selection across a rural-to-urban landscape gradient. Auk 128(2):293–302

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bellamy P, Hinsley S, Newton I (1996) Local extinctions and recolonisations of passerine bird populations in small woods. Oecologia 108(1):64–71

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bellamy PE, Rothery P, Hinsley SA (2003) Synchrony of woodland bird populations: the effect of landscape structure. Ecography 26:338–348

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bibby CJ, Burgess NP, Hill DA, Mustoe S (2000) In bird census techniques, 2nd edn. Academic, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Boulinier T, Nichols JD, Hines JE, Saur JR, Flather CH, Pollock KH (2001) Forest fragmentation and bird community dynamics: inference at regional scales. Ecology 82(4):1159–1169

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brawn JD, Robinson SK (1996) Source-sink population dynamics may complicate the interpretation of long-term census data. Ecology 77(1):3–12

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Busch JD, Miller MP, Paxton EH, Sogge MK, Keim P (2000) Genetic variation in the endangered southwestern willow flycatcher. Auk 117(3):586–595

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Caswell H (2001) Matrix population models: construction, analysis, and interpretation. 2nd edition. Sinaur Associates, Inc

  • Cattadori IM, Hudson PJ, Merler S, Rizzoli A (1999) Synchrony, scale and temporal dynamics of rock partridge (Alectoris graeca saxatilis) populations in the Dolomites. J Anim Ecol 68:540–549

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chace, J. F., & Walsh, J. J. (2006) Urban effects on native avifauna: A review. Landscape and Urban Planning, 74(1):46–69.

  • Cushman SA, Chase M, Griffin C (2005) Elephants in space and time. Oikos 109:331–341

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Doherty P, Sorci G, Royle J, Hines J, Nichols J, Boulinier T (2003) Sexual selection affects local extinction and turnover in bird communities. Proc Natl Acad Sci 100(10):5858–5862

    Article  PubMed Central  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Donovan TM, Lamberson RH, Kimber A, Thompson FR, Faaborg J (1995a) Modeling the effects of habitat fragmentation on source and sink demography of neotropical migrant birds. Conserv Biol 9(6):1396–1407

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Donovan T, Thompson F, Faaborg J, Probst J (1995b) Reproductive success of migratory birds in habitat sources and sinks. Conserv Biol 9(6):1380–1395

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Drechsler M, Frank K, Hanski I, O’Hara RB, Wissel C (2003) Ranking metapopulation extinction risk: from patterns in data to conservation management decisions. Ecol Appl 13(4):990–998

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Driscoll DA (2007) How to find a metapopulation. Can J Zool 85:1031–1048

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dunford W, Freemark K (2005) Matrix matters: effects of surrounding land uses on forest birds near Ottawa, Canada. Landsc Ecol 20(5):497–511

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fahrig L (2002) Effect of habitat fragmentation on the extinction threshold: a synthesis. Ecol Appl 12(2):346–353

    Google Scholar 

  • Figueira WF (2009) Connectivity or demography: defining sources and sinks in coral reef fish metapopulations. Ecol Model 220(8):1126–1137

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Foppen RPB, Chardon LP, Lifeveld W (2000) Understanding the role of sink patches in source-sink metapopulations: reed Warbler in an agricultural landscape. Conserv Biol 14(6):1881–1892

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fortin MJ, Gurevitch J (2001) Mantel tests: spatial structure in field experiments. In: Scheiner SM, Gurevitch J (eds) Design and analysis of ecological experitments, 2nd edn. Oxfard University Press, UK, pp 308–326

    Google Scholar 

  • Guiney MS, Andow DA, Wilder TT (2010) Metapopulation structure and dynamics of an endangered butterfly. Basic Appl Ecol 11:354–362

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gyllenberg M, Söderbacka G, Ericsson S (1993) Does migration stabilize local population dynamics? Analysis of a discrete metapopulation model. Math Biosci 118(1):25–49

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hanski I (1999) Metapopulation ecology. Oxford University Press, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Hanski I, Gilpin M (1991) Metapopulation dynamics - brief-history and conceptual domain. Biol J Linn Soc 42(1–2):3–16

