Living in the Concrete Jungle: a Review and Socio-Ecological Perspective of Urban Raptor Habitat Quality in Europe

King’s Research Portal DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11252-021-01106-6 Document Version Publisher's PDF, also known as Version of record Link to publication record in King's Research Portal Citation for published version (APA): Mak, B., Francis, R., & Chadwick, M. (2021). Living in the concrete jungle: a review and socio-ecological perspective of urban raptor habitat quality in Europe. Urban Ecosystems. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11252-021- 01106-6 Citing this paper Please note that where the full-text provided on King's Research Portal is the Author Accepted Manuscript or Post-Print version this may differ from the final Published version. If citing, it is advised that you check and use the publisher's definitive version for pagination, volume/issue, and date of publication details. And where the final published version is provided on the Research Portal, if citing you are again advised to check the publisher's website for any subsequent corrections. 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Sep. 2021 Urban Ecosystems https://doi.org/10.1007/s11252-021-01106-6 Living in the concrete jungle: a review and socio-ecological perspective of urban raptor habitat quality in Europe Brandon Mak1 & Robert A. Francis1 & Michael A. Chadwick1 Accepted: 21 January 2021 # The Author(s) 2021 Abstract Raptors can be important components of urban ecosystems due to their role as apex predators, the presence of which may bring benefits to people. Urban environments may provide good quality habitats, and the raptors’ ability to utilize resources found here can contribute to their success. However, urban environments are socio-ecological systems and such mechanisms shaping habitats and ecological resources therein are less understood. This paper explores how raptors utilize urban resources, and the socio-ecological processes influencing their quality and availability. It begins with a systematic mapping of the literature to summarize the utility of urban resources by raptors with European distributions. Eighteen species were documented in the literature successfully exploiting novel hunting and/or nesting opportunities in both green and built-up locations of urban areas. We discuss how these may be consequential of human activities, some of which intentionally provided as subsidies, and how their utility by raptors create opportunities for human-raptor interactions further shaping public perception and decisions which potentially affect the raptors. Finally, we demonstrate these concepts by drawing on our experience from an urban peregrine falcon (Falco peregrinus) conservation site in London, UK. The paper concludes with a call for urban raptor conservation and research to consider social and ecological aspects together, appropriately reflecting urban environments as socio-ecological systems. Keywords Socio-ecological systems . Human-animal interactions . Urban wildlife . Habitat use . Urban ecology Introduction costs (Markandya et al. 2008). Interactions with birds not only positively shape healthy human relationships and support hu- Birds are important components of urban biodiversity man wellbeing (Wolch 1998;Fulleretal.2007;Dallimeretal. (Wiklund 1982; Bogliani et al. 1999; Quinn and Kokorev 2012;ClaytonandMyers2015; Cox et al. 2017), but also the 2002;Ueta2007;Whelanetal.2015), among which highly- wellbeing of nature – charismatic raptors are often used as abundant and synurbic species such as the common pigeon flagship species to attract resources in support of conservation (Columba livia) are perhaps the clearest examples of birds that programs (Clayton and Myers 2015; Donázar et al. 2016; thrive in urban environments. Urban bird communities can Arent et al. 2018). The landscape of fear created by raptor also include raptors, which provide a suite of important eco- predation limits prey activity and density (Abramsky et al. system services. Raptor scavenging activity reduces the risk of 1996;Preisseretal.2005; Laundré et al. 2010; Kross 2012; disease transmission, bringing potential savings in healthcare Atkins et al. 2017). This form of natural pest control may be desirable to reduce maintenance costs associated with, for example, corrosive pigeon excrement (Solonen 2008; Pagel * Brandon Mak [email protected] et al. 2018). These apex predators act as sentinels, indicating the health of an ecosystem through their relationship with Robert A. Francis other organisms. The absence of this group can lead to trophic [email protected] cascades when food webs are modified as a result of altered Michael A. Chadwick predation pressure, evident in the density of synurbic or pest [email protected] species found in cities (Mueller et al. 2016; Donázar et al. 2016). 