The decline, fall, and rise of a large urban colonising bird
Matthew J. Hall A * , John M. Martin A B , Alicia L. Burns A B and Dieter F. Hochuli AA
B
Abstract
The process of urbanisation results in dramatic landscape changes with long-lasting and sometimes irreversible consequences for the biota as urban sensitive species are eliminated. The Australian brush-turkey (Alectura lathami) is a recent urban colonist despite atypical traits for an urban adapter. Contrary to observed range declines and initial reports of decreased reproductive success in cities, Australian brush-turkeys have increased their range in urban areas.
Historical atlas and present citizen science data were used to examine the changing distribution of the Australian brush-turkey at continental and city scales, and the changing land use in urban areas occupied by the species. We assess which environmental and landscape features are driving observed distribution changes over time.
We describe and map changes at the continental scale between 1839–2019. We then assessed colonisation of the cities of Brisbane and Sydney (located 900 km apart) over the period 1960–2019. At the city scale, we quantified the changing land use within Australian brush-turkey occupied areas over time using classification of satellite imagery.
The Australian brush-turkey’s geographical range has shifted over the last century, with the species receding from the western and southwestern parts of their range, while expanding in the northwest. Areas occupied in the cities of Brisbane and Sydney have expanded, with more recently occupied areas containing less vegetation and more developed land than previously occupied areas.
Our results confirm that Australian brush-turkeys are successfully colonising urban areas, including major cities, and are likely to continue moving into urban areas, despite declines elsewhere in their natural range. The species is not limited to suburbs with a high proportion of greenspace, as Australian brush-turkeys are increasingly occurring in highly developed areas with limited vegetation.
This study highlights that species which were locally extirpated from urban areas, and thought to be unlikely candidates for recolonisation, can successfully occupy human modified habitats. Successful expansion is likely to be associated with key behavioural traits, urban greening, and legal protection from human persecution.
Keywords: anthropogenic impacts, conservation, geographical range, habitat fragmentation, urban ecology.
References
Anderies JM, Katti M, Shochat E (2007) Living in the city: resource availability, predation, and bird population dynamics in urban areas. Journal of Theoretical Biology 247, 36-49.
| Crossref | Google Scholar | PubMed |
ABS (2019) Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS): Volume 3 – Non ABS Structures. Australian Bureau of Statistics. Available at https://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/1270.0.55.003 [Retrieved 25 July 2021]
ABS (2021) Regional population. Australian Bureau of Statistics. Available at https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/population/regional-population/2019-20#regions [Retrieved 5 October 2021]
ALA (2021) occurrence download, Australian brush-turkey. Atlas of Living Australia. Available at https://doi.org/10.26197/ala.32c174df-6bf8-4f60-b6c7-93a1a3f76ad1 [retrieved 3 March 2021]
Aronson MFJ, La Sorte FA, Nilon CH, Katti M, Goddard MA, Lepczyk CA, Warren PS, Williams NSG, Cilliers S, Clarkson B, Dobbs C, Dolan R, Hedblom M, Klotz S, Kooijmans JL, Kühn I, MacGregor-Fors I, McDonnell M, Mörtberg U, Pyšek P, Siebert S, Sushinsky J, Werner P, Winter M (2014) A global analysis of the impacts of urbanization on bird and plant diversity reveals key anthropogenic drivers. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 281, 20133330.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |
Banville MJ, Bateman HL, Earl SR, Warren PS (2017) Decadal declines in bird abundance and diversity in urban riparian zones. Landscape and Urban Planning 159, 48-61.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |
BirdLife International (2021) Species factsheet: Alectura lathami. Available at http://www.birdlife.org [Retrieved 9 October 2021]
Blumstein DT (2006) Developing an evolutionary ecology of fear: how life history and natural history traits affect disturbance tolerance in birds. Animal Behaviour 71, 389-399.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |
Bressler SA, Diamant ES, Tingley MW, Yeh PJ (2020) Nests in the cities: adaptive and non-adaptive phenotypic plasticity and convergence in an urban bird. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 287, 20202122.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |
Brookes GB (1919) Report on investigations in regard to the spread of prickly pear by the Scrubs-Turkey. Emu 18, 288-292.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |
Brown ED, Williams BK (2019) The potential for citizen science to produce reliable and useful information in ecology. Conservation Biology 33, 561-569.
