Bird demography | BOU2028

Aims and scope

We are currently living through a period of rapid environmental change, during which avian populations face increasing pressures from factors such as habitat loss, declining food availability, pollution, and emerging diseases. The cumulative effects of these processes can lead to population declines, local extinctions, and ultimately the loss of biodiversity. Understanding how these pressures influence bird populations requires an understanding of the processes that drive population change. Demography, the study of population characteristics and dynamics, is central to our understanding how populations are structured, grow, decline, and fluctuate over time. By examining demographic processes, we can link individual-level variation to broader population trends and offer insights into the mechanisms that shape avian populations and determine their responses to environmental change.

Bird demography is a long-standing field with strong research history, but it is increasingly covering new ground. Bringing together new insights from this constantly evolving field can help improve our understanding of how bird populations have, are, and will respond to the multivariate pressures that they face.

Topics:

• • Impacts of anthropogenic pressures on bird vital rates
  • Insights into aging and senescence of wild birds
  • Transient dynamics
  • Modelling, statistics, and uncertainty (innovations, recommendations, and best practice)
  • Prediction/forecasting of bird population changes
  • Long-term dynamics
  • Population management tools
  • Trade-offs
  • Novel and emerging threats to species and populations

Parallel conference format

The BOU aims to run inclusive and accessible events. One way we seek to achieve this is by delivering our conferences in parallel on a freely accessible social media platform. From 2025 onwards, this has been Bluesky.

All presenters at our conferences will be invited to post a summary of their presentation on Bluesky, and will be provided with helpful guidelines to support them in doing so. No conference registration, or Bluesky account, is required to view these presentations.

Social media has broadened the reach of our conferences, attracting a significantly larger and more diverse audience than meetings without this element.

View previous BOU conferences on Bluesky

Scientific Programme Committee

Catriona Morrison (Chair) | Biomathematics and Statistics Scotland (BioSS), UK & BOU Meetings Committee
Chloé R. Nater | Norwegian Institute for Nature Research (NINA), Norway
Emily Simmonds | University of Edinburgh, UK & BOU Meetings Committee

Image credits
Barn Swallow | Alpsdake CC BY-SA 4.0 Wikimedia Commons
Great Crested Grebe | Alexis Lours CC BY 4.0 Wikimedia Commons
Jabiru | Giles Laurent CC BY-SA 4.0 Wikimedia Commons

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