1 Department of Geography, King’s College London, Strand Campus, Raptors historically cohabited alongside humans in towns Bush House (North East Wing), 30 Aldwych, London WC2B 4BG, and cities since the Medieval period (Donázar et al. 2016; England Urban Ecosyst Bildstein and Therrien 2018) and their increasing use of cur- ecological systems (Francis and Chadwick 2013) and people rent urban environments follows their global recovery from can also influence raptor feeding and nesting opportunities. substantial population declines, despite urban environments Some examples include religious practices subsidizing the traditionally considered by some to be poor quality, degraded diets of the thriving black kite (Milvus migrans)communities habitats (Brown 1977; Bildstein et al. 1998;Thiollay2006), in Delhi, India, with food offerings (Kumar et al. 2019), pest partly due to the risk of chemical toxicity in the food chain control measures limiting the availability of rodents for red- (Hofer et al. 2010;Kekkonenetal.2012; Elliott et al. 2015). tailed hawks (Buteo jamaicensis) in Philadelphia, USA However, higher raptor productivity here – although a sim- (Hunold 2017), and sympathetic citizens protecting wild ani- plistic measure that overlooks post-fledging survival – can mals’ safe use of their breeding territories (Gullo et al. 1998; indicate urban environments to be of better quality than less OtterWatch 2017; Hunold 2017;Darke2017; Crowley et al. developed surrounding habitats (Newton 1998; Chace and 2019). Given the roles raptors play, it is important to facilitate Walsh 2006; Solonen 2008; Cooke et al. 2018;Ketteletal. their conservation by appreciating the full range of resources 2018). The greater productivity has been attributed to their and mechanisms supporting the needs of urban raptor popu- ability to exploit urban prey (Chace and Walsh 2006; lations. However, there is a gap in our understanding of the Chamberlain et al. 2009;Jokimäkietal.2016;Ketteletal. socio-ecological processes as these tend to be neglected in 2018), resulting in earlier or bigger clutches (Rutkowski et al. urban raptor research to date, apart from studies reporting 2006;Solonen2008), or higher fledging rates (Salvati et al. antagonistic interactions such as aggression towards humans 2002; Rutkowski et al. 2006). The urban raptors’ choice of or illegal persecution of raptors (Galeotti 1994; Papp 2011; nest sites may also confer reproductive advantages (Chace and Cianchetti-Benedetti et al. 2016; Kunca and Yosef 2016). This Walsh 2006; Papp 2011; Dykstra 2018; James Reynolds et al. is in line with a bias towards the exploration of human-wildlife 2019) and while typically novel or anthropogenic in nature, conflict across wider literature despite socio-ecological pro- these sites can be more numerous and diverse with urbanisa- cesses encompassing more than antagonistic relationships tion (Mainwaring 2015). (Gullo et al. 1998; Soulsbury and White 2015). Urban avian Suitable nest sites and prey availability are typically con- studies in general also tend to cover a broad range of species sidered to be the key determinants of successful raptor popu- without a particular focus on raptors, while there is a geo- lations in urban environments (Solonen 2008;Newton2010; graphical bias towards North American populations for urban Mannan and Steidl 2018), but urban ecosystems are socio- raptor research (Bird et al. 1996; Poppleton 2016;Boaland Fig. 1 Foci of published urban raptor studies in Europe, with number of studies per country in brackets Urban Ecosyst Dykstra 2018;Ketteletal.2018). In this review, we ask: What our knowledge on the ecological requirements of urban rap- urban resources do raptors in Europe use and how may their tors in Europe. We then demonstrate how socio-ecological availability and quality (as indicated by the raptors’ produc- processes may underpin the availability and quality of urban tivity) be linked to socio-ecological mechanisms? To answer raptor habitat in our case study of urban peregrine falcon

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