The coastal areas of southeast China have typical high-density urbanization characteristics, and urban mountain parks are important green spaces in these urban green space systems. Our study was conducted in five typical urban mountain parks in Fuzhou, China. The bird survey was carried out in 25 transects of different vegetation habitats for 10 months, and the vegetation survey was conducted in 25 habitats to investigate the characteristics of bird communities in different vegetation habitats and the causes of their differences. The results showed: (1) From 1 October 2021 to 15 July 2022, we recorded a total of 90 bird species in 8 orders, 37 families, and 64 genera, with 1879 individuals in five vegetation habitats in the urban mountain parks. (2) Abundance and diversity of trees are vegetation variables affecting bird diversity (bird species richness, abundance, and Shannon diversity) in urban mountain parks, and the average branch height under trees has a significant effect on bird evenness. (3) We found more bird species and higher bird diversity in both sparse and dense forest habitats, but fewer bird species in waterfront, shrub, and grassland habitats; (4) Average tree height (AVE_HEIt) was only present in the best model of bird abundance and evenness. However, none of the best models found a significant effect of the number of tourists and predators on bird diversity. Our results could provide a theoretical basis and guidance for the future improvement of ecological service functions of bird habitats in urban mountain parks in subtropical coastal areas.

Urban park waterfront green spaces provide positive mental health benefits to the public. In order to further explore the specific influence mechanism between landscape elements and public psychological response, 36 typical waterfront green areas in Xihu Park and Zuohai Park in Gulou District, Fuzhou City, Fujian Province, China, were selected for this study. We used semantic segmentation technology to quantitatively decompose the 36 scenes of landscape elements and obtained a public psychological response evaluation using virtual reality technology combined with questionnaire interviews. The main results showed that: (1) the Pyramid Scene Parsing Network (PSPNet) is a model suitable for quantitative decomposition of landscape elements of urban park waterfront green space; (2) the public’s overall evaluation of psychological responses to the 36 scenes was relatively high, with the psychological dimension scoring the highest; (3) different landscape elements showed significant differences in four dimensions. Among the elements, plant layer, pavement proportion, and commercial facilities all have an impact on the four dimensions; and (4) the contribution rate of the four element types to the public’s psychological response is shown as spatial element (37.9%) > facility element (35.1%) > natural element (25.0%) > construction element (2.0%). The obtained results reveal the influence of different landscape elements in urban park waterfront green spaces on public psychology and behavior. Meanwhile, it provides links and methods that can be involved in the planning and design of urban park waterfront green space, and also provides emerging technical support and objective data reference for subsequent research.

Bird habitats are becoming increasingly fragmented as a result of rapid urbanization. As one of the essential refuges for urban bird communities, mountain parks are of practical significance for studying the spatial changes of birds, which can inform the future planning of mountain park planning. In this study, we assessed the α, β, and functional diversity of bird communities in mountain parks in Fuzhou, China, at three levels of urbanization (urban, peri-urban, suburban) and explored how diversity (abundance, richness, α-diversity, Chao1) varies along the urbanization gradient. A three-month bird survey was conducted using the transect method to examine the impact of urbanization on bird community structures in mountain parks. In addition, we evaluated the functional diversity of bird guilds in order to identify potential indicator species for monitoring different urbanization gradients in mountain parks. The results showed that: (1) During the three bird surveys from December 2021 to February 2022, 96 bird species and 2429 individuals of 9 orders, 34 families, and 63 genera were identified. (2) Urbanization had a significant impact on the overall bird α-diversity (p = 0.040) and richness (p = 0.024) but not on the overall bird abundance (p = 0.056). (3) The results of non-metric multidimensional scaling showed significant variations among overall birds in mountain parks along with three urbanization levels (stress = 0.155, p = 0.027). Similarly, significant differences were observed in the upper-stratum guild (stress = 0.183, p = 0.049) but not in other diet and vertical foraging stratum guilds. (4) Five species were identified as potential candidates for monitoring the trends of urban gradients. Moreover, compared to insectivorous or omnivorous guilds, most carnivorous and herbivorous guilds may not be suitable for monitoring the negative effects of urbanization in mountain parks. Our findings can help inform urban mountain park management or restoration strategies intended to mitigate the adverse impacts of urbanization.

Urban parks, as critical components of the urban green space, have practical significance in studying the influence of landscape characteristics on birds. Nine urban parks in Fuzhou, China, were used as study objects to explore the influence of landscape features (patch, landscape, and surrounding environment indices) on bird communities. The results showed that (1) from December 2021 to February 2022, we found a total of 2874 individuals belonging to 61 species of 9 orders, 32 families, which were dominated by the birds of Passeriformes (37 species of 24 families, accounting for 89.91% of the total number of individuals) and resident birds in Fuzhou urban parks (n = 30; 85.46%); (2) The park area, park perimeter, woodland area, grassland area, and the park shape index increased as the distance to the city center increases; (3) Bird diversity responds differently to different landscape features. The total abundance of birds, the abundance of winter migrant birds, and the richness of winter migrant birds increased with the park area. And the park shape index affects positively for the the α-diversity of birds and the abundance of resident birds. Woodland proportion and waterbody shape index affected positively on the richness and α-diversity of resident birds. To promote the diversity of regional birds, it is recommended that the construction and planning of urban parks should enlarge the park area as much as possible, increase the proportion of woodland, and make shorelines more irregular. Our study could serve as a reference for the construction of biodiversity enhancements in core green areas of urban parks.

We explored the spatial and temporal characteristics of the urban forest area soundscape by setting up monitoring points (70 × 70 m grid) covering the study area, recorded a total of 52 sound sources, and the results showed that: (1) The soundscape composition of the park is dominated by natural sounds and recreational sounds. (2) The diurnal variation of sound sources is opposite to that of temperature, 6:00–9:00 is the best time for the public to perceive birdsong, and after 18:00, the park is dominated by insect chirps. (3) The PSD (power spectral density) and the SDI (soundscape diversity index) of the park are greatly affected by public recreation behaviors, and some recreation behaviors may affect the vocal behavior of organisms such as birds. (4) Spaces with high canopy density can attract more birdsong and recreational sounds in summer, and the combination of “tree + lake” can attract more birdsong. Vegetation has a significant dampening effect on traffic sound. (5) Landscape spatial elements, such as the proportion of hard ground, sky, trees, and shrubs, have a significant impact on changes in the PSD, the SDI and different kinds of sound sources. The research results provide effective data support for improving the soundscape of urban forests.

The urbanization process has contributed to the deterioration of the urban thermal environment and increased the frequency of heat waves in summer that damage public health. Urban green space is the space for the public to escape the summer heat. The cooling effect of urban green space (UGS) can encourage outdoor activities and enhance public health. Analysis of when and how the public utilizes UGS under summer heat can serve as a guide for UGS improvements. In this study, the Hot Spring Park in Fuzhou City, China was utilized as a case study to examine the characteristics of the public recreational behaviors and their influencing factors under summer heat. Results showed the following observations: (1) Canopy density and turf coverage played key roles in regulating the thermal environment. (2) UGS can accommodate multiple summertime behaviors with considerable spatiotemporal variations. (3) In the hot summer, the frequency of recreational activities in UGS was negatively correlated with temperature. Dynamic behaviors were significantly impacted by temperature. Older and younger groups were less heat-tolerant. Based on this, we propose countermeasures and suggestions that are tailored to the needs of urban residents and their behavior characteristics for the planning and management of urban parks in the summer heat.