Time for some hands-on experience during the Ecology of Migration course

The second week of the course on Migration Ecology started off with lectures focussing on ecophysiology, the underlying genetics of migration, understanding evolution and patterns of migration, and population ecology. Lectures and theory form one important part of the course - but we also want to provide insight and practical training in methodological approaches and state-of-the-art technology used in ongoing experiments here at Lund University.

On Tuesday it was time for some hands on experience. Researchers from Lund University offered various projects and provided us with the possibility to learn about both scope and limitations of different techniques applied in the field of migration ecology. What is a "vortex wake" and what does it tell us? How can we understand kinematics of flight by analysing high-speed video sequences recorded in the wind tunnel? How do I attach a radio-transmitter to a Golden Plover in order to follow it using radio-telemetry? What techniques allow me to use genetic markers to understand population structure and connectivity? And how is it possible to bring migration into the lab in order to understand compass mechanisms and orientation systems of migratory birds under controlled conditions? What methods allow us to study energy metabolism, and how can a small bird assess its energy state and evaluate cost and benefit of staying up North over the winter or being better of my migrating towards warmer latitudes? What questions can I address using Tracking Radar, and how can I disentangle track, heading and wind direction in order to understand the recorded flight track? What is the differences between GPS and conventional tracking?

Those were only some of the questions that were addressed in the projects carried out on Monday and Tuesday. On Wednesday, we started the day by raising and discussing some of these questions and sharing our experience gained during the various projects in smaller groups - and ended the day with a BBQ outside the department.