Relationship between Vegetation Habitats and Bird Communities in Urban Mountain Parks

SIMPLE SUMMARY: The complexity of urban green space vegetation is an extremely vital influential factor and predictor of biodiversity, and vegetation habitat factors have been shown to explain more variation in bird diversity than other environmental factors. In this study, we explored the characteristics and differences in bird diversity among vegetation habitats in five typical urban mountain parks in coastal areas of southeast China. Our study showed that: (1) Sparse forest supports more bird species and higher bird diversity. (2) Tree diversity significantly affects bird diversity in urban mountain parks. (3) The average subbranch height of trees has a significant effect on the evenness of birds. (4) The number of tourists and predators has little impact on bird diversity. This study could provide suggestions for the rational allocation of vegetation in urban mountain parks in southeast coastal areas to improve local ecological service functions as habitats for urban wildlife, especially wild birds. ABSTRACT: The coastal areas of southeast China have typical high-density urbanization characteristics, and urban mountain parks are important green spaces in these urban green space systems. Our study was conducted in five typical urban mountain parks in Fuzhou, China. The bird survey was carried out in 25 transects of different vegetation habitats for 10 months, and the vegetation survey was conducted in 25 habitats to investigate the characteristics of bird communities in different vegetation habitats and the causes of their differences. The results showed: (1) From 1 October 2021 to 15 July 2022, we recorded a total of 90 bird species in 8 orders, 37 families, and 64 genera, with 1879 individuals in five vegetation habitats in the urban mountain parks. (2) Abundance and diversity of trees are vegetation variables affecting bird diversity (bird species richness, abundance, and Shannon diversity) in urban mountain parks, and the average branch height under trees has a significant effect on bird evenness. (3) We found more bird species and higher bird diversity in both sparse and dense forest habitats, but fewer bird species in waterfront, shrub, and grassland habitats; (4) Average tree height (AVE_HEIt) was only present in the best model of bird abundance and evenness. However, none of the best models found a significant effect of the number of tourists and predators on bird diversity. Our results could provide a theoretical basis and guidance for the future improvement of ecological service functions of bird habitats in urban mountain parks in subtropical coastal areas.