A conceptual framework for the colonisation of urban areas: the blackbird Turdus merula as a case study

Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society
Karl L EvansK J Gaston

Abstract

Despite increasing interest in urban ecology the factors limiting the colonisation of towns and cities by species from rural areas are poorly understood. This is largely due to the lack of a detailed conceptual framework for this urbanisation process, and of sufficient case studies. Here, we develop such a framework. This draws upon a wide range of ecological and evolutionary theory and the increasing number of studies of how the markedly divergent conditions in urban and rural areas influence the traits of urban populations and the structure of urban assemblages. We illustrate the importance of this framework by compiling a detailed case study of spatial and temporal variation in the urbanisation of the blackbird Turdus merula. Our framework identifies three separate stages in the urbanisation process: (i) arrival, (ii) adjustment, and (iii) spread. The rate of progress through each stage is influenced by environmental factors, especially human attitudes and socio-economic factors that determine the history of urban development and the quality of urban habitats, and by species' ecological and life-history traits. Some traits can positively influence progression through one stage, but delay progression through another. Rigorous...Continue Reading

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Citations

May 6, 2014·Oecologia·Anders Pape MøllerPiotr Tryjanowski
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Nov 17, 2016·Animal Cognition·Andrea S GriffinThomas Bugnyar
Sep 21, 2017·Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society·Michael SieversStephen E Swearer

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