A study done on 336 cities in China concludes that heat-retaining buildings and paved surfaces are directly related to a loss in bird diversity. It is likely that the patterns documented in this study are occurring in other large cities across the globe that have abundant asphalt, steel, and concrete with little green vegetation.
Humans aren't the only ones leaving town when city heat becomes unbearable. A study done on 336 cities in China concludes that heat-retaining buildings and paved surfaces are directly related to a loss in bird diversity.
The study authors used data from an ongoing bird diversity study in China. Then they determined the surface urban heat islandfor each city compared to its suburbs. The impact of the urban island effect was documented after controlling for each city's unique environmental and ecological setting. Scientists expected their models to show an increase in diversity during the nonbreeding season and a decrease in diversity during the breeding season.
Instead, the urban heat island effect on bird diversity remained consistently negative during both the breeding and nonbreeding seasons in the southern, northern, and northwestern regions of China. Results for the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau region were quite different however, with the heat island effect having arelationship with the number of species.
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