Human perception and appreciation of birds: A motivation for wildlife conservation in urban environments of France

Conservation of biodiversity in urban areas needs both scientific justification and public interest. However, data about the public’s perception of urban wildlife is scarce in Western Europe. To identify human perception and appreciation of urban wildlife, we studied avian communities and the public’s perceptions about birds in general, in Rennes, France, at four sectors along a gradient of decreasing urbanization: urban, and adjoining suburban, distant suburban and rural sectors. The diversity and density of birds were analyzed in Rennes during winter and spring (6 censuses). Avian diversity was highest in the distant suburban sector and lowest in urban areas. In the two intermediate sectors (adjoining and distant suburban), diversity was similar and varied little between seasons (Rennes has a relatively temperate climate). The density of birds was highest in urban areas because of the abundance of some species, including Rock Doves (Columba livia) and Swifts (Apus apus) and lowest in the rural sector. Sociological analyses of surveys conducted in Rennes (200 questionnaires) showed that human perception of birds varied with the sector of respondents. Urban dwellers perceived the different bird species (more diversity than density) and appreciated their presence, except for some species, such as Herring Gulls Larus argentatus or European Starlings Sturnus vulgaris. According to our results, efforts to increase or maintain avian biodiversity in cities appears to be justified in terms the perceived benefit to humans, both in terms of the perceived environmental and personal benefits to humans. However, when a species must be managed (e.g. roosting European Starlings), different attitudes by the public in different parts of the city may require different styles of communicating management objectives.