Papers by Federico Morelli
Frontiers in Environmental Science, May 9, 2023
Ecología austral, May 1, 2023
AimAs urban areas continue to expand, it is increasingly important to quantify species‐specific r... more AimAs urban areas continue to expand, it is increasingly important to quantify species‐specific responses to urban environments, and how these change across the full annual cycle. Our objective was to quantify urban tolerance for North American birds across the time. We tested (a) whether intra‐annual variability of urban tolerance differed between migrants and residents and (b) whether intra‐annual variability of urban tolerance was phylogenetically conserved. We then assessed how the relationship between ecological and life history traits and urban tolerance differed both across the year and between migrants and residents.LocationNorth America.TaxonBirds.MethodsWe integrated a large citizen science dataset of observations for 237 bird species, remotely sensed VIIRS night‐time lights data, and trait data on each species. We estimate, for each species and each month of the year, a continuous measure of urban tolerance (i.e. the median of their distribution of observations across an urbanization gradient). We then use phylogenetic linear models to assess the relationship between this measure of urban tolerance and various life history and ecological traits.ResultsThere was a distinct drop in the overall urban tolerance scores corresponding with the breeding period; this pattern was more pronounced for migrants compared to residents. Migrants also had greater intra‐annual variability than resident species. We also found that the strength of the relationships between ecological and life history traits and urban tolerance was highly seasonal for most traits considered, and some divergent patterns were noted between migrants and residents.Main conclusionsThe urban tolerance of birds greatly changed throughout the annual cycle, with different patterns for migrants and residents. Compared to residents, migrants showed more intra‐annual variability of urban tolerance with a drop in the average urban tolerance score during the breeding season. Together, our results suggest that urban tolerance is a function of both species and season, and they highlight the importance of considering the dynamic nature of birds' use of urban ecosystems throughout the full annual cycle.
Current Zoology, Mar 4, 2019
Journal for Nature Conservation, Sep 1, 2015
Journal of Animal Ecology, Dec 13, 2022
Community Ecology, Apr 30, 2022
Journal for Nature Conservation
Ecological Indicators, 2021
The Routledge Handbook of Urban Ecology, 2020
European Journal of Ecology, 2016
To study the seasonal changes in avian communities, we collected data in an extensively used farm... more To study the seasonal changes in avian communities, we collected data in an extensively used farmland in Western Poland during 2006-2013. Generalized additive mixed models were used in order to study the effects of seasonality and protected areas on the overall bird species richness. A similarity percentage analysis was also conducted in order to identify the species that contribute most strongly to dissimilarity among each bird according to the phenological season. Furthermore, the differences in bird communities were investigated applying the decomposition of the species richness in season, trend, and remainder components. Each season showed significant differences in bird species richness (seasonality effect). The effect of the protected areas was slightly positive on the overall species richness for all seasons. However, an overall negative trend was detected for the entire period of eight years. The bird community composition was different among seasons, showing differences in ...
Ecological Indicators, 2017
Abstract We tested the hypothesis that the cuckoo may serve as an effective surrogate for differe... more Abstract We tested the hypothesis that the cuckoo may serve as an effective surrogate for different aspects of biodiversity. Six different measures of biodiversity were estimated for these three bird communities: (a) taxonomic diversity, (b) host species richness, (c) functional richness, (d) functional evenness, (e) functional divergence, and (f) evolutionary distinctiveness. Mixed models were used for studying the patterns of occurrence of the cuckoo in relation to environmental variables and biodiversity measures. The presence of the cuckoo was positively correlated with high values of taxonomic diversity, functional richness and functional evenness, but not with functional divergence or evolutionary distinctiveness of bird communities. We demonstrate that host species represent different levels of functional diversity in bird communities, because they are broadly distributed and occupy many niches for breeding and feeding. The implications for conservation are many: Hotspots determined by the occurrence of the cuckoo are areas with higher functional richness and evenness, also indicating high potential resilience. If host species are functionally diversified, the bird community provides higher resilience to any eventual catastrophic events. Finally, we underline how the cuckoo is a charismatic species, easy to monitor and adequate for citizen science, providing new information on the paradigm of surrogacy in ecology.
