Raptor breeding sites indicate high plant biodiversity in urban ecosystems.

ABSTRACT: Preserving biodiversity in urban ecosystems has become an urgent conservation priority, given the rapid upsurge in global urbanization. As woody plants play essential ecological roles and provide psychological benefits to human city dwellers, their preservation is of particular interest to conservation scientists. However, considering that extensive censuses of woody plants are resource-intensive, a key accomplishment is to find reliable conservation proxies that can be quickly used to locate biologically diverse areas. Here, we test the idea that sites occupied by apex predators can indicate high overall biodiversity, including high diversity of woody plants. To this end, we surveyed woody plant species within 500 m of Northern Goshawk (Accipiter gentilis) breeding sites in urban ecosyste

SUBMITTER: Natsukawa H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8551175 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature