Abstract
Rotterdam is located on the west coast of continental Europe (51°55′51″ N, 4°28′45″ E). It is the second largest city in The Netherlands and occupies an area of almost 320 km2, of which a little less than 115 km2 is water. Rotterdam has a maritime temperate climate with a mild winter, a mean annual precipitation of 815 mm and a mean annual temperature of 10 °C. The average wind speed is 5 m/s. The dominant soil types are sand, clay and peat. This chapter is based on data comprising 37,972 records of vertebrates that occurred within the boundaries of Rotterdam between 1 January 2003 and 31 December 2012. Amphibians (five taxa) and reptiles (two taxa) had a low diversity, compared to fish (45 species) and mammals (44 species). Because of Rotterdam’s estuarine environment, it is home to several migrating fish (swimming from fresh to salt water and the converse) and all kinds of mammals, from bats to seals to rats. The distribution of all vertebrates (birds excluded) within the city was analysed against factors such as geomorphological features, industrialization and natural boundaries.
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van de Poel, J., de Baerdemaeker, A., Bakker, G., Moerland, W., de Zwarte, N. (2015). Rotterdam. In: Kelcey, J. (eds) Vertebrates and Invertebrates of European Cities:Selected Non-Avian Fauna. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-1698-6_6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-1698-6_6
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