Relationship between bird communities and environment factors at green belts in the urban area of Beijing

The bird community, arthropod species richness and vegetation structures of 21 green belts,which were classified into three types of woodlands at Beijing urban area,were investigated using the quadrat sampling or line-plot method from July 2003 to July 2005.Totally,131 bird species,278 arthropods and 269 plant species were recorded.Effects of the urban vegetation structure and arthropod community on the community structure and diversity of urban birds were investigated through analyzing the relations between community structure of birds and diversity of arthropods as well as vegetation structure.The results show that the species and diversity of birds are both positively related to the diversity of habitats,the plant species,the size of woodlands or the width of the greenbelts,and the arthropod species.However,the density of birds is negatively related to the water area of parks.In greenbelts with different functions,relations of the composition of bird communities and the environment factors of habitats are varied because of the differences existing in the vegetation structure and the size of woodlands.