Raptor breeding sites indicate high plant biodiversity in urban ecosystems
Abstract Preserving biodiversity in urban ecosystems has become an urgent conservation priority, given the rapid upsurge in global urbanization. As woody plants play essential ecological roles and provide psychological benefits to human city dwellers, their preservation is of particular interest to...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:8d9bface76334942b3d85fc7dc9b3edc 2023-05-15T13:00:38+02:00 Raptor breeding sites indicate high plant biodiversity in urban ecosystems Haruki Natsukawa Hiroki Yuasa Shizuko Komuro Fabrizio Sergio 2021-10-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-00556-4 https://doaj.org/article/8d9bface76334942b3d85fc7dc9b3edc EN eng Nature Portfolio https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-00556-4 https://doaj.org/toc/2045-2322 doi:10.1038/s41598-021-00556-4 2045-2322 https://doaj.org/article/8d9bface76334942b3d85fc7dc9b3edc Scientific Reports, Vol 11, Iss 1, Pp 1-8 (2021) Medicine R Science Q article 2021 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-00556-4 2022-12-31T10:38:40Z Abstract Preserving biodiversity in urban ecosystems has become an urgent conservation priority, given the rapid upsurge in global urbanization. As woody plants play essential ecological roles and provide psychological benefits to human city dwellers, their preservation is of particular interest to conservation scientists. However, considering that extensive censuses of woody plants are resource-intensive, a key accomplishment is to find reliable conservation proxies that can be quickly used to locate biologically diverse areas. Here, we test the idea that sites occupied by apex predators can indicate high overall biodiversity, including high diversity of woody plants. To this end, we surveyed woody plant species within 500 m of Northern Goshawk (Accipiter gentilis) breeding sites in urban ecosystems of Japan and compared them with non-breeding control sites without goshawks. We found that goshawks successfully identified and signposted high levels of richness, abundance, and diversity of woody plants. Our findings show that sites occupied by top predatory species could be exploited as conservation proxies for high plant diversity. Due to their exigent ecological requirements, we would expect apex predators to be tied to high biodiversity levels in many other urban ecosystems worldwide. Article in Journal/Newspaper Accipiter gentilis Northern Goshawk Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Scientific Reports 11 1 |
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Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
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English |
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Medicine R Science Q |
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Medicine R Science Q Haruki Natsukawa Hiroki Yuasa Shizuko Komuro Fabrizio Sergio Raptor breeding sites indicate high plant biodiversity in urban ecosystems |
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Medicine R Science Q |
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Abstract Preserving biodiversity in urban ecosystems has become an urgent conservation priority, given the rapid upsurge in global urbanization. As woody plants play essential ecological roles and provide psychological benefits to human city dwellers, their preservation is of particular interest to conservation scientists. However, considering that extensive censuses of woody plants are resource-intensive, a key accomplishment is to find reliable conservation proxies that can be quickly used to locate biologically diverse areas. Here, we test the idea that sites occupied by apex predators can indicate high overall biodiversity, including high diversity of woody plants. To this end, we surveyed woody plant species within 500 m of Northern Goshawk (Accipiter gentilis) breeding sites in urban ecosystems of Japan and compared them with non-breeding control sites without goshawks. We found that goshawks successfully identified and signposted high levels of richness, abundance, and diversity of woody plants. Our findings show that sites occupied by top predatory species could be exploited as conservation proxies for high plant diversity. Due to their exigent ecological requirements, we would expect apex predators to be tied to high biodiversity levels in many other urban ecosystems worldwide. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Haruki Natsukawa Hiroki Yuasa Shizuko Komuro Fabrizio Sergio |
author_facet |
Haruki Natsukawa Hiroki Yuasa Shizuko Komuro Fabrizio Sergio |
author_sort |
Haruki Natsukawa |
title |
Raptor breeding sites indicate high plant biodiversity in urban ecosystems |
title_short |
Raptor breeding sites indicate high plant biodiversity in urban ecosystems |
title_full |
Raptor breeding sites indicate high plant biodiversity in urban ecosystems |
title_fullStr |
Raptor breeding sites indicate high plant biodiversity in urban ecosystems |
title_full_unstemmed |
Raptor breeding sites indicate high plant biodiversity in urban ecosystems |
title_sort |
raptor breeding sites indicate high plant biodiversity in urban ecosystems |
publisher |
Nature Portfolio |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-00556-4 https://doaj.org/article/8d9bface76334942b3d85fc7dc9b3edc |
genre |
Accipiter gentilis Northern Goshawk |
genre_facet |
Accipiter gentilis Northern Goshawk |
op_source |
Scientific Reports, Vol 11, Iss 1, Pp 1-8 (2021) |
op_relation |
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-00556-4 https://doaj.org/toc/2045-2322 doi:10.1038/s41598-021-00556-4 2045-2322 https://doaj.org/article/8d9bface76334942b3d85fc7dc9b3edc |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-00556-4 |
container_title |
Scientific Reports |
container_volume |
11 |
container_issue |
1 |
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1766256063584141312 |