| Crossref | Google Scholar | PubMed |
Callaghan CT, Bino G, Major RE, Martin JM, Lyons MB, Kingsford RT (2019a) Heterogeneous urban green areas are bird diversity hotspots: insights using continental-scale citizen science data. Landscape Ecology 34, 1231-1246.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |
Callaghan CT, Major RE, Wilshire JH, Martin JM, Kingsford RT, Cornwell WK (2019b) Generalists are the most urban-tolerant of birds: a phylogenetically controlled analysis of ecological and life history traits using a novel continuous measure of bird responses to urbanization. Oikos 128, 845-858.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |
Callaghan CT, Roberts JD, Poore AGB, Alford RA, Cogger H, Rowley JJL (2020) Citizen science data accurately predicts expert-derived species richness at a continental scale when sampling thresholds are met. Biodiversity and Conservation 29, 1323-1337.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |
Campbell CE, Jones DN, Awasthy M, Castley JG, Chauvenet ALM (2022) Big changes in backyard birds: an analysis of long-term changes in bird communities in Australia’s most populous urban regions. Biological Conservation 272, 109671.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |
Canedoli C, Manenti R, Padoa-Schioppa E (2018) Birds biodiversity in urban and periurban forests: environmental determinants at local and landscape scales. Urban Ecosystems 21, 779-793.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |
Croci S, Butet A, Clergeau P (2008) Does Urbanization filter birds on the basis of their biological traits. The Condor 110, 223-240.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |
Crooks KR, Soulé ME (1999) Mesopredator release and avifaunal extinctions in a fragmented system. Nature 400, 563-566.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |
Duarte J, Farfán MA, Fa JE, Vargas JM (2015) Deer populations inhabiting urban areas in the south of Spain: habitat and conflicts. European Journal of Wildlife Research 61, 365-377.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |
Eiby Y, Booth D (2008) Embryonic thermal tolerance and temperature variation in mounds of the Australian Brush-Turkey (Alectura Lathami). The Auk 125, 594-599.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |
Evans MC (2016) Deforestation in Australia: drivers, trends and policy responses. Pacific Conservation Biology 22, 130-50.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |
Evans KL, Chamberlain DE, Hatchwell BJ, Gregory RD, Gaston KJ (2011) What makes an urban bird? Global Change Biology 17, 32-44.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |
Faeth SH, Warren PS, Shochat E, Marussich WA (2005) Trophic dynamics in urban communities. BioScience 55, 399-407.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |
Fischer J, Lindenmayer DB (2007) Landscape modification and habitat fragmentation: a synthesis. Global Ecology and Biogeography 16, 265-280.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |
Fischer SE, Edwards AC, Weber P, Garnett ST, Whiteside TG (2021) The bird assemblage of the Darwin Region (Australia): what is the effect of twenty years of increasing urbanisation? Diversity 13, 294.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |
Gollan J, Lobry de Bruyn L, Reid N, Wilkie L (2012) Can volunteers collect data that are comparable to professional scientists? A study of variables used in monitoring the outcomes of ecosystem rehabilitation. Environmental Management 50, 969-978.
| Crossref | Google Scholar | PubMed |
Grimm NB, Faeth SH, Golubiewski NE, Redman CL, Wu J, Bai X, Briggs JM (2008) Global change and the ecology of cities. Science 319, 756-760.
