Relationships between socioeconomics, vegetation cover, and bird diversity

Urbanization is rapidly modifying the earth in extensive and long-lasting ways, making urban ecology an increasingly important field. Ecological indicators are often used to assess current ecosystem conditions, and can act as... [ view full abstract ]

Urbanization is rapidly modifying the earth in extensive and long-lasting ways, making urban ecology an increasingly important field. Ecological indicators are often used to assess current ecosystem conditions, and can act as early warning systems to predict future responses to anthropogenic disturbances. Bird diversity is one of the most frequently used ecological indicators, as avians are typically charismatic, easy to identify and count, and their diversity varies along the urban-rural gradient in response to development and anthropogenic factors. Because birds are highly associated with vegetation cover, and a significant portion of the urban landscape is comprised of residential yards, managing them collectively for birds and other wildlife could alleviate some of the detrimental effects of the urbanization process. Examining the multidimensional social characteristics of households can enhance our understanding of the dynamics of urban ecosystems. If the urban environment is structured by a conglomerate of household behaviors and choices, and if those differ from one household to the next in relation to socioeconomic status, then we expect fluctuations in biodiversity patterns across different types of neighborhoods. We are collecting household income, educational attainment, vegetation cover, and bird diversity data in 15 neighborhoods in Lubbock, Texas. We will report how the socioeconomic variables correlate with breeding bird species richness and vegetation cover across the cityscape. As long as humans continue to dominate the Earth, habitat loss, species endangerment, and biotic homogenization will persist, making wildlife conservation in fragmented landscapes an important topic for researchers and managers alike.