Urban areas are quickly expanding in the southeastern United States with varying effects on biodiversity. Maintaining bird richness in cities is essential for conserving ecosystem function. In this study, we determined the relative importance of landscape composition and configuration on urban avian richness in the southeastern U.S. We used linear models to explore the influence of the proportion, size, aggregation, and edge density of forests, wetlands, and developed land cover types on urban avian species richness and feeding guild diversity. We found that the proportion of developed land in a city, a composition metric, and forest edge density of cities, a configuration metric, had consistent negative effects on bird richness and feeding guild diversity. These results differ from previous studies that have found landscape configuration to have a minimal influence on bird richness. Urban revegetation should therefore focus on reducing expansion of developed land and reducing edge density of large forest patches.

美国东南部的城市地区正在迅速扩大，对生物多样性的影响各不相同。在城市中保持鸟类的丰富性对于维护生态系统功能至关重要。在这项研究中，我们确定了景观组成和配置对美国东南部城市鸟类丰富度的相对重要性。我们使用线性模型探索了森林，湿地和发达土地覆盖的比例，大小，聚集度和边缘密度的影响类型对城市鸟类物种丰富度和饲养行会多样性的影响。我们发现，城市中已开发土地的比例，组成指标以及城市的森林边缘密度（配置指标）对鸟类的丰富度和饲养协会的多样性具有一致的负面影响。这些结果与以前的研究不同，后者发现景观结构对鸟类的丰富度影响最小。因此，城市绿化应集中在减少已开发土地的扩张和减少大型森林斑块的边缘密度上。