Recommendations to enhance breeding bird diversity in managed plantation forests determined using LiDAR.

Widespread afforestation is a crucial component of climate mitigation strategies worldwide. This presents a significant opportunity for biodiversity conservation if forests are appropriately managed. Within forests, structural and habitat diversity are known to be critical for biodiversity but pragmatic management recommendations are lacking.

Rush or relax: migration tactics of a nocturnal insectivore in response to ecological barriers.

During their annual migration, avian migrants alternate stopover periods, for refuelling, with migratory flight bouts. We hypothesise that European Nightjars (Caprimulgus europaeus) adapt their daily migration tactics in association with biomes. We tracked the autumn migration of 24 European Nightjars, from breeding populations in Mongolia, Belgium and UK, using GPS-loggers and multi-sensor data loggers.

Human activity shapes the wintering ecology of a migratory bird.

Human behavior profoundly affects the natural world. Migratory birds are particularly susceptible to adverse effects of human activities because the global networks of ecosystems on which birds rely are undergoing rapid change. In spite of these challenges, the blackcap (Sylvia atricapilla) is a thriving migratory species.

DNA diet profiles with high-resolution animal tracking data reveal levels of prey selection relative to habitat choice in a crepuscular insectivorous bird.

Given the global decline of many invertebrate food resources, it is fundamental to understand the dietary requirements of insectivores. We give new insights into the functional relationship between the spatial habitat use, food availability, and diet of a crepuscular aerial insectivore, the European Nightjar () by relating spatial use data with high-throughput sequencing (HTS) combined with DNA metabarcoding. Our study supports the predictions that nightjars collect a substantial part of their daily nourishment from foraging locations, sometimes at considerable distance from nesting sites.

Individual variability and versatility in an eco-evolutionary model of avian migration.

Seasonal migration is a complex and variable behaviour with the potential to promote reproductive isolation. In Eurasian blackcaps (), a migratory divide in central Europe separating populations with southwest (SW) and southeast (SE) autumn routes may facilitate isolation, and individuals using new wintering areas in Britain show divergence from Mediterranean winterers. We tracked 100 blackcaps in the wild to characterize these strategies.

Desert crossing strategies of migrant songbirds vary between and within species.

Each year, billions of songbirds cross large ecological barriers during their migration. Understanding how they perform this incredible task is crucial to predict how global change may threaten the safety of such journeys. Earlier studies based on radar suggested that most songbirds cross deserts in intermittent flights at high altitude, stopping in the desert during the day, while recent tracking with light loggers suggested diurnal prolongation of nocturnal flights and common non-stop flights for some species.

Wind-associated detours promote seasonal migratory connectivity in a flapping flying long-distance avian migrant.

It is essential to gain knowledge about the causes and extent of migratory connectivity between stationary periods of migrants to further the understanding of processes affecting populations, and to allow efficient implementation of conservation efforts throughout the annual cycle. Avian migrants likely use optimal routes with respect to mode of locomotion, orientation and migration strategy, influenced by external factors such as wind and topography. In self-powered flapping flying birds, any increases in fuel loads are associated with added flight costs.

Is supplementary feeding in gardens a driver of evolutionary change in a migratory bird species?

Human activities are causing rapid environmental change at a global scale. Urbanization is responsible for some of the most extreme human-altered habitats and is a known driver of evolutionary change, but evidence and understanding of these processes is limited. Here, we investigate the potential underlying mechanisms contributing to the contemporary evolution of migration behaviour in the Eurasian blackcap (Sylvia atricapilla).

STAT3-dependent pathfinding and control of axonal branching and target selection.

Signal transducers and transcription factors are used in common for developmental cell migration, vasculogenesis, branching morphogenesis, as well as neuronal pathfinding. STAT3, a transcription factor, has been shown to function in all of these processes except neuronal pathfinding. Here, it is shown that STAT3 also facilitates this process.

Fluorescent tagged analysis of neural gene function using mosaics in zebrafish and Xenopus laevis.

An important question in the neurosciences is the role of specific gene expression in the control of neural morphology and connectivity. To address this question, methods are needed for expression of exogenous genes in a subset of neurons. This limited and mosaic expression allows the assessment of gene expression in a cell autonomous fashion without environmental contributions from neighboring expressing cells.