Urban areas are gradually increasing their global coverage and provide home and working place for major part of human population. Organization and structure of urban areas is thus important for human well being. Birds are widely used environmental indicators and their occurrence in urban areas may be used for making informed decision in urban planning. For this purpose, the project aims to understand environmental factors underlying bird occurrence in cities. First, using data collected in South Africa, it will assess the role of regional species pool in shaping urban bird assemblages together with the influence of bioclimatic zone. After taking these factors into account, it will identify the key structures in urban areas that facilitate their suitability for bird occurrence. Second, using data collected by a long-term monitoring in European countries, it will aim to determine the species’ ecological and life-history traits that explain their population dynamics in urban areas. Specifically, it will test the hypothesis that bird performance in cities depends on the time when a species became urbanized. It is possible that environment of modern cities is unsuitable for the species urbanized long time ago. If true, it is important to find solutions how to improve the urban habitat to secure their persistence.

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