Hniezdne spoločenstvá vtákov vo vzťahu k štruktúre urbánneho prostredia malého mesta (Sabinov, východné Slovensko)

In the present study, we explored the effects of urban habitat attributes on richness, density and community composition of breeding birds. We performed the study during breeding season within a small town (c. 12,000 inhabitants) in eastern Slovakia in 2019. We assessed bird data and habitat characteristics for seven zones (town centre, an old detached houses’ residential area, a recent detached houses’ residential area, industrial zone, a high-rise buildings’ residential area, greenway) within the study area (347 ha). We found 40 breeding species and 2,033 breeding pairs within the area. The bird species were classified into six nesting guilds (building-nesters, hole-nesters, tree-crown-nesters, shrub-nesters, ground-nesters, and riparian cavity-nesters) and to four groups with different affinity to urban environment. The building-nesters were the most abundant guild followed by treecrown-nesters. We found that maximum tree height and ruderal vegetation cover correlated positively with overall species richness, and maximum number of buildings’ floors correlated positively with overall abundance (per 10 ha). Abundance of hole-nesters, tree-crown-nesters and shrub-nesters correlated positively with tree cover, and negatively with cover of hard surfaces; building-nesters’ abundance was positively correlated with maximum number of buildings’ floors. Tree cover and maximum number of buildings’ floors explained 50.7% of species composition in zones. Composition of nesting guilds differed between the town zones. Our results indicate the importance of urban vegetation to maintain higher breeding bird species richness in town environment.