Abstract
Oklahoma landscapes have experienced significant alteration from low-density urban development. Correlated with this development is the encroachment of woody plants such as juniper (Juniperus spp.) into grassland habitat remnants as a result of disruption of historic fire regimes. Because junipers produce prolific fruits that are utilized by frugivorous passerines in winter, we examined how increases in human population density (an index of urban development) and juniper encroachment affected long-term abundance patterns of common passerines using data from the Audubon Society Christmas Bird Counts (CBC). Abundance of seven species was significantly related to human population density. Five of these species exhibited unimodal response patterns, indicating a preference for intermediate levels of habitat alteration by humans. Abundance of nine species was related to regional juniper encroachment levels; three had positive linear trends with juniper levels, two exhibited unimodal trends, while four species were negatively related to juniper encroachment levels. Juniper is projected to invade one-half of the grassland remnants in the state by the next century, so the winter abundance of many frugivorous species and species adaptable to urbanized environments will likely increase in Oklahoma. Conversely, continued development and juniper encroachment will hinder conservation efforts for many grassland birds already in decline.
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Coppedge, B.R., Engle, D.M., Fuhlendorf, S.D., Masters, R.E., Gregory, M.S. (2001). Urban sprawl and juniper encroachment effects on abundance of wintering passerines in Oklahoma. In: Marzluff, J.M., Bowman, R., Donnelly, R. (eds) Avian Ecology and Conservation in an Urbanizing World. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-1531-9_10
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-1531-9_10
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