The Natura 2000 network, the pillar of biodiversity conservation in Europe, still shows some knowledge gaps after almost 30 years since its implementation. As birds are a taxonomic group that is underrepresented in the literature related to Natura 2000 compared to their importance in the EU Directives, this review investigated the characteristics of the scientific research dedicated to birds in relation to Natura 2000. This review focused on 169 peer-reviewed articles covering a period of 25 years (1995–2019). Most studies were set within single Natura 2000 site or regions within countries, and concerned terrestrial habitats, particularly wetlands. The terrestrial Mediterranean biogeographical region and marine Atlantic region had the greatest number of publications, while Spain, Italy, and France were the countries with the highest number of reviewed articles. The number of publications was correlated to Natura 2000 coverage at both country and biogeographical region level. Bird species were studied mainly at a community or single-species level and most publications studied distribution and occurrence of the bird species of interest, while very few assessed the conservation status of the species. Only a few articles set within Natura 2000 sites addressed the issues of habitat suitability for birds or the effectiveness of conservation efforts. Both Annex I and non-Annex I bird species were examined in the literature, with most species having decreasing population trends at the European scale. Future research on bird conservation and Natura 2000 should focus on marine ecosystems as well as habitats that have received less attention despite their important role in a changing future (alpine and urban types). Moreover, future studies should encompass larger spatial scales and those species for which status and trends are still not thoroughly investigated. Finally, it would be important to enhance research efforts on the conservation status and effectiveness in relation to the network.

Natura 2000 网络作为欧洲生物多样性保护的支柱，在实施近 30 年后仍然显示出一些知识差距。由于与欧盟指令中鸟类的重要性相比，鸟类是一个在 Natura 2000 相关文献中代表性不足的分类群，因此本综述调查了与 Natura 2000 相关的鸟类科学研究的特征。本综述重点关注 169 名同行回顾了涵盖 25 年（1995 年至 2019 年）的文章。大多数研究都是在单个 Natura 2000 站点或国家内的区域内进行的，并且涉及陆地栖息地，特别是湿地。地中海陆地生物地理区域和大西洋海洋区域的出版物数量最多，而西班牙、意大利、和法国是审稿文章数量最多的国家。出版物数量与国家和生物地理区域层面的 Natura 2000 覆盖范围相关。鸟类物种的研究主要在群落或单物种水平上进行，大多数出版物研究感兴趣的鸟类物种的分布和出现，而很少评估该物种的保护状况。Natura 2000 站点中只有少数文章讨论了鸟类栖息地的适宜性或保护工作的有效性问题。文献中对附件一和非附件一鸟类物种进行了审查，大多数物种在欧洲范围内都有种群数量下降的趋势。未来关于鸟类保护和 Natura 2000 的研究应重点关注海洋生态系统以及较少受到关注的栖息地，尽管它们在不断变化的未来（高山和城市类型）中发挥着重要作用。此外，未来的研究应涵盖更大的空间尺度以及那些状况和趋势尚未得到彻底调查的物种。最后，加强与网络相关的保护状况和有效性的研究工作也很重要。