Divergent Bird Diversity Patterns Among Four Airports in the Same Bioregion: Assessing Local-Scale Drivers of Bird Community Assembly

Abstract

The rapid expansion of global aviation has intensified conflicts between aircraft and wildlife, particularly bird strikes, which pose significant safety risks and economic losses. Research on airport bird communities have been extensively conducted at both regional and fine scales; however, studies at the local scale remain relatively limited. This study focuses on four airports in China's Lower Yangtze River Plain. From November 2018 to October 2019, point-count surveys were conducted across four habitat types (farmland, forest, wetland, and residential areas) at each airport. We recorded 147 bird species across airports, consisting of 50 permanent residents and 96 migrants, with 43 species found to be shared among four airports. Despite shared bioregional characteristics, we found significant variations in bird species richness (H = 61.25, df = 3, p < 0.01), abundance (H = 30.86, df = 3, p < 0.01), and Shannon-Wiener index (H = 50.49, df = 3, p < 0.01) across the four airports. While Nanjing Lukou International Airport recorded markedly higher species richness (125 species; p < 0.01 based on post hoc tests), the other three airports formed a distinct group with consistently lower diversity levels. This study revealed the impact of seasonal shifts and habitat variations on bird community dynamics, with bird diversity and composition fluctuating significantly between seasons and across different habitat types. Future research should expand the geographic scope of studies and assess the effectiveness of different management strategies in reducing bird strike. Integrating ecological considerations into airport safety protocols is essential for reducing bird strike hazards while conserving local biodiversity.

Keywords: Yangtze River delta; airport ecology; bird diversity; bird strike.

FIGURE 1

Locations of study sites where airports are shown as red dots. The top‐left map shows the location of the study area in eastern China. The red solid circles indicate the locations of the airports, while the blue hollow circles represent the 8 km surrounding radius around each airport. The names of the airports are labeled in white text.

FIGURE 2

Location of the sampling points and landscape types at the four airports. (a) Nanjing Lukou International Airport; (b) Yangzhou Taizhou International Airport; (c) Changzhou Benniu International Airport; (d) Huai'an Lianshui International Airports.

FIGURE 3

Venn diagram representing the number of bird species and the number of shared species at the four airports. CZ, Changzhou Benniu International Airport; HA, Huai'an Lianshui International Airport; NJ, Nanjing Lukou International Airport; YT, Yangzhou Taizhou International Airport.

FIGURE 4

Differences in bird community among four Yangtze River Delta airports. (a) species richness; (b) number of individuals; (c) Shannon–Wiener index (H′); (d) Simpson's diversity index. CZ, Changzhou Benniu International Airport; HA, Huai'an Lianshui International Airport; NJ, Nanjing Lukou International Airport; YT, Yangzhou Taizhou International Airport.

FIGURE 5

Distance tree based on the Jaccard community similarity index. CZ, Changzhou Benniu International Airport; HA, Huai'an Lianshui International Airport; NJ, Nanjing Lukou International Airport; YT, Yangzhou Taizhou International Airport.