Federico Morelli was invited to open the TISS2 (Second TERSYS-IMPLANTEUS Symposium “TISS 2”) at the University of Avignon, in France, to present the results of our research activities. The Summer School in Provence welcomed his lecture called How are bird communities responding to the urbanization process?
During the lecture Morelli explained how urbanization is a process characterized by human populations moving from rural to urban areas, and discussed the causes of urbanization and land use transformation. He also mentioned the challenge of the Quantitative Ecology approach in urban ecology: Quantifying the effects of urbanization on biodiversity, by considering different dimensions of avian diversity, and studying the behavioural responses of birds in a gradient of urbanization. Finally, the concept of “fear” and the use of escape behaviour as a tool in ecological studies were discussed.