Acta Oecologica-international Journal of Ecology, Nov 1, 2015
Animals
Understanding habitat and spatial overlap in sympatric species of urban areas would aid in predic... more Understanding habitat and spatial overlap in sympatric species of urban areas would aid in predicting species and community modifications in response to global change. Habitat overlap has been widely investigated for specialist species but neglected for generalists living in urban settings. Many corvid species are generalists and are adapted to urban areas. This work aimed to determine the urban habitat requirements and spatial overlap of five corvid species in sixteen European cities during the breeding season. All five studied corvid species had high overlap in their habitat selection while still having particular tendencies. We found three species, the Carrion/Hooded Crow, Rook, and Eurasian Magpie, selected open habitats. The Western Jackdaw avoided areas with bare soil cover, and the Eurasian Jay chose more forested areas. The species with similar habitat selection also had congruent spatial distributions. Our results indicate that although the corvids had some tendencies regar...
Scientific Reports
Urbanization affects avian community composition in European cities, increasing biotic homogeniza... more Urbanization affects avian community composition in European cities, increasing biotic homogenization. Anthropic pollution (such as light at night and noise) is among the most important drivers shaping bird use in urban areas, where bird species are mainly attracted by urban greenery. In this study, we collected data on 127 breeding bird species at 1349 point counts distributed along a gradient of urbanization in fourteen different European cities. The main aim was to explore the effects of anthropic pollution and city characteristics, on shaping the avian communities, regarding species’ diet composition. The green cover of urban areas increased the number of insectivorous and omnivorous bird species, while slightly decreasing the overall diet heterogeneity of the avian communities. The green heterogeneity—a measure of evenness considering the relative coverage of grass, shrubs and trees—was positively correlated with the richness of granivorous, insectivorous, and omnivorous specie...
Ecological Applications
Most ecological studies use remote sensing to analyze broad‐scale biodiversity patterns, focusing... more Most ecological studies use remote sensing to analyze broad‐scale biodiversity patterns, focusing mainly on taxonomic diversity in natural landscapes. One of the most important effects of high levels of urbanization is species loss (i.e., biotic homogenization). Therefore, cost‐effective and more efficient methods to monitor biological communities' distribution are essential. This study explores whether the Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) and the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) can predict multifaceted avian diversity, urban tolerance, and specialization in urban landscapes. We sampled bird communities among 15 European cities and extracted Landsat 30‐meter resolution EVI and NDVI values of the pixels within a 50‐m buffer of bird sample points using Google Earth Engine (32‐day Landsat 8 Collection Tier 1). Mixed models were used to find the best associations of EVI and NDVI, predicting multiple avian diversity facets: Taxonomic diversity, functional diversity, phyl...
Science of The Total Environment
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has dramatically altered human activities, poten... more The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has dramatically altered human activities, potentially relieving human pressures on urban-dwelling animals. Here, we evaluated whether birds from five cities in five countries (Czech Republic – Prague, Finland – Rovaniemi, Hungary – Budapest, Poland – Poznan, and Australia – Melbourne) changed their tolerance towards human presence (measured as flight initiation distance) during the COVID-19 shutdowns. We collected 6369 flight initiation distance estimates for 147 bird species and found that birds tolerated approaching humans to a similar level before and during the COVID-19 shutdowns. Moreover, during the shutdowns, bird escape behaviour did not consistently change with the level of governmental restrictions (measured as the stringency index). Hence, our results indicate that birds do not flexibly and quickly adjust their escape behaviour to the reduced human presence; in other words, the breeding populations of urban birds examined ...
Landscape and Urban Planning
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Papers by Federico Morelli