Preface. Section 1: Introduction to the Study of Birds in Urban Environments. 1. A historical perspective on urban bird research: trends, terms, and approaches J.M. Marzluff, R. Bowman, R. Donnelly. 2. Worldwide urbanization and its effects on birds J.M. Marzluff. 3. Synanthropic birds of North America R.F. Johnston. 4. Human perception and appreciation of birds: A motivation for wildlife conservation in urban environments of France P. Clergeau, G. Mennechez, A. Sauvage, A. Lemoine. 5. Quantifying the urban gradient: linking urban planning and ecology M. Alberti, E. Botsford, A. Cohen. 6. Urbanization, avian communities, and landscape ecology J.R. Miller, J.M. Fraterrigo, N. Thompson Hobbs, D.M. Theobald, J.A. Wiens. 7. The importance of multi-scale analyses in avian habitat selection studies in urban environments M. Hostetler. Section 2: Processes Affecting Birds in Urban Environments. 8. Urban birds: Population, community, and landscape approaches D. Bolger. 9. Interactions among non-native plants and birds S. Hayden Reichard, L. Chalker-Scott, S. Buchanan. 10. Urban sprawl and juniper encroachment effects on abundance of wintering passerines in Oklahoma B.R. Coppedge, D.M. Engle, S.D. Fuhlendorf, R.E. Masters, M.S. Gregory. 11. Nest predator abundance and urbanization D.G. Haskell, A.M. Knupp, M.C. Schneider. 12. Bird tolerance to human disturbance in urban parks of Madrid (Spain): Management implications E. Fernandez-Juricic, M.D. Jiminez, E. Lucas. 13. Settlement of breeding European Starlings in urban areas: importance oflawns vs. anthropogenic wastes G. Mennechez, P. Clergeau. 14. Variation in the timing of breeding between suburban and wildland Florida Scrub-Jays: Do physiologic measures reflect different environments? S.J. Schoech, R. Bowman. Section 3: Bird Populations in Urban Environments. 15. The ecology of Western Gulls in habitats varying in degree of urban influence R. Pierotti, C. Annett. 16. Causes and consequences of expanding American Crow populations J.M. Marzluff, K.J. McGowan, R. Donnelly, R.L. Knight. 17. Demographic and behavioral comparisons of suburban and rural American Crows K. McGowan. 18. Nest success and the timing of nest failure of Florida Scrub-Jays in suburban and wildland habitats R. Bowman, G.E. Woolfenden. 19. Synurbanization of the Magpie in the Palearctic L. Jerzak. 20. Maccaw abundance in relation to human population density in the western Amazon basin D.M. Brooks, A.J. Begazo. 21. Waterbird production in an urban center in Alaska M.R. North. Section 4: Bird Communities in Urban Environments. 22. Creating a homogeneous avifauna R.B. Blair. 23. Avian community characteristics of urban greenspaces in St. Louis, Missouri J.M. Azerrad, C.H. Nilon. 24. The importance of the Chicago region and the 'Chicago Wilderness' initiative for avian conservation J.D. Brawn, D.F. Stotz. 25. Do temporal trends in Christmas Bird Counts reflect the spatial trends of urbanization in southwestern Ohio? N.A. Crosby, R.B. Blair. 26. Survey techniques and habitat relationships of breeding birds in residential areas of Toronto, Canad

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Avian ecology and conservation in an urbanizing world

This review examines how birds use the annual cycle in photoperiod to ensure that seasonal events—breeding, molt, and song production—happen at the appropriate time of year. Differences in breeding strategies between birds and mammals reflect basic differences in biology. Avian breeding seasons tend to be of shorter duration and more asymmetric with respect to changes in photoperiod. Breeding seasons can occur at the same time each year (predictable) or at different times (opportunistic), depending on the food resource. In all cases, there is evidence for involvement of photoperiodic control, nonphotoperiodic control, and endogenous circannual rhythmicity. In predictable breeders (most nontropical species), photoperiod is the predominant proximate factor. Increasing photoperiods of spring stimulate secretion of gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) and consequent gonadal maturation. However, breeding ends before the return of short photoperiods. This is the consequence of a second effect of long photoperi...

