The loss of biodiversity from urbanized areas is a major environmental problem challenging policy-makers throughout the world.Solutions to this problem are urgently required in China.We carried out a case study of win...The loss of biodiversity from urbanized areas is a major environmental problem challenging policy-makers throughout the world.Solutions to this problem are urgently required in China.We carried out a case study of wintering long-eared owls(Asio otus)and their main prey to illustrate the negative effects of urbanization combined with ineffective conservation of biodiversity in Beijing.Field monitoring of owl numbers at two roosting sites from 2004 to 2012 showed that the owl population had fallen rapidly in metropolitan Beijing.Analysis of pellet contents identified only seven individuals of two species of shrew.The majority of mammalian prey comprised four bat and seven rodent species,making up 29.3%and 29.5%of the prey items,respectively.Prey composition varied significantly among years at the two sample sites.At the urban site the consumption of bats and rodents declined gradually over time,while predation on birds increased.In contrast,at the suburban site the prey composition showed an overall decrease in the number of bats,a sharp increase and a subsequent decrease in bird prey,and the number of rodent prey fell to a low point.Rapid development of real estate and inadequate greenfield management in city parks resulted in negative effects on the bird and small mammal habitat of urban areas in Beijing.We suggest that measures to conserve biodiversity should be integrated into future urban planning to maintain China’s rich biodiversity while also achieving sustainable economic development.展开更多
基金This work was funded by the National Science Foundation of China for National Biological Science Base(J1103516).We thank the following postgraduate students from our research group for collecting and analyzing owl pellets throughout the years of this study:BM Peng,LJ Zhang,XJ Li,L Yuan,AM Wang and PL Yu.We appreciate helpful comments and English proofreading of the manuscript by Y.Wang.of the Alabama Agriculture and Machinery University.We declare that all sources of funding have been acknowledged and that there are no conflicts of interest regarding financial support.
文摘The loss of biodiversity from urbanized areas is a major environmental problem challenging policy-makers throughout the world.Solutions to this problem are urgently required in China.We carried out a case study of wintering long-eared owls(Asio otus)and their main prey to illustrate the negative effects of urbanization combined with ineffective conservation of biodiversity in Beijing.Field monitoring of owl numbers at two roosting sites from 2004 to 2012 showed that the owl population had fallen rapidly in metropolitan Beijing.Analysis of pellet contents identified only seven individuals of two species of shrew.The majority of mammalian prey comprised four bat and seven rodent species,making up 29.3%and 29.5%of the prey items,respectively.Prey composition varied significantly among years at the two sample sites.At the urban site the consumption of bats and rodents declined gradually over time,while predation on birds increased.In contrast,at the suburban site the prey composition showed an overall decrease in the number of bats,a sharp increase and a subsequent decrease in bird prey,and the number of rodent prey fell to a low point.Rapid development of real estate and inadequate greenfield management in city parks resulted in negative effects on the bird and small mammal habitat of urban areas in Beijing.We suggest that measures to conserve biodiversity should be integrated into future urban planning to maintain China’s rich biodiversity while also achieving sustainable economic development.
