Avian Urban Ecology

Edited by Diego Gil and Henrik Brumm

A vibrant and exciting discipline, with practical implications for conservation
Uses the concept of adaptation throughout the book to integrate the chapters and set it aside from other books in the area, which tend to describe challenges without discussing the implications
Includes contributions from an international team of leading experts
Ideal graduate course material

Avian Urban Ecology

Edited by Diego Gil and Henrik Brumm

Description

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.

Avian Urban Ecology

Edited by Diego Gil and Henrik Brumm

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

Avian Urban Ecology

Edited by Diego Gil and Henrik Brumm

Author Information

Diego Gil, Departamento de Ecologia Evolutiva, Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales,Henrik Brumm, Max-Planck Institute for Ornithology, Communication and Social Behaviour Group

Diego Gil is a senior scientist at the Spanish Research Council (CSIC), and he is based at the Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales in Madrid. His main interests are the study of bird song and the transmission of hormones in avian eggs. He combines an evolutionary ecology perspective with the study of the proximal physiological mechanisms that underpin evolutionary adaptations. He has published more than 50 research articles, and has been editor of Animal Behaviour.

Henrik Brumm heads a research group at the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology in Seewiesen, Germany. He is a former Editor of Behaviour and an Editor of Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology In 2005, he was appointed as a fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study Berlin. He has been studying bird behaviour and ecology in many parts of the world and published over 50 articles and scientific papers.

Contributors:

Valentin Amrhein
Zoological Institute
University of Basel
4051 Basel
Switzerland
Research Station Petite Camargue Alsacienne
68300 Saint-Louis
France

Alexander V. Badyaev
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
University of Arizona,
USA

Daniel T. Blumstein
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
621 Young Drive South
Los Angeles
CA 90095-1606
USA

Martyna Boruta
Department of Integrative Biology
University of South Florida
Tampa
FL 33620
USA

Henrik Brumm
Max-Planck Institute for Ornithology
Communication and Social Behaviour Group
Eberhard-Gwinner-Str.
82319 Seewiesen
Germany

Pilar Carbó-Ramírez
Arctic Centre
University of Lapland
P.O. Box 122
96101-FI Rovaniemi
Finland

and

Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas
Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Hidalgo
Km. 4.5 carretera Pachuca-Tulancingo s/n
Col Carboneras
Mineral de la Reforma
Hidalgo
C.P. 42184
Mexico

Scott Davies
School of Life Sciences
Arizona State University
Tempe
AZ 85287-4501
USA

Kathleen Semple Delaney
National Park Service
Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area
401 W. Hillcrest Dr.
Thousand Oaks
CA 91360
USA

Pierre Deviche
School of Life Sciences
Arizona State University
Tempe
AZ 85287-4501
USA

Renée A. Duckworth
Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
University of Arizona
Tucson
AZ 85743
USA

Richard A. Fuller
School of Biological Sciences
The University of Queensland
St Lucia
Queensland 4072
Australia

Diego Gil
Departamento de Ecología Evolutiva
Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales (CSIC)
José Gutiérrez Abascal 2
28006 Madrid
Spain

Wouter Halfwerk
Institute of Biology
Leiden University
P.O. Box 9505
2300 RA Leiden
The Netherlands

Marja-Liisa Kaisanlahti-Jokimäki
Arctic Centre
University of Lapland
P.O. Box 122
96101-FI Rovaniemi
Finland

Jukka Jokimäki
Arctic Centre,
University of Lapland
P.O. Box 122
96101-FI Rovaniemi
Finland

Lynn B. Martin
Department of Integrative Biology
University of South Florida
Tampa
FL 33620
USA

Anders Pape Møller
Laboratoire d'Ecologie, Systématique et Evolution
CNRS UMR 8079
Université Paris-Sud, Bâtiment 362
F-91405 Orsay Cedex
France

Raoul A. Mulder
Animal Behaviour Group
Department of Zoology
The University of Melbourne
Australia

Erwin Nemeth
Max Planck Institute for Ornithology
Communication and Social Behaviour Group
Eberhard-Gwinner-Strasse
82319 Seewiesen
Germany

and
BirdLife Austria
Museumsplatz 1/10/8
1070 Vienna
Austria

Kirsten M. Parris
School of Botany
The University of Melbourne
Australia

Jesko Partecke
Max-Planck-Institute for Ornithology
D-78315 Radolfzell and University Konstanz
D-78464 Konstanz
Germany

Dominique A. Potvin
Animal Behaviour Group
Department of Zoology
The University of Melbourne
Australia

Danielle F. Shanahan
School of Biological Sciences
The University of Queensland
St Lucia
Queensland 4072
Australia

Hans Slabbekoorn
Institute of Biology
Leiden University
P.O. Box 9505
2300 RA Leiden
The Netherlands

Kamiel Spoelstra
Department of Animal Ecology
Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW)
P.O. Box 50
6700 AB Wageningen
The Netherlands

and

Nature Conservation and Plant Ecology Department
Wageningen University
the Netherlands

Michael W. Strohbach
Department of Environmental Conservation
University of Massachusetts
Amherst
MA 01003-9285
USA

and

Thünen-Institute of Biodiversity
Bundesallee 50
38116 Braunschweig
Germany

Paige S. Warren
Department of Environmental Conservation
University of Massachusetts
Amherst
MA 01003-9285
USA

Marcel E. Visser
Department of Animal Ecology
Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW)
P.O. Box 50
6700 AB Wageningen
The Netherlands

Sue Anne Zollinger
Max Planck Institute for Ornithology
Communication and Social Behaviour Group
Eberhard-Gwinner-Strasse
82319 Seewiesen
Germany

Avian Urban Ecology

Edited by Diego Gil and Henrik Brumm

Reviews and Awards

"The information presented here is high in factual quality, and accessible to a reader with a broad background. ... This is a useful addition to the urban ecologist's library and also to those with a broader interest base." --Ibis

"This book will appeal to students in search of a challenge, and practitioners will learn much too, especially from the case studies." --British Ecological Society Bulletin

"Graduate students and professionals seeking to study urban ecosystems should read this book, consultants and researchers working in not-for-profit conservation organizations should buy it, and university libraries need to find a place on their shelves for this volume." --The Condor: Ornithological Applications

"An excellent resource for undergraduate- and graduate-level students looking for an introduction to the current status of urban ecology knowledge and future research directions. The authoritative and extensive coverage of many topics related to behavioural and physiological adaptations of birds in urban environments can also provide a valuable reference text for established urban ecology researchers." -- Austral Ecology