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Topic · Ecology

Avian ecology and behavior

Avian ecology and behavior is a research topic within Ecology. Science Explorer counts 36k research works in it since 1950. 10.0% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers focuses on the ecological impacts of climate change on avian populations, including migration patterns, population declines, phenological changes, and habitat selection. It also discusses model selection and multimodel inference in the context of avian ecology, as well as the effects of agricultural intensification and conservation actions on bird populations.

  • Avian Ecology
  • Climate Change
  • Migration Patterns
  • Population Declines
  • Phenological Changes
  • Habitat Selection
  • Model Selection
  • Multimodel Inference
  • Agricultural Intensification
  • Conservation Actions
Research works
36k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
3.6k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.0%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
-1%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
United States
39% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Avian ecology and behavior

Which countries lead Avian ecology and behavior research?

By volume, the United States and the United Kingdom publish the most (1.3k and 323 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 United States 1.3k works
  2. 2 United Kingdom 323 works
  3. 3 China 259 works
  4. 4 India 252 works
  5. 5 Canada 229 works
  6. 6 Spain 222 works
  7. 7 Australia 206 works
  8. 8 France 197 works
  9. 9 Brazil 187 works
  10. 10 Germany 153 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

United States: 38.6%United Kingdom: 9.8%China: 7.9%India: 7.6%6 others listed: 36.2%39%largest
United States1,273 · 38.6%United Kingdom323 · 9.8%China259 · 7.9%India252 · 7.6%6 others listed1,193 · 36.2%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Avian ecology and behavior research?

By volume in 2022-now, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique publishes the most Avian ecology and behavior research, followed by Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas and Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 104 works
  2. 2 Consejo Superior de Investigaciones CientíficasSpain 66 works
  3. 3 Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y TécnicasArgentina 54 works
  4. 4 United States Geological SurveyUnited States 53 works
  5. 5 Russian Academy of SciencesRussia 52 works
  6. 6 United States Fish and Wildlife ServiceUnited States 32 works
  7. 7 Cornell UniversityUnited States 31 works
  8. 8 Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 31 works
  9. 9 Environment and Climate Change CanadaCanada 30 works
  10. 10 Swiss Ornithological InstituteSwitzerland 27 works

Who are the leading researchers in Avian ecology and behavior?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Avian ecology and behavior include Rob Knight, George Davey Smith and Paul M. Thompson.

  1. 1 Rob Knight United States 468k citations
  2. 2 George Davey Smith United Kingdom 435k citations
  3. 3 Paul M. Thompson United States 196k citations
  4. 4 Nick C. Fox United Kingdom 178k citations
  5. 5 Daniel J Kim United States 171k citations
  6. 6 Carlos Manuel Duarte Saudi Arabia 152k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

What are the most cited papers in Avian ecology and behavior?

The most cited paper in Avian ecology and behavior is "On territorial behavior and other factors influencing habitat distribution in birds" (Stephen Dewitt Fretwell, H. L. Lucas, 1969), with 4,543 citations. Next come "On Bird Species Diversity" (3,665) and "Distance‐Based Tests for Homogeneity of Multivariate Dispersions" (3,310).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 On territorial behavior and other factors influencing habitat distribution in birds Stephen Dewitt Fretwell, H. L. Lucas · Acta Biotheoretica Mar 1969 4,543
2 On Bird Species Diversity Robert H. MacArthur, John W. MacArthur · Ecology Jul 1961 3,665
3 Distance‐Based Tests for Homogeneity of Multivariate Dispersions Marti Jane Anderson · Biometrics 20 Oct 2005 3,310
4 A DNA test to sex most birds Richard Griffiths, Mike C. Double, Kate J. Orr et al. · Molecular Ecology Aug 1998 3,151
5 The "Challenge Hypothesis": Theoretical Implications for Patterns of Testosterone Secretion, Mating Systems, and Breeding Strategies John C. Wingfield, Robert E. Hegner, Alfred M. Dufty et al. · The American Naturalist Dec 1990 2,363
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Avian ecology and behavior research done?

The largest centres of Avian ecology and behavior research in 2022-now are Washington D.C. (United States), Beijing (China), Paris (France) and Buenos Aires (Argentina). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Sempach.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 Washington D.C.United States 80 works
  2. 2 BeijingChina 77 works
  3. 3 ParisFrance 69 works
  4. 4 Buenos AiresArgentina 53 works
  5. 5 MadridSpain 52 works
  6. 6 OttawaCanada 46 works
  7. 7 New YorkUnited States 44 works
  8. 8 LondonUnited Kingdom 41 works
  9. 9 MoscowRussia 40 works
  10. 10 São PauloBrazil 36 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. SempachCH · 26.8 works710×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Avian ecology and behavior than the world average.

See Avian ecology and behavior on the map

Where is the best place to study Avian ecology and behavior?

Among universities, judged by research, Cornell University, University of Exeter and Lund University score highest, combining excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%10%20%mean 17.5%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Lund UniversityUniversity of HelsinkiUniversity of ExeterCornell University
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the first ten of the table below, at the default weights. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

Excellenceshare of its work in the world top 10%, 2022-now and all time averaged
40%
Specialisationhow much of its work is in this field, counted up to 10× the world share
10%
Sizeits output in this field, on a log scale
30%
Growthoutput growth, counted from -20% to +20%
10%
Internationalshare of its work with a co-author abroad
10%
Each slider sets a weight; the share it gets of the score is beside it.
#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1Cornell UniversityUnited States 72.916.7%5.2×31 -11.9%
2University of ExeterUnited Kingdom 72.517.9%9.5×18 -4.3%
3Lund UniversitySweden 71.221.6%7.5×19 -28.5%
4University of HelsinkiFinland 69.821.2%5.3×17 +16.9%
5University of GroningenNetherlands 69.216.0%5.7×18 -10.2%
6Wageningen University & ResearchNetherlands 66.111.9%9.1×15 +77.6%
7University of OxfordUnited Kingdom 65.416.3%2.2×14 -1.3%
8Université Paris Sciences et LettresFrance 63.620.4%5.4×9 +38.6%
9Université de MontpellierFrance 63.123.8%5.3×8 +50.5%
10University of Cape TownSouth Africa 59.69.2%16.6×26 -9.7%

Universities only. The score blends excellence (40%), size (30%), specialisation (10%), growth (10%), international reach (10%), 2022-now; growth compares 2018-21 with 2022-25 and counts up to +20%, since a jump from a small base is mostly noise.

Every institution in Avian ecology and behavior, country by country

Is Avian ecology and behavior research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 1% lower than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2017.

still counting19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon: one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Its share of all research

Growing output can still be a shrinking share: all of science grows. This is Avian ecology and behavior as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.020% in 2024.

still counting0.025%0.050%0.075%Avian ecology and behavior0.021% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Avian ecology and behavior over all fractional works that year. How the balance of science has shifted.

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Year by year.

still counting5%10%15%Avian ecology and behavior10.0% in 2025200020102020

Of each year's works in it, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. A field is the world for its own topics, so there is no other line to hold it against.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.

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