Bird species numbers and bird abundance in a migration stopover site at Lake Constance over 50 years
Bird Movements and Animal Marking Research Group
What’s the project about? On Mettnau peninsula near Radolfzell (Bodensee) songbirds have been trapped in mist nets, marked and released under standardized conditions between 1972 and 2008 and now again in 2022 to 2024. Main focus of this long-term trapping study was on the stopover behavior of night migrating songbirds. However, also simple trapping numbers are of high interest, particularly when covering half a century. Results show a strong decline in long distance migrants and a less pronounced decline in short distance migrants. Although this is for many species in concordance with reported population trends, data from Mettnau could be biased by habitat changes over the years. The main aim of this project would be to present changes in the annual bird numbers as well as species composition on Mettnau ringing station over the last 50 years and to estimate the size of potential biases in the numbers. The project does not require field work, all data is already digitally available.
What we expect
Basic experience in bird ringing, ideally with mist nets (for a profound understanding of the nature of the data)
Good skills in analysis of time series
At least basic knowledge of Central European songbird species
Who can apply? The project is open to BSc students
