Do fire and rainfall drive spatial and temporal population shifts in parrots? A case study using urban parrot populations

Populations of several species of native parrots have been increasing in many Australian cities since the 1980s contributing to a shift in the composition of urban avian communities. Anecdotal evidence suggests that some species of parrot may move into the urban landscape during environmental disturbances, such as wild fires or periods of decreased rainfall. This study seeks to determine the extent to which fire and rainfall explain changes in the abundance of parrots in urban Sydney. Multiple regression using the Akaike Information Criterion was used to analyse a 26-year data set, beginning in 1981, to measure the change in abundance of 13 species of parrot in response to wild fire and rainfall. Wild fire, within a radial distance of 100 km, significantly predicted changes in abundance of five species of parrot in urban Sydney. Local and/or inland rainfall significantly predicted changes in abundance of six parrot species in the urban landscape, with decreases in inland rainfall resulting in an increase in abundance in the urban landscape of parrots that traditionally inhabited inland areas.

Research highlights
► Effect of wild fire and rainfall on urban parrot abundance.
► Inland rainfall influences changes in abundance of four species of parrot.
► Coastal urban rainfall influences changes in abundance of four species of parrot.
► Wild fire influences changes in five species of parrot.