A biogeographical comparison of the breeding bird species assemblages in twenty Finnish urban parks

Abstract

Census data on urban parks and cemeteries in three ornithogeographical zones in Finland were extracted from the literature . The breeding birds were censused using the territory mapping or study plot method. Southern parks had more similar bird assemblages than northern ones . Bird density depended more on park area than on its geographical location; density correlated positively with edge length . Fringilla coelebs, Phylloscopus trochilus, Muscicapa striata and Parus major were the dominant species in parks of all sizes, whereas Anthus trivialis and Sylvia spp. avoided small parks. The number of species increased with park area and was not dependenton geographical location. Ph. trochilus and F. coelebs had similar relative abundances in parks as they had regionally. The relative abundanceof T. pilaris was greater in the northern parks than it was regionally, whereas M. striata had greater relative abundance in southern parks than regionally . Hole-nesting and deciduous forest species favour parks but coniferous forest species avoid them.