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Alsaiari, Lujain; Harvie, Kaitlyn; Lichimo, Caitlin; Liu, Jenny

Worldwide, urbanization causes severe declines in bird populations, mainly due to factors such as habitat loss and habitat fragmentation (Seress & Liker, 2015; Travers et al., 2021). This can be detrimental to ecosystems as birds provide many ecosystem services such as nutrient cycling, pollination, gene flow, and pest control, and are therefore often indicators of ecological health (Gaston, 2022; McCloy et al., 2024; Whelan et al., 2008). Fortunately, the establishment of greenspaces and ecological corridors have been shown to support bird diversity in urban areas (Atchison & Rodewald, 2006; Chen et al., 2024; Suhonen et al., 2009). In Vancouver, the Arbutus Greenway — an 8.5 km stretch of paved walking and biking path — has been identified as a potential site for ecological enhancement and as an ideal candidate for an urban ecological corridor (City of Vancouver, 2018). However, the current use of the Arbutus Greenway by overwintering bird species is largely unknown. The objective of this study is to determine which bird species use the Arbutus Greenway as an overwintering habitat. These findings can help inform habitat enhancement and the development of the Greenway into an ecological corridor. We collected data along eight 1 km line-transects along the Greenway from January 8th to February 16th, 2025. Bird observations within 20 m on either side of the transect line were recorded. The relative bird abundance and proportions were calculated and the data was overlaid with land cover classification and land use spatial data provided by the City of Vancouver to determine the relationship between environmental features and bird abundance, species diversity, and community evenness. This data was also made compatible with eBird, an online citizen science platform, to allow for easy access by future researchers. Our results show that land cover composition is an important predictor of bird abundance, diversity, and community evenness. Specifically, areas with higher percent Paved cover had significantly less bird diversity and lower community evenness, while Deciduous cover significantly increased bird diversity and evenness. Percent Building cover and percent Shrub cover had a positive correlation with bird abundance and evenness respectively. In addition, we determined that land use is not an appropriate predictor of bird abundance, diversity, and community evenness. We recommend decreasing the amount of Paved cover and planting more vegetation, particularly shrubs and deciduous trees along the Greenway to promote bird diversity and evenness. We also recommend more investigation into how Coniferous cover and confounding variables such as bird feeders, proximity to water, and noise levels affect bird abundance, diversity, and evenness.

Text

University of British Columbia. ENVR_V 400

Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library

10.14288/1.0448671

Science, Faculty of; Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, Department of

Undergraduate

DSpace