Habitat edges and avian ecology: Geographic patterns and insights for western landscapes

Habitat edges are an important feature in most terrestrial landscapes, due to increasing rates of habitat loss and fragmentation. A host of hypothesized influences of habitat edges on the distribution, abundance, and productivity of landbirds has been suggested over the past 60 years. Nevertheless, “edge effects” remains an ill-defined concept that encompasses a plethora of factors thought to influence avian ecology in heterogeneous landscapes....