Despite the fact that many animals live in groups, there is still no clear consensus about the
ecological or evolutionary mechanisms underlying colonial living. Recently, research has …

Foraging specialization, whereby animals exploit only a minor fraction of the population's
foraging home range or trophic niche, may arise as a response to increasing levels of …

Enhancement of information transfer has been proposed as a key driver of the evolution of
coloniality. Transfer of information on location of food resources implies that individuals from …

Farmland bird species have suffered dramatic declines in recent decades, especially in
Mediterranean areas. The intensification of agricultural practices has led to reduced …

Capsule The post-reproductive stage of Lesser Kestrel is crucial for migratory fuelling and
survival. Aims To describe the summer pre-migratory ecology of the Lesser Kestrel in Sicily …

Animals make a diverse array of architectures including nests, bowers, roosts, traps, and
tools. Much of the research into animal architecture has focused on the analysis of physical …

When selecting a breeding site, individuals can use social information to reduce the
uncertainty regarding habitat quality. Individuals of several bird species tend to reuse nests …

In social species, fitness consequences are associated with both individual and social
phenotypes. Social selection analysis has quantified the contribution of conspecific social …

Several factors promote coloniality by enhancing the fitness of colony members. In birds,
spatial proximity among nests, breeder abundance and reproductive synchrony have been …

Agricultural intensification is considered the major cause of decline in farmland bird
populations, especially in the Mediterranean region. Food shortage increased by the …