Special Issue "Impact of Environmental Change on Bird Populations and Communities"

A special issue of Animals (ISSN 2076-2615). This special issue belongs to the section "Birds".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2021.

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Andrew W. Bartlow
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM 87545, USA
Interests: avian community ecology; ecological health; environmental change; infectious disease ecology; one health; species interactions; species turnover

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Climate change, anthropogenic mortality, and land-use change, such as habitat loss, fragmentation, and degradation, are all causing drastic changes to bird populations around the world. It is estimated that there has been a net loss of 3 billion individual birds compared with the abundance in the 1970s. To counter adverse conditions, species must rapidly adapt to new environmental conditions or shift their geographic ranges to match their preferred climate regimes or habitat preferences. If a species can neither adapt nor shift its distribution because of geographic constraints, it may be vulnerable to population declines and potential local extinction. One significant knowledge gap is in understanding the traits that allow certain species to persist and/or adapt to changing conditions, and those that predispose certain species to distribution shifts. This information will help identify species that are at risk for local extinction, as well as how and where conservation efforts should be focused. As populations decline and distributions shift, new species interactions are created resulting in changes to, for example, host–pathogen interactions, predation pressures, and competition. Consequences of bird decline include loss of ecosystem services (e.g., seed dispersal and pollination), as well as changes to human disease risk. This Special Issue aims to understand how environmental change is impacting bird populations and communities globally, and to understand the consequences of these changes. We invite original articles and reviews regarding, but not limited to, range shifts, genetic effects, changes in phenology, timing of migration, novel predation pressures, and altered host–parasite interactions and human disease risk. Studies are not limited to geographic location or bird species.

Dr. Andrew W. Bartlow
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All papers will be peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Animals is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • biodiversity
  • climate change
  • disease risk
  • habitat change
  • host-pathogen interactions
  • global change
  • phenology
  • predation
  • range shifts
  • species declines
  • species turnover

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

Article
Individual Nest Site Preferences Do Not Explain Upslope Population Shifts of a Secondary Cavity-Nesting Species
Animals 2021, 11(8), 2457; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11082457 - 21 Aug 2021
Viewed by 364
Abstract
Geographic ranges of plants and animals are shifting due to environmental change. While some species are shifting towards the poles and upslope in elevation, the processes leading to these patterns are not well known. We analyzed 22 years of western bluebird (Sialia [...] Read more.
Geographic ranges of plants and animals are shifting due to environmental change. While some species are shifting towards the poles and upslope in elevation, the processes leading to these patterns are not well known. We analyzed 22 years of western bluebird (Sialia mexicana) data from a large nest box network in northern New Mexico at elevations between 1860 m and 2750 m. This population has shifted to higher elevations over time, but whether this is due to changes in nesting behavior and preference for higher elevation within the population or driven by immigration is unclear. We banded adults and nestlings from nest boxes and examined nesting location and elevation for individual birds captured two or more times. Most recaptured birds nested at the same nest boxes in subsequent years, and the number of birds that moved upslope did not significantly differ from the number that moved downslope. Fledglings moved greater distances and elevations than adults, but these movements were not upslope specific. Female fledglings showed greater changes in elevation and distance compared to male fledglings, but again, movements were not consistently upslope. The upslope shift in this population may be due to birds immigrating into the population and not from changes in individual nesting behavior. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Impact of Environmental Change on Bird Populations and Communities)
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Article
Increased Stopover Duration and Low Body Condition of the Pied Flycatcher (Ficedula hypoleuca) at an Autumn Stopover Site
Animals 2020, 10(12), 2208; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani10122208 - 25 Nov 2020
Viewed by 865
Abstract
Many long-distance migratory bird species are in decline, of which environmental changes, such as climate change and land-use changes, are thought to be important drivers. The effects of environmental change on the migration of these birds have often been studied during spring migration. [...] Read more.
Many long-distance migratory bird species are in decline, of which environmental changes, such as climate change and land-use changes, are thought to be important drivers. The effects of environmental change on the migration of these birds have often been studied during spring migration. Fewer studies have explored the impacts of environmental change on autumn migration, especially at stopover sites. However, stopover sites are important, as the quality of these sites is expected to change over time. We investigated impacts of local environmental conditions on the migration strategy and body condition of the Pied Flycatcher (Ficedula hypoleuca) at an autumn migration stopover site using long-term ringing data (1996–2018) and local environmental conditions. We found that although the arrival and departure dates of birds at the stopover site remained unchanged, the body condition (fat score) of the individuals caught decreased, and the stopover duration increased. This suggests that conditions at the stopover site during the autumn migration period have deteriorated over time. This study emphasizes the importance of suitable stopover sites for migratory birds and stresses that changes in environmental conditions during the autumn migration period may be contributing to the current decline in long-distance migratory passerines. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Impact of Environmental Change on Bird Populations and Communities)
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