Please cite this article in press as: Hedblom, M., et al., Bird song diversity influences young people’s appreciation of urban landscapes. Urban Forestry & Urban Greening (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ufug.2014.04.002 ARTICLE IN PRESS G Model UFUG-25428; No. of Pages 6 Urban Forestry & Urban Greening xxx (2014) xxx–xxx Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Urban Forestry & Urban Greening journa l h om epage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ufug Bird song diversity influences young people’s appreciation of urban landscapes Marcus Hedblom 1 , Erik Heyman, Henrik Antonsson, Bengt Gunnarsson ∗ Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Gothenburg, Box 461, SE 40530 Göteborg, Sweden a r t i c l e i n f o Keywords: Biodiversity Green space Passerines Songbirds Urban soundscape Urban woodland a b s t r a c t Increased losses of green areas in cities reduce people’s experience of flora and fauna. Earlier studies have shown that biodiversity has benefits for urban inhabitants but the influence of animal sounds on people’s experience of green space is poorly known. A sample of young urban people (N = 227) rated their reactions – positive or negative – to three bird song combinations: House Sparrow (Passer domesticus), Willow Warbler (Phylloscopus trochilus), 7 spp. i.e. Willow Warbler, Chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs), Blue Tit (Cyanistes caeruleus), Great Tit (Parus major), European Robin (Erithacus rubecula), Common Blackbird (Turdus merula), Great Spotted Woodpecker (Dendrocopos major), three urban settings (residential areas with varying amount of greenery) and nine combinations of song and setting. Bird song was generally considered positive and singing by several species was more highly rated than singing by a single species. On average, urban settings combined with bird song were more highly appreciated than the settings alone and even more so where there was singing by several species rather than just one. We conclude that our data support the idea that bird song contributes to positive values associated with urban green space. Urban planners should consider preserving a variety of habitats in cities for hosting a diversity of birds and thereby boost conservation of songbird diversity and recreational experiences for urban people. © 2014 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved. Introduction Ecosystem services provided by green space in cities may become even more vital when humans become increasingly urban- ized. Although the high societal value of green space in urban areas has long been acknowledged (Ulrich, 1984; Kaplan, 1995), there is an increasing need for detailed knowledge about the interaction between biodiversity and the built environment in cities (James et al., 2009). For instance, certain biodiversity components can add to the well-being of urban residents (Fuller et al., 2007; Luck et al., 2011). Maintaining highly diverse ecosystems in the parks of densely populated cities can be a critical investment in improving the quality of life of the inhabitants (Dean et al., 2011). This task may be urgent, because green urban area per capita is declining rapidly in e.g. European cities with high population density (Fuller and Gaston, 2009) and future urbanization will reduce green areas and biodiversity hotspots worldwide (Seto et al., 2012). ∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +46 317863867. E-mail address: bengt.gunnarsson@bioenv.gu.se (B. Gunnarsson). 1 Present address: Department of Forest Resource Management, Swedish Univer- sity of Agricultural Sciences, Box 7044, SE 75007 Uppsala, Sweden. The total environment perceived by urban inhabitants includes visual stimuli, sounds and smells. Earlier studies have stressed the interdependence of visual and acoustic stimuli (Carles et al., 1999; Viollon et al., 2002). For instance, in a study of scenes from national parks, anthropogenic sounds (e.g. air or ground traffic) seemed to disrupt the experience of beautiful landscapes whereas natu- ral sounds (e.g. birds, wind in foliage) did not have negative effects on assessment of the settings (Benfield et al., 2010). Urban sound- scape is often dominated by areas with man-made sounds that are perceived as less pleasant than sites with natural sounds (Carles et al., 1999; Viollon et al., 2002; Irvine et al., 2009). Although many studies of how people experience soundscape have included nat- ural sounds like birds (e.g. Carles et al., 1999; Viollon et al., 2002; Irvine et al., 2009; Benfield et al., 2010), there are few studies that distinguish between bird species (e.g. Björk, 1985) and none that evaluates species diversity. In the present study, we examined how young, urban-dwelling people rated different bird songs and how song influences the assessment of urban landscapes. Special attention was paid to singing by passerines (order Passeriformes) because such birds are an obvious part of everyday life in most European cities with parks, woodlands and other green spaces. Here, our focus is urban wood- lands close to residential areas. We are not aware of any other study exploring the importance of diversity of wild bird song and http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ufug.2014.04.002 1618-8667/© 2014 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.