The main aim within this research theme is to improve the understanding of the mechanisms that shape animal movement strategies at the individual level and subsequent consequences for individuals, populations or ecosystems. Our work focuses mainly on birds in the wild, often with an emphasis on migratory species and flight behaviour. We use complementary techniques such as radar monitoring, global tracking of individuals, data-analytic and mechanistic modelling approaches.
The long-term goal is to understand how individuals adapt their movement strategies to environmental change (abiotic and biotic drivers), what the costs, benefits and constraints of different strategies are, and whether diversity is important for population persistence. In order to understand the complexity of such interactions we integrate knowledge from ecology, physiology, earth science and meteorology. We apply our research to resolve challenges related to human-wildlife interactions in which movement is a key factor (e.g. aviation safety, environmental impact of wind energy, human and domestic animal health, conservation).
Questions we are addressing in our research include:
To facilitate research and work at the forefront of movement ecology, development of novel methods for studying animal movement is part of the research agenda. We are developing bio-logging equipment as well as tools to monitor bird migration across Europe using radar and collaborate with partners with complementary expertise.
Some examples of the projects where we have a leading role include: