Urban flight: understanding individual and population-level responses of Nearctic-Neotropical migratory birds to urbanization

1. Despite the fact that studies of urban ecology have become commonplace in the literature, ecologists still lack empirical evidence of the underlying mechanisms responsible for relationships between urbanization and animal community structure. In an effort to understand the processes that govern an apparent avoidance of urban landscapes by many Nearctic-Neotropical migratory birds, we examined population- and individual-level responses of the Acadian flycatcher (Empidonax virescens) to urbanization within the landscapes surrounding 35 riparian forest stands in Ohio, USA. 2. From May to August 2001-06 we surveyed birds, banded 175 territorial flycatchers to estimate both condition and survival, tracked nest initiation dates, monitored success of 387 nests and estimated annual reproductive productivity of 163 breeding pairs. 3. Neither apparent annual survival of males (phi = 0.53 +/- 0.056 SE) nor females (phi = 0.23 +/- 0.064 SE) was related to the amount of urban development within the landscape. Similarly, daily survival rates of nests, which ranged from 0.92 to 0.98 across sites, was not associated significantly with urbanization. In contrast, reproductive productivity was related negatively to the amount of urbanization surrounding riparian forests, perhaps due in part to the greater incidence of brood parasitism and fewer numbers of nesting attempts made by pairs in urban compared to rural forests. 4. Forests within urban landscapes experienced higher levels of turnover in site occupancy, and birds settling in urban areas initiated nests later, had marginally smaller body sizes and exhibited lower return rates following nest predation than birds in more rural landscapes. In this way, behavioural processes governing habitat selection, settlement patterns and site fidelity probably contributed to the lower levels of reproductive productivity achieved by pairs nesting in urban landscapes. 5. This study provides evidence that the negative association between Acadian flycatchers and urbanization results from both population- and individual-level responses to urbanizing landscapes surrounding their riparian forest habitats.