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hanski I, Ovaskainen O (2003) Metapopulation theory for fragmented landscapes. Theor Popul Biol 64(1):119–127

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hanski I, Pakkala T, Kuussaari M, Guangchun L (1995) Metapopulation persistence of an endangered butterfly in a fragmented landscape. Oikos 72(1):21–28

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Harrison S, Quinn JF (1989) Correlated environments and the persistence of metapopulations. Oikos 56(3):293–298

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Harrison S, Murphy DD, Ehrlich PR (1988) Distribution of the bay checkerspot butterfly, Euphydryas editha bayensis: evidence for a metapopulation model. Am Nat 132(3):360–382

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hels T, Nachman G (2002) Simulating viability of a spadefoot toad Pelobates fuscus metapopulation in a landscape fragmented by roads. Ecography 25:730–744

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hoover JP, Tear TH, Baltz ME (2006) Edge effects reduce the nesting success of Acadian flycatchers in a moderately fragmented forest. J Field Ornithol 77(4):425–436

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hosner PA, Winkler DW (2007) Dispersal distances of tree swallows estimated from continent-wide and limited-area data. J Field Ornithol 78(3):290–297

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Huste A, Boulinier T (2007) Determinants of local extinction and turnover rates in urban bird communities. Ecol Appl 17(1):168–180

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kennedy CM, Marra PP, Fagan WF, Neel MC (2010) Landscape matrix and species traits mediate responses of Neotropical resident birds to forest fragmentation in Jamaica. Ecol Monogr 80(4):651–669

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kiviniemi K, Lofgren A (2009) Spatial (a)synchrony in population fluctuations of five plant species in fragmented habitat. Basic Appl Ecol 10:70–78

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Koenig WD (1998) Spatial autocorrelation in California land birds. Conserv Biol 12(3):612–660

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Koenig WD (2002) Global patterns of environmental synchrony and the Moran effect. Ecography 25:283–288

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lahaye W, Gutierrez R, Akcakaya H (1994) Spotted owl metapopulation dynamics in southern California rid. J Anim Ecol 63(4):775–785

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lichtenstein JW, Simons TR, Franzreb KE (2002) Landscape effects on breeding songbird abundance in managed forests. Ecol Appl 12:836–857

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liebhold A, Koenig WD, Bjornstad ON (2004) Spatial synchrony in population dynamics. Annu Rev Ecol Evol Syst 35:467–490

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Magle SB, Reyes P, Zhu J, Crooks KR (2010) Extirpation, colonization, and habitat dynamics of a keystone species along an urban gradient. Biol Conserv 143:2146–2155

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mantel N (1967) The detection of disease clustering and a generalized regression approach. Cancer Res 27(1):209–220

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Marsh DM, Trenham PC (2001) Metapopulation dynamics and amphibian conservation. Conserv Biol 15(1):40–49

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Matthews DP, Gonzalez A (2007) The inflationary effects of environmental fluctuations ensure the persistence of metapopulations. Ecology 88(11):2848–2856

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Miller J, Wiens J, Hobbs N, Theobald D (2003) Effects of human settlement on bird communities in lowland riparian areas of Colorado (USA). Ecol Appl 13(4):1041–1059

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Minor E, Urban D (2010) Forest bird communities across a gradient of urban development. Urban Ecosyst 13:51–71

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moran PAP (1953) The statistical analysis of the Canadian lynx cycle. II. Syncronization and meteorology. Aust J Zool 1:291–298

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Newman D, Pilson D (1997) Increased probability of extinction due to decreased genetic effective population size: Experimental populations of Clarkia pulchella. Evolution 51(2):354–362

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Niemelä J (1999) Is there a need for a theory of urban ecology? Urban Ecosyst 3(1):57–65

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Noon B, Saur J (2001) Population models for passerine birds: structure, parameterization, and analysis. In: McCullogh DR, Barrett RH (eds) Wildlife 2001: populations. Elsevier Applied Science, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Opdam P (1991) Metapopulation theory and habitat fragmentation: a review of holarctic breeding bird studies. Landsc Ecol 5(2):93–106

