Conclusion: Is the temperate zone bias still a problem?

Many topics in behavioral ecology have historically been well studied in the tropics because they focus on tropical “oddities,” behaviors that are uncommon in the temperate zone, such as lekking, cooperative breeding, and female song. Throughout this book, we have highlighted the other questions in behavioral ecology for which there are few studies and experiments on tropical birds. The temperate zone bias is still a problem for several reasons (Macedo and Manica, 2019; Reborada et al., 2019). Many behavioral ecology hypotheses are overwhelmingly tested on temperate zone birds yet many tropical birds face very different selection pressures. A broader concern is that many tropical birds have not been studied at all, and so we know little about the natural history of such species. Massive habitat loss and accelerating climate change threaten not just these species, but also our opportunity to study the selection processes that underly the incredible diversity of behavior in tropical birds.