| Crossref | Google Scholar | PubMed |
Göth A, Vogel U (2002) Chick survival in the megapode Alectura lathami (Australian brush-turkey). Wildlife Research 29, 503-11.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |
Göth A, Nicol KP, Ross G, Shields JJ (2006) Present and past distribution of Australian brush-turkeys Alectura lathami in New South Wales – Implications for management. Pacific Conservation Biology 12, 22-30.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |
Hahs AK, McDonnell MJ (2006) Selecting independent measures to quantify Melbourne’s urban–rural gradient. Landscape and Urban Planning 78, 435-448.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |
Hall MJ, Burns AL, Martin JM, Hochuli DF (2020) Flight initiation distance changes across landscapes and habitats in a successful urban coloniser. Urban Ecosystems 23, 785-791.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |
Hall MJ, Martin JM, Burns AL, Hochuli DF (2021) Ecological insights into a charismatic bird using different citizen science approaches. Austral Ecology 46, 1255-1265.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |
Hall MJ, Martin JM, Burns AL, Hochuli DF (2022) Unexpected dispersal of Australian brush-turkeys (Alectura lathami) in an urban landscape. Austral Ecology 47, 1544-1548.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |
Humphrey JE, Haslem A, Bennett AF (2023) Housing or habitat: what drives patterns of avian species richness in urbanized landscapes? Landscape Ecology 38, 1919-1937.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |
Isaac NJB, van Strien AJ, August TA, de Zeeuw MP, Roy DB (2014) Statistics for citizen science: extracting signals of change from noisy ecological data. Methods in Ecology and Evolution 5, 1052-1060.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |
Ives CD, Lentini PE, Threlfall CG, Ikin K, Shanahan DF, Garrard GE, Bekessy SA, Fuller RA, Mumaw L, Rayner L, Rowe R, Valentine LE, Kendal D (2016) Cities are hotspots for threatened species. Global Ecology and Biogeography 25, 117-126.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |
Jackowiak M, Gryz J, Jasińska K, Brach M, Bolibok L, Kowal P, Krauze-Gryz D (2021) Colonization of Warsaw by the red fox Vulpes vulpes in the years 1976–2019. Scientific Reports 11, 13931.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |
Jones DN, Everding SE (1991) Australian brush-turkeys in a suburban environment: implications for conflict and conservation. Wildlife Research 18, 285-297.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |
Jones DN, Sonnenburg R, Sinden KE (2004) Presence and distribution of Australian Brushturkeys in the greater Brisbane region. Sunbird: Journal of the Queensland Ornithological Society 34, 1-9.
| Google Scholar |
Joyce M, Barnes MD, Possingham HP, Van Rensburg BJ (2018) Understanding avian assemblage change within anthropogenic environments using citizen science data. Landscape and Urban Planning 179, 81-89.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |
Klump BC, Martin JM, Wild S, Hörsch JK, Major RE, Aplin LM (2021) Innovation and geographic spread of a complex foraging culture in an urban parrot. Science 373(6553), 456-460.
| Crossref | Google Scholar | PubMed |
Ley A, Tynan B, Cameron M (2011) Birds in Diamantina National Park, Queensland. Australian Field Ornithology 28, 1-208.
| Google Scholar |
Martin J, French K, Major R (2010) Population and breeding trends of an urban coloniser: the Australian white ibis. Wildlife Research 37, 230-239.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |
McDonald RI, Kareiva P, Forman RTT (2008) The implications of current and future urbanization for global protected areas and biodiversity conservation. Biological Conservation 141, 1695-1703.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |
McKinley DC, Miller-Rushing AJ, Ballard HL, Bonney R, Brown H, Cook-Patton SC, Evans DM, French RA, Parrish JK, Phillips TB, Ryan SF, Shanley LA, Shirk JL, Stepenuck KF, Weltzin JF, Wiggins A, Boyle OD, Briggs RD, Chapin SF, III, Hewitt DA, Preuss PW, Soukup MA (2017) Citizen science can improve conservation science, natural resource management, and environmental protection. Biological Conservation 208, 15-28.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |
McKinney ML (2002) Urbanization, biodiversity, and conservation: the impacts of urbanization on native species are poorly studied, but educating a highly urbanized human population about these impacts can greatly improve species conservation in all ecosystems. BioScience 52, 883-90.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |
McKinney ML (2006) Urbanization as a major cause of biotic homogenization. Biological Conservation 127, 247-260.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |
Møller AP (2009) Successful city dwellers: a comparative study of the ecological characteristics of urban birds in the Western Palearctic. Oecologia 159, 849-858.
