Movement Tracking

Using biologging devices (GLS, GPS, heart rate loggers, accelerometers) to track the spatial movements of individuals allows investigation of their migratory and foraging behaviour and their distribution across spatial and temporal scales. In migratory species, I focus on the non-breeding stage—the least understood part of their annual cycle and the period when they are most mobile. Tracking individuals across their annual cycle provides unique insights into their year-round ecology, life-history strategies, and responses to environmental changes.

Environmental Conditions

Migratory decisions made by individuals determine the environmental conditions they will experience. Different regions and habitats are associated with varying food availability, temperatures, or precipitation regimes. These variations in environmental conditions have shaped migratory behaviour and routes. However, climate change and rapid alterations in environmental conditions can drive behavioural changes through adaptation or plasticity, favouring certain migratory phenotypes over others.  I study the response of individuals to conditions encountered throughout their annual cycle, and the consequences this entails.

Energetics

Spatial heterogeneity in environmental conditions directly shapes the energetic costs and benefits for individuals, creating an "energyscape" they must navigate. Certain regions impose particularly high costs on locomotion or thermoregulation, and expose individuals to heightened risks of extreme weather events. Furthermore, extended periods during which energy balance cannot be maintained can lead to energetic bottlenecks, adversely affecting survival and influencing population dynamics. I use biologgers to monitor spatial and temporal variations in energy expenditure through activity and heart rate metrics across the annual cycle. Ultimately, tracking individual energy expenditure enables the mapping of the energyscape throughout their distribution, offering insights into the energetics challenges they encounter.

Ecotoxicology

As migratory species travel between different regions, they are exposed to various, geographically distinct sources of anthropogenic pollutants. The contaminant burden acquired on the wintering grounds can carry over into the breeding stage, potentially affecting reproduction or chick development through maternal transfer into the eggs. Migratory species can therefore redistribute contaminants via biovector transport from industrialized, highly contaminated areas into distant regions, such as the Arctic, contributing to the contamination of local food webs. Tracking individuals to understand the year-round movement of species is crucial to disentangling local from distant signals and assessing the threats posed by contaminant exposure throughout their annual cycle.

Physiology & Endocrinology

Physiological indicators, such as energy reserves, nutritional condition, and metabolic rates, along with endocrine markers like stress hormones (e.g., corticosterone) and reproductive hormones, provide insights into how individuals cope with environmental challenges. These markers regulate critical behaviours, including migration timing and reproduction, and reflect the cumulative effects of stress, resource allocation, and recovery. By studying these physiological markers, I aim to better understand the proximate mechanisms behind carry-over effects and enhance our understanding of how experiences during one stage of the migratory cycle influence outcomes in subsequent stages.

Reproduction

Reproduction requires significant energy investment, and its success often depends on the individual's condition upon arrival, shaped by migration and non-breeding experiences. Monitoring breeding in migratory species allows for the assessment of carry-over effects on demographic parameters, as this is often the stage where the cumulative impacts of prior life stages become evident. I employ experimental approaches to manipulate breeding effort and energy expenditure to investigate how individuals cope with these impacts while controlling for confounding factors such as individual quality. These experiments also help to assess how the costs of breeding influence subsequent migratory and non-breeding stages, providing a comprehensive understanding of the interconnected phases of the annual cycle.