Urbanization affects avian community composition in European cities, increasing biotic homogenization. Anthropic pollution (such as light at night and noise) is among the most important drivers shaping bird use in urban areas, where bird species are mainly attracted by urban greenery. In this study, we collected data on 127 breeding bird species at 1349 point counts distributed along a gradient of urbanization in fourteen different European cities. The main aim was to explore the effects of anthropic pollution and city characteristics, on shaping the avian communities, regarding species' diet composition. The green cover of urban areas increased the number of insectivorous and omnivorous bird species, while slightly decreasing the overall diet heterogeneity of the avian communities. The green heterogeneity-a measure of evenness considering the relative coverage of grass, shrubs and trees-was positively correlated with the richness of granivorous, insectivorous, and omnivorous species, increasing the level of diet heterogeneity in the assemblages. Additionally, the effects of light pollution on avian communities were associated with the species' diet. Overall, light pollution negatively affected insectivorous and omnivorous bird species while not affecting granivorous species. The noise pollution, in contrast, was not significantly associated with changes in species assemblages. Our results offer some tips to urban planners, managers, and ecologists, in the challenge of producing more eco-friendly cities for the future.

Department of Biogeography and Global Change Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales 28006 Madrid Spain

Department of Biology University of Turku Turku Finland

Department of Life and Environmental Sciences Bournemouth University Fern Barrow Poole 12 5BB BH UK

Department of Plant Pathology Institute of Plant Protection Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences Budapest Hungary

Department of Zoology Faculty of Science Palacky University in Olomouc Olomouc Czech Republic

Department of Zoology Faculty of Sciences University of Granada Granada Spain

Department of Zoology Institute of Ecology and Earth Sciences University of Tartu Tartu Estonia

Department of Zoology School of Biology Aristotle University of Thessaloniki 54124 Thessaloniki Greece

Ecologie Systématique Evolution Université Paris Sud CNRS AgroParisTech Université Paris Saclay 91405 Orsay Cedex France

Faculty of Environmental Sciences Czech University of Life Sciences Prague Kamýcká 129 165 00 Prague 6 Czech Republic

Faculty of Environmental Sciences Department of Applied Geoinformatics and Spatial Planning Czech University of Life Sciences Prague Kamýcká 129 165 00 Prague 6 Czech Republic

Institute for Environmental Studies Faculty of Science Charles University Prague Prague Czech Republic

Institute of Zoology Poznań University of Life Sciences Wojska Polskiego 71C 60 625 Poznan Poland

Liniers France

Pantiera Italy

Plegadis Riga Feraiou 6A 45444 Ioannina Greece

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