EFFECTS OF URBAN NOISE,
IRRIGATION, AND NEIGHBORHOOD
SOCIOECONOMICS ON BIRD
COMMUNITIES IN
FRESNO,
CALIFORNIA
Pedro Garcia
Madhusudan Katti (@leafwarbler)
California State University, Fresno
URBANIZATION IMPACTS ON BIRDS
 Bird
behavior and ecology in cities are
influenced by many factors:

Anthropogenic Noise

Landscape Changes

Socioeconomic Factors

Income or Property Value
Irrigation (and other landscaping
choices)

NOISE EFFECTS ON SONG

Nightingale (Luscinia megarhynchos) songs get
louder in response to higher background noise
levels - a short-term adaptation in song amplitude.
(β = 0.794, t =3.151, P < 0.05)
Brumm, H. 2004. The impact of environmental noise on song amplitude in a territorial bird. Journal of Animal Ecology 73:434-440.
HABITAT EFFECTS ON SONG

San Francisco

Change in white-crowned sparrow (Zosterops
lateralis) song structure with an increase in
vegetation density over a 35 year period.
(R2 = 0.15, n = 84, P = 0.0003)
(R2 = 0.1, n = 84, P = 0.035)
Derryberry, E. P. 2009. Ecology shapes birdsong evolution: variation in morphology and habitat explains variation in white-crowned sparrow song. Am Nat 174:24-33.
LANDSCAPE EFFECTS ON BIRD DIVERSITY

Mexico City

Bird species richness declined with increasing
distance from urban parks and the city border.
(β = -0.6319, SE = 0.2025, t25 = -3.1212, P = 0.004504).
MacGregor-Fors, I., and R. Ortega-Álvarez. 2011. Fading from the forest: Bird community shifts related to urban park site-specific and landscape traits.
Urban Forestry & Urban Greening 10:239-246
LANDSCAPE EFFECTS ON BIRD DIVERSITY

Vancouver & Burnaby

Neighborhoods surrounding large parks had higher bird
species richness than did areas with smaller parks
(GROUND = 0.26ln(PARK1000) – 0.86; r2 = 0.43, n = 124, P<0.001)
SHRUB = 0.22ln(PARK1000) – 0.79; r2 = 0.57, n = 87, P<0.001)
Melles, S., S. Glenn, and K. Martin. 2003. Urban bird diversity and landscape complexity: species-environment associations along a multiscale habitat
gradient. Conservation Ecology 7:5.
LANDSCAPE EFFECTS ON BIRD COMMUNITY
These studies view parks and ponds as refuges
surrounded by unnatural disturbances (human
neighborhoods).
 But, urbanized areas constitute a complex,
heterogeneous, and dynamic matrix.
 Need to include socioeconomic variables such as:
 Income or Property value
 Irrigation – policy and practice
 Land use – policy and practice
 Land cover outcomes

FRESNO LAB OF RECONCILIATION ECOLOGY
L.O.R.E.
(WWW.RECONCILIATIONECOLOGY.ORG)
Primary focus: interactions among ecological,
landscape, and socioeconomic variables in the
Fresno Clovis Metro Area (FCMA)
 To understand: composition, distribution, and
population dynamics of urban bird communities.
 Aspects of this urban social-ecological system
studied so far include …






Irrigation
Socioeconomics
Tree diversity
Urban noise
Bird diversity
urban-faces.org
HOW MUCH WATER DO WE USE IN
THE CADILLAC DESERT?
*
Liters of water / person / day
1,250
1,000
750
500
250
0
Albuquerque
Las Vegas
Fresno
Phoenix
Tucson
* 2012 Data from the City of Fresno
URBAN LONG-TERM RESEARCH AREA
FRESNO AND CLOVIS ECOSOCIAL STUDY
Özgoç-Çağlar, D., A. R. Jones, H. D. Delcore, and M. Katti, In Review.
FRESNO BIRD COUNT
www.fresnobirds.org
@FresnoBirds
IRRIGATION AND WEALTH AFFECT BIRD
SPECIES RICHNESS & COMMUNITY STRUCTURE

