The yellow-legged gull Larus michahellis has undergone widespread colonization of the urban environment in the recent past. The first urban breeding gulls were recorded in the historical centre of Venice, Italy, in 2000, and by 2005 there were already 24 roof-nesting pairs, with this number increasing significantly over the last decade. In 2016, a new door-to-door garbage collection system was introduced in Venice to prevent the accumulation of rubbish in the streets and limit the trophic resources available for the species. This study provides an up-to-date estimate of the Venice yellow-legged gull urban population using distance sampling method. We also studied the effect of the new waste collection system on the species by comparing the population estimate before (2017) and after (2018) the full implementation of this change and by analysing the trend of individuals collected in the old town by the wildlife recovery service during 2010–2018. Results estimated ca. 430 breeding pairs in June 2018 showing a 36% decrease with respect to 2017. We also found a decrease in the number of 1-year-old birds and pulli collected by the wildlife recovery service starting from 2016, when the policy implementation began. Our data did not show a significant decrease in the overall number of individuals, suggesting that the new policy has a stronger effect on the breeding success of the species than on adult survival. This study emphasizes the importance of preventing rubbish accumulation in the streets as factor for reducing the abundance of urban yellow-legged gulls.

黄腿鸥Larus michahellis最近在城市环境中经历了广泛的殖民化。 2000 年，意大利威尼斯历史中心记录了第一批城市繁殖海鸥，到 2005 年，屋顶筑巢的海鸥数量已经达到 24 对，并且这一数字在过去十年中显着增加。 2016年，威尼斯引入了新的挨家挨户垃圾收集系统，以防止街道上垃圾堆积并限制该物种可用的营养资源。本研究使用距离抽样方法对威尼斯黄腿鸥城市种群数量进行了最新估计。我们还通过比较全面实施这一变化之前（2017年）和之后（2018年）的种群估计，并分析老城区野生动物恢复收集的个体趋势，研究了新的废物收集系统对物种的影响2010-2018 年期间提供服务。结果估计约。 2018 年 6 月，繁殖对数量为 430 对，较 2017 年减少了 36%。我们还发现，自 2016 年政策实施以来，野生动物恢复服务机构收集的 1 岁鸟类和家禽数量有所减少。我们的数据没有显示个体总数显着减少，这表明新政策对该物种的繁殖成功率的影响比对成虫生存的影响更大。这项研究强调了防止街道上垃圾堆积作为减少城市黄腿鸥数量的因素的重要性。