Nonrandom filtering effect on birds: species and guilds response to urbanization

Using bird survey data taken in three cities in Southern Chile, we evaluated the hypothesis that changes in community composition from periurban to urban areas are not random. Furthermore, the consistency of species and guild loss was assessed across cities. A consistent pattern of difference in community and guild structure between urban and periurban habitats was found. In addition, a nonrandom loss of species was found in urban areas compared to periurban areas, and non-native species dominated urban communities in all cities. The average abundance of omnivores, granivores, and habitat generalists was higher in urban areas, while insectivores and open habitat species were more abundant in periurban areas. These results strongly suggest that urban habitats act as filters offering suitable conditions for only a fraction of the bird species present in a given area, and the lack of suitable conditions may be facilitating local biotic homogenization in the three studied cities. The results of this study not only fill a biogeographical knowledge gap, but the work presented here also aids the general understanding of factors that affect community structure in habitats with varied levels of local and global urbanization.