| Crossref | Google Scholar | PubMed |
NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment (DPIE) (2017) Australian brush-turkey population, Nandewar and Brigalow Belt South bioregions – endangered population listing. Available at https://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/topics/animals-and-plants/threatened-species/nsw-threatened-species-scientific-committee/determinations/final-determinations/2004-2007/australian-brush-turkey-endangered-population-listing [Retrieved 9 October 2021]
NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment (DPIE) (2021) About BioNet Atlas. Available at https://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/topics/animals-and-plants/biodiversity/nsw-bionet/about-bionet-atlas [Retrieved 9 October 2021]
Pocock MJO, Tweddle JC, Savage J, Robinson LD, Roy HE (2017) The diversity and evolution of ecological and environmental citizen science. PLoS ONE 12, e0172579.
| Crossref | Google Scholar | PubMed |
Queensland Government (2021) WildNet Database. Available at https://www.qld.gov.au/environment/plants-animals/species-information/wildnet [Accessed 25 July 2021].
Radley PM, Davis RA, Dekker RWRJ, Molloy SW, Blake D, Heinsohn R (2018) Vulnerability of megapodes (Megapodiidae, Aves) to climate change and related threats. Environmental Conservation 45, 396-406.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |
Shochat E, Warren PS, Faeth SH, McIntyre NE, Hope D (2006) From patterns to emerging processes in mechanistic urban ecology. Trends in Ecology & Evolution 21, 186-191.
| Crossref | Google Scholar | PubMed |
Simmonds JS, Watson JEM, Salazar A, Maron M (2019) A composite measure of habitat loss for entire assemblages of species. Conservation Biology 33, 1438-1447.
| Crossref | Google Scholar | PubMed |
Soulsbury CD, White PCL (2015) Human–wildlife interactions in urban areas: a review of conflicts, benefits and opportunities. Wildlife Research 42, 541-553.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |
Stillfried M, Gras P, Börner K, Göritz F, Painer J, Röllig K, Wenzler M, Hofer H, Ortmann S, Kramer-Schadt S (2017) Secrets of success in a landscape of fear: urban wild boar adjust risk perception and tolerate disturbance. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution 5, 157.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |
Sullivan BL, Wood CL, Iliff MJ, Bonney RE, Fink D, Kelling S (2009) eBird: A citizen-based bird observation network in the biological sciences. Biological Conservation 142, 2282-2292.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |
Thackway R, Cresswell ID (1995) An interim biogeographic regionalisation for Australia: a framework for setting priorities in the National Reserves System Cooperative Program. Available at https://www.dcceew.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/ibra-framework-setting-priorities-nrs-cooperative-program.pdf
The Brush Turkey (1881) Australian Town and Country Journal. p. 23, Sydney, NSW, Australia. Available at https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/70959027
Tulloch AIT, Possingham HP, Joseph LN, Szabo J, Martin TG (2013) Realising the full potential of citizen science monitoring programs. Biological Conservation 165, 128-138.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |
Warnken J, Hodgkison S, Wild C, Jones D (2004) The localized environmental degradation of protected areas adjacent to bird feeding stations: a case study of the Australian brush-turkey Alectura lathami. Journal of Environmental Management 70, 109-118.
| Crossref | Google Scholar | PubMed |