Photoperiodic Control of Seasonality in Birds

Introduction Walter D Koenig and Janis L Dickinson 1 Evolutionary origins J David Ligon and D Brent Burt 2 Delayed dispersal Jan Ekman, Janis L Dickinson, Ben J Hatchwell and Michael Griesser 3 Fitness consequences of helping Janis L Dickinson and Ben J Hatchwell 4 Parental care, load-lightening and costs Robert G Heinsohn 5 Matings systems and sexual conflict Andrew Cockburn 6 Sex-ratio manipulation Jan Komdeur 7 Physiological ecology Morne Du Plessis 8 Endocrinology Steven J Schoech, S James Reynolds and Raoul K Boughton 9 Incest and incest avoidance Walter D Koenig and Joseph Haydock 10 Reproductive skew Robert D Magrath, Rufus A Johnstone and Robert G Heinsohn 11 Joint-laying systems Sandra L Vehrencamp and James S Quinn 12 Conservation biology Jeffrey R Walters, Caren B Cooper, Susan J Daniels, Gilberto Pasinelli and Karen Schiegg 13 Mammalian contrasts and comparisons Andrew F Russell Summary Steven J Pruett-Jones Names of bird and mammal species mentioned in the text References Index

Ecology and evolution of cooperative breeding in birds

Biology and Comparative Physiology of Birds

Using the autoradiographic method in the zebra finch (Poephila guttata), areas of the brain were identified which contain cells which accumulate testosterone or its metabolites after intramuscular injection of tritiated testosterone. Among these areas are the caudal nucleus of the hyperstriatum ventrale, nucleus intercollicularis of the midbrain, and the tracheosyringeal portion of the hypoglossal nucleus of the medulla (nXIIts). These three are known to control or influence androgen dependent song and other vocalizations of passeriform birds, and nXIIts is composed of the motoneurons innervating the vocal (syringeal) muscles. Other areas containing hormone-concentrating cells are the medial preoptic area, nucleus periventricularis magnocellularis of the hypothalamus, dorsal infundibular layers, dorsomedial thalamus, lateral septum, magnocellular nucleus of the anterior neostriatum, periventricular medial neostriatum, nucleus taeniae of the archistriatum, and ventral paleostriatum augmentatum. Accumulation by cells in the preoptic area, hypothalamus, and limbic forebrain is consistent with a general vertebrate pattern of distribution of brain cells which accumulate sex steroids. Some of these same areas may be involved in the control of androgen dependent events such as courtship, copulation, aggression, and feedback regulation of the hypophysis.

Hormone concentrating cells in vocal control and other areas of the brain of the zebra finch ( Poephila guttata).

Using sighted (SIG) and bilaterally enucleated (BOE) female tree sparrows, SIG, BOE, pinealectomized (SIG-PX), and bilaterally enucleated-pinealectomized (BOE-PX) male tree sparrows, and intact and castrated male tree sparrows implanted epicranially with continuously emitting light sources or nonemitting blanks, I tested the hypothesis that extraretinal, extrapineal encephalic photoreceptors mediate photoperiodic control of seasonal reproduction in American tree sparrows (Spizella arborea). SIG females and BOE females displayed similar patterns of plasma luteinizing hormone (LH) responses to a photoregimen designed to induce LH secretion and later photorefractoriness, to restore photosensitivity, and to reinitiate the photosexual reflex. The testicular length profiles for SIG males, BOE males, SIG-PX males, and BOE-PX males likewise revealed similar patterns of responses (i.e., testicular growth, regression, photorefractoriness, and recovery of photosensitivity) to an essentially identical photoregimen. These data show, for the first time in an obligately photoperiodic species, that a simulated annual reproductive cycle can be generated in the absence of both the eyes and the pineal gland and argue that neither retinal nor pineal photoreceptors are obligatorily linked to the neuroendocrine mechanism that controls seasonal reproduction. When evaluated within the context of the failure of bilateral ocular enucleation and pinealectomy to disrupt seasonal reproduction, the observations that continuously emitting light sources implanted atop the skull induced testicular growth and later photorefractoriness in intact males, induced LH secretion and later photorefractoriness in castrated males, and blocked recovery of photosensitivity in photorefractory males make a compelling case for extraretinal, extrapineal encephalic photoreception in the mechanism that controls seasonal reproduction in tree sparrows.

Fred E. Wilson

Papers

Neither retinal nor pineal photoreceptors mediate photoperiodic control of seasonal reproduction in American tree sparrows (Spizella arborea)

Testis-dependent and -independent effects of photoperiod on volumes of song control nuclei in American tree sparrows (Spizella arborea).

Plasma and pituitary luteinizing hormone in intact and castrated tree sparrows (Spizella arborea) during a photoinduced gonadal cycle

Corticosterone-induced gonadosuppression in photostimulated tree sparrows.

The Timing of Thyroid-Dependent Programming in Seasonally Breeding Male American Tree Sparrows (Spizella arborea)