Suchergebnisse

An ornithologist's personal look at farming practices that finds practical solutions for sustainable food production compatible with bird and wildlife conservation With predictions of a human population of more than nine billion by the middle of this century and eleven billion by 2100, we stand at a crossroads in our agricultural evolution. In this clear and engaging yet scientifically rigorous book, wildlife biologist John M. Marzluff takes a personal approach to sustainable agriculture. He travels to farms and ranches across North and Central America, including a Nebraska corn and soybean farm, California vineyards, cattle ranches in Montana, and small sustainable farms in Costa Rica, to understand the unique challenges and solutions to sustainable food production. Agriculture and wildlife can coexist, he argues, if farmers are justly rewarded for conservation; if future technological advancements increase food production and reduce food waste; and if consumers cut back on meat consumption. Beginning with a look backwards at our evolutionary history and concluding with practical solutions for change that will benefit farmers and ranchers, Marzluff provides an accessible and insightful study for the ecologically minded citizen, farmer, rancher, or conservationist

The actions of sentient vertebrates command our attention and inform our morality. Mikhalevich & Powell (2020) (M&P) argue that similar activities in a wide range of invertebrates with central nervous systems should do likewise. However, humans most readily empathize with creatures we recognize as similar in behavior, physiology, or appearance to ourselves. Helping humanity overcome this bias is a significant challenge for those who study invertebrates. Until this empathy gap is bridged, I believe few people and the policies they craft will afford invertebrates the moral standing that M&P argue they deserve. Therefore, I suggest those interested in raising appreciation for invertebrate minds should broaden the impact of their research findings. They should consider informing the lay public, especially children, through writing, speaking, and seeking non-traditional collaborations with artists, filmmakers, musicians, game developers, and others that affect popular culture.

Context
As humans become increasingly urban, the need for conservation of nature in cities increases and requires an understanding of the patterns and processes of urban ecosystems. In particular, because humans are the most dominant species in urban areas, understanding the role humans play in these ecosystems (direct and indirect) will be of primary importance.

Aims
We examine the diversity and composition of bird species across an urbanisation gradient in two cities (Berlin, Germany, and Seattle, Washington, USA). We determine the degrees of species urban tolerance and examine how certain biological traits of species, namely, diet, whether or not species use bird feeders, nest sites and innovation rate, characterise species urban tolerance. Finally, we determine whether human provisioning (bird feeders and nest boxes) influences what types of species persist across the urbanisation gradient.

Methods
We surveyed bird abundance and species richness using point counts and surveyed human provisioning by conducting door-to-door interviews of residents across an urbanisation gradient in Berlin and Seattle.

Key results
We found that patterns of species richness were similar in both cities, but that species composition in Berlin changed less across the urbanisation gradient than it did in Seattle. The majority of birds in Berlin were urban tolerant, whereas in Seattle, they were moderately urban tolerant and intolerant. A cluster analysis revealed that, in general, in Berlin, omnivorous, open-nesting birds that use bird feeders and have relatively high innovation rates tended to be urban tolerant. In Seattle, birds that were mostly omnivorous, nested in open cups, and used bird feeders tended to be moderately urban tolerant and they were influenced by provisioning of food by humans.

Conclusion
Urbanisation and human interactions with birds can act as ecological filters, favouring certain bird species that can lead to varying species compositions across an urban gradient. These differences in species composition across the gradient may be more noticeable in younger cities than in older cities where the filtering process has been occurring for longer time.

Implications
By providing a variety of habitats and supplementing natural foods and nesting places, urban planners and residents can help conserve bird diversity in urban areas.

1. A historical perspective on urban bird research: trends, terms, and approaches -- 2. Worldwide urbanization and its effects on birds -- 3. Synanthropic birds of North America -- 4. Human perception and appreciation of birds: A motivation for wildlife conservation in urban environments of France -- 5. Quantifying the urban gradient: linking urban planning and ecology -- 6. Urbanization, avian communities, and landscape ecology -- 7. The importance of multi-scale analyses in avian habitat selection studies in urban environments -- 8. Urban birds: Population, community, and landscape approaches -- 9. Interactions among non-native plants and birds -- 10. Urban sprawl and juniper encroachment effects on abundance of wintering passerines in Oklahoma -- 11. Nest predator abundance and urbanization -- 12. Bird tolerance to human disturbance in urban parks of Madrid (Spain): Management implications -- 13. Settlement of breeding European Starlings in urban areas: importance of lawns vs. anthropogenic wastes -- 14. Variation in the timing of breeding between suburban and wildland Florida Scrub-Jays: Do physiologic measures reflect different environments? -- 15. The ecology of Western Gulls in habitats varying in degree of urban influence -- 16. Causes and consequences of expanding American Crow populations -- 17. Demographic and behavioral comparisons of suburban and rural American Crows -- 18. Nest success and the timing of nest failure of Florida Scrub-Jays in suburban and wildland habitats -- 19. Synurbanization of the Magpie in the Palearctic -- 20. Macaw abundance in relation to human population density in the western Amazon basin -- 21. Waterbird production in an urban center in Alaska -- 22. Creating a homogeneous avifauna -- 23. Avian community characteristics of urban greenspaces in St. Louis, Missour -- 24. The importance of the Chicago region and the "Chicago Wilderness" initiative for avian conservation -- 25. Do temporal trends in Christmas Bird Counts reflect the spatial trends of urbanization in southwestern Ohio? -- 26. Survey techniques and habitat relationships of breeding birds in residential areas of Toronto, Canada -- 27. Integrating avian ecology into emerging paradigms in urban ecology.