PROJECTS THAT USE DATA FROM MULTIPLE BIRD POPULATIONS

 

1) sTraitChange – How do trait responses to climate change translate into demographic rates and population dynamics?

The project aims at developing a mechanistic framework that improves our ability to predict climate-induced changes across levels of organization, and generalizations of how species with different life-histories respond to climate change.

 

2) Pair bonds beyond the breeding season

In this project, Dr. Antica Culina uses data on multiple populations of Great tit to study causes and consequences of divorce and pair fidelity.

 

3) EVOCLIM – Phenotypic selection and population demography in fluctuating environments

In this project, Stefan Vriend, Dr. Chloé Nater and Prof. Bernt-Erik Sæther use data on multiple populations of hole-nesting birds to study the role of environmental stochasticity and density dependence in phenotypic selection and population demography across Europe.

 

4) Why do tits (Paridae) cover their eggs before incubation? The roles of temperature, nest predators and information parasites

Dr. Olli Loukola uses data on multiple tit populations to investigate variation in great and blue tits' egg covering behaviour across different populations in Europe and variables that may explain the geographical variation.

 

5) Quantifying intra-specific variation in sensitivity to climate change

This project uses sliding window analyses to study how phenological sensitivity to temperature varies among European populations of great and blue tits. The project then seeks to understand how such variation may be driven by differences in the biotic and abiotic environment experienced by each population.

 

6) Can we use multivariate autoregressive state-space models to quantify species interactions from time series data?

In this project Dr. Emily Simmonds and Prof. Bob O’Hara use Bayesian hierarchical models, including observation error, to try and quantify the strength of competitive interactions. This work predominantly uses simulated data to test model performance, but also uses multiple populations of great tits and blue tits as a case study illustration.

 

7) Phenotypic variation along urban gradients

Urbanization affects the mean phenotypes of many wildlife populations, but it is not well known how urbanization affects phenotypic variation, a major driver of eco-evolutionary processes. Urbanization can affect phenotypic variation through several processes and can increase the phenotypic variation in urban populations (e.g., urban great and blue tit populations, see here). This project aims to explore how environmental factors associated with urbanization, stress, and heterogeneity impact phenotypic variation along multiple urban gradients across Europe.