Schleder (2010): bird species richness and
guild diversity in the FCMA increased with
an increase in yard irrigation.
(R2 =0.131, F(1,34), P<0.0303)
Schleder, B. W. 2010. Residential irrigation as a driver of urban bird community structure. M.S. Thesis. California State University, Fresno
WEALTH AFFECTS TREE SPECIES DIVERSITY
AND URBAN FOREST STRUCTURE

Reid (2011): Tree Diversity, Density, and
Canopy Cover increase with an increase in
property value.
Reid, S. T. 2011. Ecological and Social Drivers of Tree Species Diversity and Distribution in Urban Habitats of the Central Valley of California. M.S. Thesis. California
State University, Fresno
NOISE AFFECTS SONG STRUCTURE
IN A MIGRATORY SONGBIRD

Phillips (2012): Decreased bandwidth in
components of song in wintering migratory
white-crowned sparrow with increasing noise.
(β = -0.06, t (53) = -1.95, p = 0.05)
(β = -0.08 t (51) = -2.39, p = 0.02)
Phillips, J. N. 2012. The Effects of Urban Noise on Song Structure in a Long Distance Migrant, Gambel's White-crowned Sparrow (Zonatrichia Leucophrys Gambelii).
M.S. Thesis. California State University, Fresno.
QUESTIONS FOR PEDRO’S THESIS




How does urban noise affect bird species richness
in the Fresno-Clovis Metropolitan Area (FCMA)?
How does proximity to Greenscapes (parks) affect
bird species richness?
How does proximity to Waterscapes (recharge
basins) affect bird species richness?
How do the socioeconomics of a neighborhood
(property value) affect bird species richness in
context of changing environmental and policy
variables?
BROAD-SCALE ANALYSIS
Spring 2008-2012
 236 Points
 Estimated Noise Level
 Distance to Greenscape
 Distance to Waterscape
 Total Bird Abundance
 Bird Species Richness

URBAN NOISE AND BIRD SPECIES RICHNESS
FOCAL ANALYSIS: ULTRA-FACES CORE SITES

Fresno Bird Count

67 sites



Spring
 2013
 2014
Background noise levels


subsamples by income gradient
Average of 5min sound meter readings (db(A))
Property Value

Mean Zillow® zestimate of properties overlapping
with the 20m radius census point.
RESULTS


No significant effect of proximity to Greenscape
or Wetscape on bird species richness or
abundance.
However…
RESULTS

Significant effect of noise and property value
on bird species richness… in some years
2013
2014
2 =0.0902,
2 =0.0029,
(R(R
F(1,66),
P=0.0135)
F(1,66),
P=0.6678)
(R22 =0.0565,
=0.2048, F(1,46),
F(1,46), P=0.1078)
P=0.0014)
(R
DISCUSSION

Why the difference between years?
2013: first year of residential water metering in Fresno.
 2014: implementation of metering changed.



Per capita water use dropped from 350g/day (est. for 2012) to
240g/day (2014)
Drought
Noise is only a small component of cumulative
influence of human activities on bird species richness.
 Ongoing Analyses and Future Goals

Analyze change in species composition between years.
 Address landscape-level variables, scaling, and species
distribution

It takes a global village to study the city...
Helping pay the bills:
National Science Foundation & U.S.
Forest Service (ULTRA-Ex Award #
0949036)
CSU Fresno: Provost; Dean, College of
Science and Mathematics; Division of
Graduate Studies; Dept of Biology
Associated Students Inc, CSU Fresno
Robert and Norma Craig Foundation
Fresno Audubon Society
City of Fresno, City of Clovis, Fresno County
Citizen Scientists of the Fresno Bird Count!
FBC coordination: Kaberi Kar Gupta, Jenny
urban-faces.org
Phillips, Pedro Garcia, Amy Krisch,
Stephanie Slonka, Chris Hensley
Database and GIS: Xiaoming Yang
Field assistance and data entry: Sonia
Mendoza, Steven Jones, Amer Naik,
Rhiannon Perry, Marissa Montez, Cindy
Hua
Tucson Bird Count, NiJeL.org
This presentation will be available at figshare.com
¿QUESTIONS?
@leafwarbler
#BiodiverCity