ABSTRACT
Understanding the intrinsic and extrinsic factors that shape how individuals use and select habitats is crucial for the successful conservation of bird populations. Birds exhibit a hierarchy of selective behaviors to assess and differentially use habitats and resources from micro- to macro-scales. Behavioral decisions are shaped over evolutionary and contemporary time by environmental and social drivers in ways that maximize survival and reproductive success. However, the rapid degradation and transformation of habitat due to recent anthropogenic change has created novel ecosystems within human-dominated landscapes, which pose unique conservation challenges. This chapter will first describe the basic theory behind habitat selection, drivers of selection, and discuss how selective behaviors occur and vary across scales. Next, the chapter describes human-dominated land uses that may support habitat (urbanization, agriculture, forestry and renewable energy) and mechanisms associated with anthropogenic change that may negatively or positively impact habitat selection and quality. Finally, this chapter will discuss opportunities wherein identifying the cues birds use to select habitat, and the resources necessary to sustain them, can help land managers create and restore shared landscapes that support both birds and people.