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ranta E, Kaitala V, Lindstrom J, Helle E (1997) The Moran effect and synchrony in population dynamics. Nord Soc Oikos 78(1):136–142

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ringsby T, Saether B, Tufto J, Jensen H, Solberg E (2002) Asynchronous spatiotemporal demography of a house sparrow metapopulation in a correlated environment. Ecology 83(2):561–569

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Robinson SK, Thompson FR, Donovan TM, Whitehead DR, Faaborg J (1995) Regional forest fragmentation and the nesting success of migratory birds. Science 267(5206):1987–1990

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rodewald AD, Bakermans MH (2006) What is the appropriate paradigm for riparian forest conservation. Biol Conserv 128(2):193–200

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rodewald, A.D., & Kearns, L.J. (2011) Shifts in dominant nest predators along a rural-to-urban landscape gradient. The Condor, 113(4):899–906.

  • Rodewald AD, Shustach DP (2008) Consumer resource matching in urbanizing landscapes: are synanthropic birds over-matching. Ecology 89(2):515–521

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rodewald AD, Shustack DP (2008) Urban flight: understanding individual and population level responses of Nearctic-Neotropical migratory birds to urbanization. J Anim Ecol 77:83–91

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rosenberg MS, Anderson CD (2011) PASSaGE: pattern analysis, spatial statistics and geographic exegesis. Version 2. Methods Ecol Evol 2:229–232

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rosenstock TS, Hastings A, Koenig WD, Lyles DJ, Brown PB (2011) Testing Moran’s theorem in an agroecosystem. Oikos 120:1434–1440

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Scheiman DM, Dunning JB, With KA (2007) Metapopulation dynamics of Bobolinks occupying agricultural grasslands in the Midwestern United States. Am Midl Nat 158:415–423

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schippers P, Verboom J, Vos CC, Jochem R (2011) Metapopulation shift and survival of woodland birds under climate change: will species be able to track. Ecography 34:909–919

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smedbol RK, Wroblewski JS (2002) Metapopulation theory and northern cod population structure: interdependency of subpopulations in recovery of a groundfish population. Fish Res 55:161–174

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Soule ME, Bolger DT, Allison CA, Wright J, Sorice M, Hill S (1988) Reconstructed dynamics of rapid extintions of chaparral-requiring birds in urban habitat islands. Conserv Biol 2(1):75–92

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stratford JA, Robinson WD (2005) Distribution of neotropical migratory bird species across an urbanizing landscape. Urban Ecosyst 8(1):59–77

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sweanor LL, Logan KA, Hornocker MG (2000) Cougar dispersal patterns, metapopulation dynamics, and conservation. Conserv Biol 14(3):798–808

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Templeton AR, Brazeal H, Neuwald JL (2011) The transition from isolated patches to a metapopulation in the eastern collared lizard in response to prescribed fires. Ecology 92(9):1736–1747

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Tremblay MA, St Clair CC (2011) Permeability of a heterogeneous urban landscape to the movements of forest songbirds. J Appl Ecol 48(3):679–688

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wilcox BA, Murphy DD (1985) Conservation strategy: the effects of fragmentation on extinction. Am Nat 125(6):879–887

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wilson TE (2005) Spatial synchrony in terrestrial breeding birds: implications for metapopulation processes. Thesis (M.S.) The Ohio State University

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Environment and Natural Resources, The Ohio State University, 2021 Coffey Road, Columbus, OH, 43201, USA

    Benjamin J. Padilla & Amanda D. Rodewald

Authors
  1. Benjamin J. Padilla
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Amanda D. Rodewald
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Benjamin J. Padilla.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Padilla, B.J., Rodewald, A.D. Avian metapopulation dynamics in a fragmented urbanizing landscape. Urban Ecosyst 18, 239–250 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11252-014-0390-z

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11252-014-0390-z

Keywords

Search

Navigation