The early successional stage of avifauna in an urban wildlife habitat park
Hiroshi HASHIMOTO, Susumu NAKAMURA, Minako HASEGAWA, Yosihiro NATUHARA, Yukihiro MORIMOTO
AbstractFSeveral studies have pointed out that species numbers of birds in newly constructed
parks were smaller than those in well established parks. In this study, we clarified the early
successional stage of avifauna after development of an urban forest using eight years of data
recorded in an urban wildlife habitat park "Inochi no mori" in Kyoto City. Fifty-two species
of birds were recorded in the 0.6 ha wooded area during the eight years. Annual numbers of bird
species became stable in 30 or higher by the third year after park construction. Almost all
wintering birds that might be expected to have high mobility were recorded by the fifth year
after park construction. Almost all members of avifauna supposed to inhabit this wooded area
in the breeding season were recorded by the ninth year after park construction. The number of
woodland birds species especially in the wintering season were higher than those reported in
the same area of natural isolated woods in Kyoto City. The high diversity of fruiting trees
introduced and the grassland developed in the wildlife habitat park should improve the number
of bird species in wintering season.
Keywords: wildlife habitat park, birds, succession, urban greenery
H. Hashimoto, S. Nakamura, M. Hasegawa, Y. Natuhara and Y. Morimoto (2005) The early successional stage of avifauna in an urban wildlife habitat park. Landscape Research Japan 68: 559-562 (in Japanese with English abstract)