Contrasting effects of agriculture and urbanisation on bird and reptile communities in a Mediterranean delta (Gediz Delta, Turkiye)

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F60460709%3A41330%2F25%3A103584" target="_blank" >RIV/60460709:41330/25:103584 - isvavai.cz</a>

Result on the web

<a href="https://doi.org/10.1186/s12862-025-02390-y" target="_blank" >https://doi.org/10.1186/s12862-025-02390-y</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12862-025-02390-y" target="_blank" >10.1186/s12862-025-02390-y</a>

Result language

angličtina

Original language name

Contrasting effects of agriculture and urbanisation on bird and reptile communities in a Mediterranean delta (Gediz Delta, Turkiye)

Original language description

BackgroundWetlands have been some of the most destroyed ecosystems over the last century, with important land-use changes resulting from agricultural, industrial, and urban development. Gediz Delta is a large wetland on the Aegean coast of Western T & uuml;rkiye with natural areas affected by conversion to agriculture and urban developments from the Izmir metropolis. We assessed the effects of landscape type (natural, agricultural, and urban) on the composition of breeding bird (90 species) and reptile (14 species) communities in the Gediz Delta between 2019 and 2021. We used generalized linear models to estimate the effect of landscape types on community indexes and joint species distribution models to assess how species-specific habitat preferences explained their responses to landscape type.ResultsOur results show that bird and reptile community compositions were impacted differently depending on landscape type. Landscape type significantly affected bird abundance and Shannon equality indices but had no significant effect on bird and reptile species richness. Natural landscapes accommodated higher bird abundance and lower diversity indexes than the other two landscapes. On the other hand, we found that urban and agricultural landscapes accommodated more generalist species than natural ones. Natural landscapes were preferred by Marine & Coastal and Inland wetland bird specialists and reptiles relying on Mediterranean Habitats. Overall, these results suggest that community composition encountered in different landscape types is explained by species' habitat specializations.ConclusionsWe highlight the critical importance of natural landscapes for conserving specialist species within the Delta while showing the potential of agricultural areas for a few freshwater reptile species. These results imply that the Gediz Delta would benefit from biodiversity conservation planning to enhance the protection of natural habitats and mitigate the negative impacts of agricultural and urban development on bird and reptile populations.

Czech name

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Czech description

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Type

J_imp - Article in a specialist periodical, which is included in the Web of Science database

CEP classification

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OECD FORD branch

10618 - Ecology

Project

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Continuities

S - Specificky vyzkum na vysokych skolach

Publication year

2025

Confidentiality

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Name of the periodical

BMC ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION

ISSN

2730-7182

e-ISSN

2730-7182

Volume of the periodical

25

Issue of the periodical within the volume

1

Country of publishing house

GB - UNITED KINGDOM

Number of pages

14

Pages from-to

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UT code for WoS article

001501145000001

EID of the result in the Scopus database

2-s2.0-105007205104