Jia Chen

Tropical Animal Resources Research Center, Hainan Institute of Tropical Agricultural Resources, Sanya, 572000, Hainan, China
Author    Correspondence author
International Journal of Molecular Ecology and Conservation, 2024, Vol. 14, No. 5   
Received: 27 Aug., 2024    Accepted: 09 Oct., 2024    Published: 29 Oct., 2024

This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

This study provides a systematic review of the behavioral, morphological, physiological, and genetic adaptation strategies exhibited by birds in urban environments. The findings indicate that urban birds tend to display foraging flexibility, adjusted breeding strategies, altered vocal frequencies, and the ability to utilize urban microclimates and artificial structures. Increasing evidence also reveals rapid evolutionary changes and genetic divergence between urban and rural bird populations. At the same time, birds in cities face numerous challenges, including elevated predation risk, intensified pollution effects, competition with invasive species, and compounded impacts from climate change. Using the European Blackbird (Turdus merula) as a case study, this paper explores its adaptive pathway in urban settings and proposes conservation strategies for urban bird populations, including green space optimization, pollution mitigation, and public engagement. This study contributes to a deeper understanding of avian adaptive mechanisms in urban ecosystems and offers theoretical and practical insights for future urban biodiversity conservation.

Urbanization; Avian adaptation; Behavioral ecology; Genetic divergence; Biodiversity conservation