Common blackbirds Turdus merula use anthropogenic structures as nesting sites in an urbanized landscape  

作　　者：YanDingWANG Qin HUANG Sisi LAN Qin ZHANG Shuihua CHEN 

机构地区：[1]The Key Laboratory of Conservation Biology for Endangered Wildlife of the Ministry of Education, College of Life Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China [2]Zhejiang Museum of Natural History, Hangzhou 310014, China [3]College of Chemistry and Life Sciences, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua 321004, China

出　　处：《Current Zoology》2015年第3期435-443,共9页动物学报（英文版）

基　　金：Acknowledgements We thank Dr. Jukka Jokimaki, Karl Evans and three anonymous referees for helpful comments on the manuscript. We are grateful to many people for kindly reporting the anthropogenic nests of blackbirds and providing help during the study. This study was supported by the Na- tional Natural Science Foundation of China （31071908, 31100394） and the Project-sponsored by SRF for ROCS, SEM （J20130585）.

摘　　要：The common blackbird Turdus merula is one of the most highly urbanized bird species. However, to date, the use of anthropogenic structures as nesting sites in the common blackbird is rarely documented, and the factors influencing its use of the anthropogenic structures as nesting sites remain unclear. In this study, we systematically quantified and determined the factors in- fluencing the use of anthropogenie structures as nesting sites in common blackbirds in a highly urbanized city of Hangzhou, Chi- na. We searched for nests of common blackbirds during four breeding seasons from 2010 to 2013. Among the 60 nests found, 34 nests were in anthropogenic structures such as wall ledges, air condition mounts, window canopies, cable poles, guardrails, eaves, balcony frames, flowerpots and flower shelves on balconies. We found that the available anthropogenic nest sites and the availa- ble nesting trees were main factors determining the use of anthropogenic structures as nesting sites in common blackbirds. In ur- ban environments, the amount of available anthropogenic nesting sites increased significantly, whereas the number of natural nesting sites reduced greatly. Our results suggest that common blackbirds can adjust their nest sites in response to urbanization and such nesting behavior shifts may aid them to colonize urban environments. From a management viewpoint, our results indi- cate that behavioral flexibility should be taken into account for effective urban wildlife management and conservation

关 键 词：Adaptation Anthropogenic nest Behavioral flexibility COLONIZATION URBANIZATION 

分 类 号：Q969.54[生物学—昆虫学] TU984[建筑科学—城市规划与设计]