Cities may save some threatened species but not their ecological functions

[Background] Urbanization is one of the main causes of biodiversity loss worldwide. Wildlife responses to urbanization, however, are greatly variable and, paradoxically, some threatened species may achieve much larger populations in urban than in natural habitats. Urban conservation hotspots may the...

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Authors: Luna, Álvaro, Romero-Vidal, Pedro, Hiraldo, Fernando, Tella, José Luis
Format: article
Status:Published version
Publication Date:2018
Country:España
Institution:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
Repository:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
OAI Identifier:oai:digital.csic.es:10261/167501
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10261/167501
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:Urban habitats
Threatened species
Ecological functions
Seed dispersal
Parrots
Poaching
id ES_c74e41b5cce2bc52f2c6f13b88eaff09
oai_identifier_str oai:digital.csic.es:10261/167501
network_acronym_str ES
network_name_str España
repository_id_str
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Cities may save some threatened species but not their ecological functions
title Cities may save some threatened species but not their ecological functions
spellingShingle Cities may save some threatened species but not their ecological functions
Luna, Álvaro
Urban habitats
Threatened species
Ecological functions
Seed dispersal
Parrots
Poaching
title_short Cities may save some threatened species but not their ecological functions
title_full Cities may save some threatened species but not their ecological functions
title_fullStr Cities may save some threatened species but not their ecological functions
title_full_unstemmed Cities may save some threatened species but not their ecological functions
title_sort Cities may save some threatened species but not their ecological functions
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Luna, Álvaro
Romero-Vidal, Pedro
Hiraldo, Fernando
Tella, José Luis
author Luna, Álvaro
author_facet Luna, Álvaro
Romero-Vidal, Pedro
Hiraldo, Fernando
Tella, José Luis
author_role author
author2 Romero-Vidal, Pedro
Hiraldo, Fernando
Tella, José Luis
author2_role author
author
author
dc.contributor.none.fl_str_mv Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (España)
La Caixa
Agencia Estatal de Investigación (España)
Tella, José Luis [0000-0002-3038-7424]
Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas [https://ror.org/02gfc7t72]
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Urban habitats
Threatened species
Ecological functions
Seed dispersal
Parrots
Poaching
topic Urban habitats
Threatened species
Ecological functions
Seed dispersal
Parrots
Poaching
description [Background] Urbanization is one of the main causes of biodiversity loss worldwide. Wildlife responses to urbanization, however, are greatly variable and, paradoxically, some threatened species may achieve much larger populations in urban than in natural habitats. Urban conservation hotspots may therefore help some species avoid regional or even global extinctions, but not conserve their often overlooked ecological functions in the wild. We aim to draw attention to this issue using two species of globally threatened parrots occurring in the Dominican Republic: the Hispaniolan amazon (Amazona ventralis) and the Hispaniolan parakeet (Psittacara chloropterus).
publishDate 2018
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2018
2018
2018
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501
Publisher's version
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
format article
status_str publishedVersion
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv http://hdl.handle.net/10261/167501
url http://hdl.handle.net/10261/167501
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv Inglés
language_invalid_str_mv Inglés
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info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/MINECO//CGL2015-71378-P
info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/AEI//SEV-2012-0262
The underlying dataset has been published as supplementary material of the article in the publisher platform at DOI https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.4908
htpp://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.4908
Sí
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
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dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv PeerJ
publisher.none.fl_str_mv PeerJ
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv reponame:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
instname:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
instname_str Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
reponame_str DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
collection DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
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spelling Cities may save some threatened species but not their ecological functionsLuna, ÁlvaroRomero-Vidal, PedroHiraldo, FernandoTella, José LuisUrban habitatsThreatened speciesEcological functionsSeed dispersalParrotsPoaching[Background] Urbanization is one of the main causes of biodiversity loss worldwide. Wildlife responses to urbanization, however, are greatly variable and, paradoxically, some threatened species may achieve much larger populations in urban than in natural habitats. Urban conservation hotspots may therefore help some species avoid regional or even global extinctions, but not conserve their often overlooked ecological functions in the wild. We aim to draw attention to this issue using two species of globally threatened parrots occurring in the Dominican Republic: the Hispaniolan amazon (Amazona ventralis) and the Hispaniolan parakeet (Psittacara chloropterus).[Methods] We conducted a large-scale roadside survey in June 2017 across the country to estimate the relative abundance of parrots in natural habitats, rural habitats, and cities. We combined this with informal interviews with local people to collect information on past and current human impacts on parrot populations. We also looked for foraging parrots to assess their potential role as seed dispersers, an ecological function that has been overlooked until very recently.[Results] Relative abundances of both parrot species were negligible in rural areas and very low in natural habitats. They were generally between one and two orders of magnitude lower than that of congeneric species inhabiting other Neotropical ecosystems. Relative abundances were six times higher in cities than in natural habitats in the case of the Hispaniolan parakeet and three times higher in the case of the Hispaniolan amazon. People indicated hunting for a source food and to mitigate crop damage as causes of parrot population declines, and a vigorous illegal trade for parrots (131 individuals recorded, 75% of them poached very recently), mostly obtained from protected areas where the last small wild populations remain. We observed parrots foraging on 19 plant species from 11 families, dispersing the fruits of 14 species by carrying them in their beaks and consuming them in distant perching trees. They discarded undamaged mature seeds, with the potential to germinate, in 99.5% of cases (n = 306), and minimum dispersal distances ranged from 8 to 155 m (median = 37 m).[Discussion] The loss of ecological functions provided by some species when they disappear from natural habitats and only persist in cities may have long-term, unexpected effects on ecosystems. Our example demonstrates how two cities may soon be the last refuges for two endemic parrots if overharvesting continues, in which case their overlooked role as seed dispersers would be completely lost in nature. The functional extinction of these species could strongly affect vegetation communities in an island environment where seed-dispersal species are naturally scarce. While conservation plans must include urban populations of threatened species, greater efforts are needed to restore their populations in natural habitats to conserve ecological functions.This work was funded by project CGL2015-71378-P from MINECO (Spain). Álvaro Luna was supported by La Caixa-Severo Ochoa International PhD Program 2015 and the Severo Ochoa Program for Centres of Excellence in R+D+I (SEV-2012-0262).Peer reviewedPeerJMinisterio de Economía y Competitividad (España)La CaixaAgencia Estatal de Investigación (España)Tella, José Luis [0000-0002-3038-7424]Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas [https://ror.org/02gfc7t72]201820182018info:eu-repo/semantics/articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501Publisher's versioninfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersionapplication/pdfhttp://hdl.handle.net/10261/167501reponame:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSICinstname:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)Inglés#PLACEHOLDER_PARENT_METADATA_VALUE##PLACEHOLDER_PARENT_METADATA_VALUE#info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/MINECO//CGL2015-71378-Pinfo:eu-repo/grantAgreement/AEI//SEV-2012-0262The underlying dataset has been published as supplementary material of the article in the publisher platform at DOI https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.4908htpp://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.4908Síinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessoai:digital.csic.es:10261/1675012026-05-22T06:33:51Z
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