Is breeding in the city a walk in the park?: Researching the effects of "urbanness" and climate change in an iconic British bird

Abstract

In the UK, urbanization continues unabated. We are fast losing 'greenspace', a key habitat for supporting many native species. Simultaneously, the impacts of climate change are also being observed, most notably in the increasing intensity and frequency of extreme weather events (EWEs). However, little is known about how wildlife respond to these multiple challenges. My research investigates how fine-scale environmental change within the complex cityscape affects the timing of breeding (phenology) and breeding success in the urban-adapted Blue Tit. Six years of nestbox data were collected from a network of 31 sites (N=310), covering a gradient of increasing urbanization and decreasing habitat connectivity in the city of Birmingham. I will introduce how I am modelling this data together with high resolution satellite and ground-based temperature and precipitation data, to better understand how the city environment buffers (or exacerbates) the potentially detrimental effects of extreme weather during different phases of the breeding cycle.