Birds and Habitat Relationships in Changing Landscapes

The successful conservation of bird species relies upon our understanding of their habitat use and requirements. In the coming decades the importance of such knowledge will only grow as climate change, the development of new energy sources and the needs of a growing human population intensify the, already significant, pressure on the habitats that birds depend on. Drawing on valuable recent advances in our understanding of bird-habitat relationships, this book provides the first major review of avian habitat selection in over twenty years. It offers a synthesis of concepts, patterns and issues that will interest students, researchers and conservation practitioners. Spatial scales ranging from landscape to habitat patch are covered, and examples of responses to habitat change are examined. European landscapes are the main focus, but the book has far wider significance to similar habitats worldwide, with examples and relevant material also drawn from North America and Australia.

List of contributors; Preface; Part I. The Complexity of Patterns and Processes: 1. The bird and its habitat: an overview of concepts Robert J. Fuller; 2. Habitat quality and habitat occupancy by birds in variable environments Robert J. Fuller; 3. Spatial variation and temporal shifts in habitat use by birds at the European scale Tomasz Wesolowski and Robert J. Fuller; 4. Mechanisms and processes underlying landscape structure effects on bird populations Paul M. Dolman; 5. Avian responses to transitional habitats in temperate cultural landscapes: woodland edges and young growth Robert J. Fuller; 6. Habitat associations of birds in complex changing cultural landscapes Shelley A. Hinsley and Simon Gillings; 7. The importance of habitat heterogeneity at multiple scales for birds in European agricultural landscapes Juliet Vickery and Raphaël Arlettaz; Part II. Case Studies of Habitat Use and Selection: 8. Spatial variation and habitat relationships in moorland bird assemblages: a British perspective Murray C. Grant and James W. Pearce-Higgins; 9. Arctic-alpine mountain birds in northern Europe: contrasts between specialists and generalists Des B. A. Thompson, John Atle Kålås and Ingvar Byrkjedal; 10. Bird-habitat relationships in reedswamps and fens Gillian Gilbert and Ken W. Smith; 11. Breeding waders on wet grassland: factors influencing habitat suitability Malcolm Ausden and Mark Bolton; 12. Processes influencing bird use of estuarine mudflats and saltmarshes in western Europe Jennifer A. Gill; 13. Avian habitat use on the non-estuarine intertidal coast Niall H. K. Burton; 14. Temperate western European woodland as a dynamic environment for birds: a resource-based view Robert J. Fuller, Ken W. Smith and Shelley A. Hinsley; Part III. Wider Perspectives: 15. What is habitat quality? Dissecting a research portfolio on shorebirds Theunis Piersma; 16. Understanding individual life histories and habitat choices: implications for explaining population patterns and processes Beat Naef-Daenzer; 17. Insufficient adaptation to climate change alters avian habitat quality and thereby changes habitat selection Christiaan Both; 18. Australian birds in a changing landscape: 220 years of European colonisation Tara G. Martin, Carla P. Catterall, Adrian D. Manning and Judit Szabo; 19. Birds in cultural landscapes: actual and perceived differences between north-east North America and western Europe Jean-Louis Martin, Pierre Drapeau, Lenore Fahrig, Kathryn Freemark Lindsay, David Anthony Kirk, Adam C. Smith and Marc-André Villard; 20. Birds and their changing habitat: thoughts on research and conservation strategies Robert J. Fuller; Index.

Loss and degradation of habitat is a huge problem facing birds worldwide. Using examples from Europe, North America and Australia, this book highlights critical issues concerning how birds select and use their habitats. It will be a valuable information source for all those who study, manage or protect bird habitats.

Robert J. Fuller is Director of Science at the British Trust for Ornithology where he leads the Ecological Change Group. He has studied habitat relationships of birds throughout Britain and many parts of Europe for thirty years. Much of his recent work focuses on the effects of different forest management systems and the impacts of increasing deer populations on bird numbers.