Urbanization and stability of a bird community in winter

Abstract: The main objective of this study was to analyze between-winter stability of bird communities along latitudinal (950 km) and urban gradients (from small village to towns) in Finland. Birds were surveyed at the same 30-ha study plots using the same methods in 31 villages and town centres in the winters of 1991–1992 and 1999–2000. Species richness did not differ between the 2 study winters, but variation in total abundance of birds increased with increasing urbanization. However, urbanization reduced variation in wintering bird community structure. Species richness, density of wintering birds, and dissimilarity of wintering bird communities did not vary with latitude. According to ou…