Аннотация:Fragments of idle fields in urbanized zones may attract threatened bird species to nest, but, at the same time, may be favoured by generalist nest predators attracted by food resources abundant in urban areas. Only few studies have analysed effects of nest predation risk in suburban habitat fragments while considering the character of the surrounding landscape. We used artificial nests to examine possible effects of patch size and edge distance, extent of surrounding urbanization, habitat composition and heterogeneity on nest predation risk to ground-nesting birds in idle fields within suburban areas. Nest predation risk varied regardless of patch size. Edge effect appeared only combined with the proportion of particular habitat types in the surrounding landscape. Character of surrounding landscape was strongly influential. In particular, predation risk was positively correlated with proportions of unstable disturbed sites nearby but negatively correlated with proportions of adjacent meadows and forests. From the standpoint of nature conservation and effective support to bird diversity in suburban areas, we highlight the importance of diverse nature-like stands such as meadows or forest fragments.
