About this Research Topic

Background

Birds are capable of amazing feats of movements and migration and display a diversity of strategies from predictable seasonal progressions to irruptive movements that allow them to benefit from seasonal resource surpluses or escape adverse conditions. All forms of migration, however, face inherent challenges and risks that are being compounded by an array of anthropogenic threats. Primary among them are factors originating from land-use change, climate change, and environmental pollution. Understanding how these factors are affecting migratory bird morphology, behavior, survival, and fitness requires a comprehensive understanding of their individual and combined effects across species, regions, and seasons. With this information, modeled projections of future implications can be more accurately parameterized under different global change scenarios. Advancing our knowledge of the current and future implications will inform mitigation and conservation strategies designed to safeguard migratory bird populations in a changing world.

The aims of our research topic are to provide an overview of the anthropogenic hazards migratory birds are likely to encounter during each phase of their annual life cycles, document how these hazards individually and in combination affect morphology, behavior, survival, and fitness, model the future implications under different global change scenarios, and develop regional on-the-ground recommendations designed to mitigate threats and maintain migratory connectivity of bird populations.

For this Research Topic, we especially welcome papers that focus on the effects of anthropogenic disturbances on the morphology, behavior, survival, fitness, and persistence of migratory birds. Anthropogenic disturbances can include:
• The effects of recent land-use change (urbanization, rangeland, or agricultural development) on species’ seasonal habitats.
• Contemporary changes in temperature, precipitation, and the frequency, duration, and intensity of climate extremes (heat waves, droughts, or cold air outbreaks).
• Forms of environmental pollution (noise, water, air, and light).

Further, we would consider conservation-focused papers that:
• Develop modeled projections of the long-term implications of anthropogenic activities for migratory bird populations under different global change scenarios.

Keywords: Bird Migration, Environmental Pollution, Global Climate Change, Land-use Change

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

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