Avian Urban Ecology

As natural habitat continues to be lost and the world steadily becomes more urbanized, biologists are increasingly studying the effect this has on wildlife. Birds are particularly good model systems since their life history, behaviour, and physiology are especially influenced by directly measurable environmental factors such as light and sound pollution. It is therefore relatively easy to compare urban individuals and populations with their rural counterparts. This accessible text focuses on the behavioural and physiological mechanisms which facilitate adaptation and on the evolutionary process that ensues. It discusses topics such as acoustics, reproductive cues, disease, and artificial feeding, and includes a series of case studies illustrating cutting edge research on these areas. Avian Urban Ecology is suitable for professional avian biologists and ornithologists as well as graduate students of avian ecology, evolution, and conservation. It will also be of relevance and use to a more general audience of urban ecologists and conservation biologists.Introduction ; PART 1: THE URBAN ENVIRONMENT ; 1. The challenges of urban living ; 2. The impact of artificial light on avian ecology ; 3. Wild bird feeding (probably) affects avian urban ecology ; PART 2: BEHAVIOUR AND PHYSIOLOGY ; 4. Attention, habituation, and antipredator behaviour: implications for urban birds ; 5. Behavioral and ecological predictors of urbanization ; 6. Acoustic communication in the urban environment: patterns, mechanisms, and potential consequences of avian song adjustments ; 7. The impact of anthropogenic noise on avian communication and fitness ; 8. Reproductive adaptations of urban birds: environmental cues and mechanisms ; 9. The impacts of urbanization on avian disease transmission and emergence ; PART 3: EVOLUTIONARY PROCESSES ; 10. Understanding the mechanisms of phenotypic responses following colonization of urban areas: From plastic to genetic adaptation ; 11. Landscape genetics of urban bird populations ; 12. Reconciling innovation and adaptation during recurrent colonization of urban environments: molecular, genetic, and developmental bases ; PART 4: CASE STUDIES ; 13. Acoustic, morphological and genetic adaptations to urban habitats in the silvereye (Zosterops lateralis) ; 14. Human-induced changes in the dynamics of species coexistence: an example with two sister species ; 15. The application of signal transmission modelling in conservation biology: on the possible impact of a projected motorway on avian communication ; 16. The importance of wooded urban green areas for breeding birds: a case study from Northern Finland