Henrik Brumm

Diego Gil

As natural habitat continues to be lost and the world becomes more urbanized, biologists are increasingly studying the effect this has on wildlife. Birds in particular are good model systems as many of their life history, behaviour, and physiology traits are intrinsically linked to measurable environmental factors, and it is relatively easy to compare urban individuals and populations to their rural counterparts. This edited volume adopts an evolutionary frameworkto explore how pre-existing differences between individuals and populations may determine the course of adaptations, and focuses on the evolutionary process by which adaptation to urban habitats mayhappen. It discusses topics such as acoustics, reproductive cues, disease, and artificial feeding, and includes some additional case studies of cutting edge research on these areas. This is an accessible text suitable for professional avian biologists and ornithologists as well as graduate students of avian ecology, evolution, and conservation. A secondary market will exist amongst a more general audience of urban ecologists and conservation biologists.

Avian Urban Ecology

The study of animal communication has led to significant progress in our general understanding of motor and sensory systems, evolution, and speciation. However, one often neglected aspect is that signal exchange in every modality is constrained by noise, be it in the transmission channel or in the nervous system. This book analyses whether and how animals can cope with such constraints, and explores the implications that noise has for our understanding of animal communication. It is written by leading biologists working on different taxa including insects, fish, amphibians, lizards, birds, and mammals. In addition to this broad taxonomic approach, the chapters also cover a wide array of research disciplines: from the mechanisms of signal production and perception, to the behavioural ecology of signalling, the evolution of animal communication, and conservation issues. This volume promotes the integration of the knowledge gained by the diverse approaches to the study of animal communication and, at the same time, highlights particularly interesting fields of current and future research.

Henrik Brumm

Books

Your next favorite book is out there