Bird species diversity in groves and edges of forest patches of four green areas of the city of Asunción

Urban green areas are ideal spaces for studying urban biological diversity, whose characteristics are related to environmental quality. The work was carried out in the Jardín Botánico (JB), Parque de la Salud (PSa), Parque Seminario (PSe) and Parque Carlos Antonio López (PCAL), with the main objetive of evaluate abundance, richness and diversity of birds in four green areas of Asunción. In each of the study areas, sites with groves and edges of forest patches were selected, with 4 random point counts per area. At each point, 6 replicates of 10 minutes were made between May and July 2016, registering birds by sight and sound within a radius of 30 m. JB and PSa presented higher species richness, more species with low and rare relative abundance, higher diversity index, and the second highest similarity index after the PCAL and PSe, which presented lower richness, lower index of diversity, and greater dominance of species with general habits. No significant difference was found between JB and PSa diversity indexes, as well as between PCAL and PSe; however, the other comparisons were significantly different, being the most extensive between JB and PCAL. The richness and diversity of species had a strong positive correlation with the size of the areas. In contrast, abundance was negatively correlated, but not significant. The results show that green areas of considerable size can maintain an interesting diversity of birds and must be conserved to provide habitat for urban fauna and flora.