Bringing the city to the country: relationships between streetscape vegetation type and bird assemblages in a major regional centre

Urbanisation is a leading cause of biodiversity loss and habitat fragmentation internationally, and the conservation of representative native assemblages is a challenge confronting environmental managers in expanding urban landscapes. This study investigates the bird assemblages occurring in a rapidly growing regional centre, Ballarat, southeastern Australia. It aims to examine the relationships between urbanisation and bird communities in a regional city by investigating the differences in bird assemblage composition related to the type of vegetation (native or exotic) in urban streetscapes. Bird surveys were completed across four broad habitat types: remnant vegetation, exotic streetscapes, native streetscapes and newly developed streetscapes. Each habitat type had three 1 ha replicate sites. Results show that remnant vegetation fringing residential areas and native streetscapes supported around 60% more native bird species than exotic and newly developed streetscapes. Avian species composition was significantly different between broad habitat types, with remnant vegetation and native streetscapes maintaining representative native bird assemblages, but exotic streetscapes and newly developed streetscapes were dominated by introduced birds. Our results show that, for representative native bird assemblages to be maintained in urban areas, the maintenance of remnant and native vegetation is essential.