Relating urban heat island effect to avian diversity in connective matrices of Tacoma

• Main Author: Dougherty, Amanda
• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: Sound Ideas 2022
• Subjects: urban ecology; avian studies; birdwatching; tacoma; alleyway research; Science and Mathematics; Avian Studies
• Online Access: https://soundideas.pugetsound.edu/summer_research/449; https://soundideas.pugetsound.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1875&context=summer_research

The urban heat island (UHI) effect, experienced disproportionately by neighborhoods of lower wealth and socioeconomic status, is one byproduct of global warming and urbanization known to have several health impacts (Fig.1). Birds are considered strong indicators of the functionality and health of an ecosystem and are an excellent focal group for research which seeks to address potential connections between socioeconomic disparity, UHI, and urban biome health. There has been relatively little study on how birds utilize the urban matrix. Alleyways are one key structural element of the urban environment: often disregarded and underutilized tracts that serve to unite various segments of any city in many ways. I compared avian diversity and abundance in two elements of urban landscapes, alleyways and their associated streets, across different grades of environmental and socioeconomic disparity, UHI measurement, and/or historically redlined zones. This provided insight into the relationship between socioeconomic status, UHI effect, environmental health, and local biodiversity.