CU BOTANIC GARDEN

Tits in urban habitats

With colleagues from Anglia Ruskin University, Julia Mackenzie has been collecting long-term data on the breeding success of Blue Tits and Great Tits in urban habitats (CUBG and more recently Cherry Hinton Hall). Ringing and other biometric data have shown breeding success in both species to be poor in urban environments. This is mainly due to the physically patchy and botanically variable habitat, which make finding suitable food for chicks extremely difficult.

CUBG: Raising a brood in the unknown

Ibis paper-Parid foraging choices in urban habitat and their             consequences for fitness.
Mackenzie, Hinsley and Harrison 2014

Thesis: Impact of floral origin, floral composition and structural     fragmentation on breeding success in Blue Tits and Great Tits.
Mackenzie 2010