Lisenka de Vries

My PhD project, which I started in September 2021, focuses on the modelling of survival, harvest and connectivity of barnacle and greylag goose populations, using long-term mark-recapture datasets. The aim of this project is to gain insight into the survival and exchange of barnacle geese between subpopulations, the degree of harvest experienced by barnacle and greylag goose as well as the distribution of migratory and resident barnacle and greylag geese throughout the Netherlands. 

My interest in modelling population dynamics and working with mark-recapture data started during my Biology master at the Radboud University Nijmegen (specialisation Communities and Ecosystems), with a master research project into the possible causes of the strong decline in Dutch turtle doves (Department of Animal Ecology and Physiology, Radboud University) and a master research project into the effect of climate change on demographic factors and population growth of Dutch breeding birds with different migration strategies (Dutch Centre for Avian Migration and Demography, NIOO-KNAW). 

After my graduation, I continued working with mark-recapture data as a research assistant at the Dutch Centre for Avian Migration and Demography (Vogeltrekstation) at the NIOO-KNAW. During these 3 years, I was able to expand my knowledge on various survival models, through modelling of sub-population specific survival for barnacle geese, as well as the modelling of survival for the house martin, common tern and a number of passerine species. In addition, I was also responsible for the data management of colour ring data of barnacle geese submitted to the international colour ring portal for geese and swans, geese.org.