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. 2021 Jun 10;11(6):1738.
doi: 10.3390/ani11061738.

Selection of Urbanized Areas by Magpie Pica pica in a Medium Size City in Poland

Olaf Ciebiera  1 , Paweł Czechowski  1 , Federico Morelli  1   2 , Robert Piekarski  3 , Marcin Bocheński  1 , Justyna Chachulska-Serweta  1 , Leszek Jerzak  1
Affiliations

Selection of Urbanized Areas by Magpie Pica pica in a Medium Size City in Poland

Olaf Ciebiera et al. Animals (Basel). .

Abstract

The Magpie Pica pica occurs all over open agricultural areas in Poland, especially near human settlements (particularly in western Poland). The aim of this study was to estimate the size of the local Magpie population and characterize, in detail, nest site selection in a medium size city Górzów Wlkp. in the XXI century. For this study, the whole city was divided into a total of 114 squares of 1 × 1 km. Data were collected in spring 2014. A total of 474 Magpie pairs were recorded. The average density was 5.5 pairs/km2 (min = 0, max = 22 nests/square), in the non-urbanized habitat type-3.7 p/km2, and in the urbanized habitat type-13.5 p/km2. Magpie nests were found most often on Spruces Picea sp. and Poplars Populus sp. The mean height of the nest site was 11.5 m, while the mean height of trees used for nesting was 13.4 m. The type of tree arrangement most frequently used for nesting was tree rows (26.3%), followed by single trees (24.6%) and clusters of 4-10 trees (20.1%). The results for the Magpie's environmental preferences do not differ from the general patterns described earlier. The study shows that magpies can adapt to changing urbanization factors, and changes in the choice of conifers help the species to adapt to highly anthropogenic habitats.

Keywords: Pica pica; habitat selectivity; magpie; urban population.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Spatial distribution and density of Magpie nests in the study area, divided into squares (n = 114) of 1 × 1 km.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Correlation of Magpie nest density and degree of urbanization in Gorzów Wlkp. (r = 0.700).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Regression between number of nests and mean tree height. (left) Nest height = −0.315 + 0.878 × mean tree height; R2 = 0.97, and number of nests and mean distance to the city border. (right) Nest height = 6.601 + 0.002 × distance to the border; R2 = 0.21.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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