Trends in Ornithology Research

Book excerpt: Birds are a commonly acknowledged indicator of biodiversity. This book presents an indigenous perspective on the effects of traditional activities on birds. Moreover, birds are among the main components for plant reproduction in tropical ecosystems, hummingbirds being the most important vertebrate pollinators in the Neotropics. This book puts together different approaches and perspectives to study bird-flower interaction networks, reinforcing the idea of communities displaying high connectedness. In addition, data on the number of occupied territories and breeding frequency (active nests) of nine species of vole-eating birds of prey in Finland are examined, using generalised linear models. It was expected that the effects of global warming on various vole-eating birds of prey at high latitudes were both positive and negative, in particular due to mild winters. Thus, because temperature affects the distribution limits of many organisms, global warming may provoke an advance of distribution ranges polewards. The authors also discuss whether European birds have advanced their distribution ranges mainly northwards in response to climatic warming. Furthermore, fossil footprints provide important evidence regarding the morphology, behaviour, distribution, and ecology of ancient animals. For the first time, the entire avian track record is reviewed, including its specialised ichnotaxonomy, from the Mesozoic through the Holocene. How the evidence impacts the understanding of avian evolution and ecology is discussed as well.