English
Animal Ecology
White-fronted goose migration – parameterising & testing a dynamic optimisation model
White-fronted geese migrate yearly from their wintering grounds in The Netherlands and Hungary to their Arctic breeding areas in Russia. Over the last 50 years, the wintering population in the Netherlands has increased considerably whereas the reverse is true for the population wintering in Hungary.
Adaptation to environmental change in blue tits
What do insights from the past tell us about the future?
Timing of breeding is a life-history trait with major fitness consequences, and thus natural selection on timing will lead to local adaptation in contrasting landscapes as well as to directional selection when the environment is changing.
Adaptation to environmental change in blue tits
What do insights from the past tell us about the future?
Timing of breeding is a life-history trait with major fitness consequences, and thus natural selection on timing will lead to local adaptation in contrasting landscapes as well as to directional selection when the environment is changing.
Experimental manipulations
We look at causal relationships between trait values and fitness. These include a wide range of techniques, including play back experiments, brood size manipulations and manipulation of avian diseases.
Experimental manipulations
We look at causal relationships between trait values and fitness. These include a wide range of techniques, including play back experiments, brood size manipulations and manipulation of avian diseases.
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Seasonal timing
Timing of growth and reproduction: ultimate functions and proximate mechanisms
Horizon project
Songbird Genomics: High throughput genetics and QTL mapping in wild passerines
Facility page – Database
All our data, be it from the field, kept birds or from the laboratory, are stored in a relational data ware house. This enables the linking of data on all levels, from genes to populations.
Facility page – Modelling
Our experimental work is complemented with modelling, often in close interaction with each other. We do optimality models of life history traits as well as models on population dynamics, often linked to the individual level.
Optimality models (dynamic programming)
Movement models (Levy walks)
Population models
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