New paper on migratory birds

Oct 15, 2016

The lives of migratory birds breeding in Europe and wintering in Africa south of the Sahara are governed by environmental conditions experienced thousands of kilometres apart. In this paper, Marjorie Sorensen cleverly measured isotopes and hormones deposited in growing feathers to track the conditions experienced by Great Reed Warblers en route through Africa. She shows that the rainfall conditions these birds experienced in the Horn of Africa, a staging post between Europe and southern Africa, affect their condition on their main wintering grounds in Zambia… read more in the article by Marjorie SorensenGraham FairhurstSusanne Jenni-EiermannJason NewtonElizabeth Yohannes and Claire Spottiswoode, available Open Access in BMC Ecology.

News

Chima Nwaogu presents research lecture at Uppsala University, Sweden

Dr Chima Nwaogu visited the Animal Ecology Unit at the Evolutionsbiologisk centrum (EBC) at Uppsala University, Sweden, to present the 2025 Christer Hemborg lecture. He gave a research lecture on why Afrotropical birds breed when they do, based on analyses of breeding records derived from Major John Colebrook-Robjent’s egg collection currently held at the Livingstone Museum. He explored how the effects of pre-rain tree green-up and rainfall onset differentially drive invertebrate and grass seed abundance, influencing multiple seasonal bird breeding patterns throughout the year.

read more