Urban areas are expanding globally as a consequence of human population increases, with overall negative effects on biodiversity. To prevent the further loss of biodiversity, it is urgent to understand the mechanisms behind this loss to develop evidence-based sustainable solutions to preserve biodiversity in urban landscapes. The two extreme urban development types along a continuum, land-sparing (large, continuous green areas and high-density housing) and land-sharing (small, fragmented green areas and low-density housing) have been the recent focus of debates regarding the pattern of urban development. However, in this context, there is no information on the mechanisms behind the observed biodiversity changes. One of the main mechanisms proposed to explain urban biodiversity loss is the alteration of predator-prey interactions. Using ground-nesting birds as a model system and data from nine European cities, we experimentally tested the effects of these two extreme urban development types on artificial ground nest survival and whether nest survival correlates with the local abundance of ground-nesting birds and their nest predators. Nest survival (n = 554) was lower in land-sharing than in land-sparing urban areas. Nest survival decreased with increasing numbers of local predators (cats and corvids) and with nest visibility. Correspondingly, relative abundance of ground-nesting birds was greater in land-sparing than in land-sharing urban areas, though overall bird species richness was unaffected by the pattern of urban development. We provide the first evidence that predator-prey interactions differ between the two extreme urban development types. Changing interactions may explain the higher proportion of ground-nesting birds in land-sparing areas, and suggest a limitation of the land-sharing model. Nest predator control and the provision of more green-covered urban habitats may also improve conservation of sensitive birds in cities. Our findings provide information on how to further expand our cities without severe loss of urban-sensitive species and give support for land-sparing over land-sharing urban development.

中文翻译：

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土地共享与土地保护城市发展之间的关系调节了欧洲捕食者与猎物之间的相互作用。

由于人口增加，城市地区在全球范围内扩展，对生物多样性产生总体负面影响。为了防止生物多样性的进一步丧失，迫切需要了解这种丧失背后的机制，以开发基于证据的可持续解决方案来保护城市景观中的生物多样性。围绕连续性的两种极端城市发展类型是：土地节约（大面积，连续的绿色区域和高密度住房）和土地共享（小面积，零碎的绿色区域和低密度住房），这是最近关于城市发展辩论的焦点。城市发展模式。但是，在这种情况下，没有关于所观察到的生物多样性变化背后机制的信息。提出的解释城市生物多样性丧失的主要机制之一是食肉动物与猎物相互作用的改变。使用地面嵌套鸟类作为模型系统，并从9个欧洲城市获得数据，我们通过实验测试了这两种极端城市发展类型对人工地面巢穴存活的影响，以及巢穴存活是否与当地巢穴鸟类及其巢穴的丰度相关掠食者。在土地共享中，鸟巢生存率（n = 554）低于在城市土地节约中。巢生存率随着当地捕食者（猫和cor）的数量增加以及巢的可见度而下降。相应地，尽管城市发展模式不会影响总体鸟类物种的丰富度，但土地保护中的地面嵌套鸟类的相对丰度要大于城市土地共享地区。我们提供了第一个证据，即两种极端的城市发展类型之间的天敌相互作用。相互作用的变化可能解释了土地节约地区地面嵌套鸟类的比例更高，并暗示了土地共享模型的局限性。筑巢捕食者的控制以及提供更多绿色覆盖的城市栖息地也可能会改善城市中敏感鸟类的保护。我们的研究结果提供了有关如何在不严重丧失城市敏感性物种的情况下进一步扩展我们的城市的信息，并为共享土地的城市发展中的土地节约提供了支持。