Home
My Work
I am working towards completing my PhD in the department of Computational GeoEcology, where I am developing analytical and computational models of long-distance passerine (songbird) migration. Most passerines migrate in a sequence of nocturnal flights interspersed by stopovers where they can replenishenergy reserves (fuel) required for flight. I have developed aspatially explicit individual-based model (IBM) which simulates migration on a geographical grid according to how individuals react to weather, topography and stopover quality. Together with realistic meteorological and geographical data, optimal decisions maximizing survival, migration speed, energy efficiency or fitness can be obtained. For example, I have evaluated optimal wind selectivity and compensation for wind drift maximizing arrival probabilities and migration speeds along the SW European migration corridor. I found a good match between these findings when analyzing radar data pertaining to nocturnal migration along this corridor. I am also developing analytical models of optimal stopover and airborne behaviour in simple environments (e.g. optimal stopover decisions in dichotomous 'good' and 'bad' wind and/or habitat quality). These 'optimal migration' models help us understand fundamental aspects of the migration process, and in choosing appropriate behavioural rules for the IBM. The IBM remains a more powerful tool capable of identifying the most important and sensitive aspects of the migration process to population fitness in ever-changing environments.