Judy Shamoun-Baranes Home
I am an Assistant Professor in the interdisciplinary research group Computational Geo-Ecology, in the Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics.
Research interests
I am fascinated with avian flight behaviour, whether during migration, foraging movements or when fleeing from potential danger. Birds fly through a challenging environment whose characteristics vary within and between days, seasons, years, altitudes and landscapes and they have evolved diverse strategies to contend with this variability. Atmospheric dynamics may be an energetic source or sink during flight. By integrating models, diverse measurements of bird movement (GPS tracking,radar, field observations) and meteorology, I am trying to understand the short and long term consequences of behavioural responses to dynamic atmospheric conditions at different scales in space and time.
The development of a new GPS tracking system at UvA (www.uva-bits.nl) has recently enabled me to study the detailed movements of individual birds throughout their annual routine. This provides great opportunities to study the diversity and variation of foraging and migratory behaviour at the individual and species level and its potential importance in an ever changing world.
Due to the multi-disciplinary nature of my research, I am privileged to collaborate with diverse researchers with expertise in specific species, technological developments, meteorology, modelling, data management and visualization. While developing tools for data analysis and visualization is not the main aim of my research, it is often a fruitful investment I enjoy being involved in which facilitates our ecological studies.