Details of Award
NERC Reference : NE/X508321/1
Potential fitness benefits resulting from the evolution of a new migratory behaviour in central European Blackcaps: A stable isotope approach
Fellowship Award
- Fellow:
- Professor S Bearhop, Queen's University of Belfast, Sch of Biological and Food Sciences
- Grant held at:
- Queen's University of Belfast, Sch of Biological and Food Sciences
- Science Area:
- Terrestrial
- Overall Classification:
- Terrestrial
- ENRIs:
- None
- Science Topics:
- None
- Abstract:
- Ecologists have had little success in linking up different stages in the lives of many long-distance migrants. The blackcap is an exception, a small population of which has begun wintering in the UK. These birds breed in Germany (normally wintering in Iberia), and that the migratory shift has a genetic basis. The increase in UK winterers is probably linked to better conditions, such as improved feeding (bird tables), climate change, shorter migration distance (than Iberian birds), less intraspecific competition and earlier return to the breeding areas (giving access to the best territories). Assortative mating (males pair with females from the same wintering area) among early arrivals may also be involved. However these hypotheses have remained untested for nearly 10 years. We plan to measure the stable isotope ratios (these can act as 'geographic fingerprints' telling us where the birds have been) in blackcap tissues in order to investigate these ideas. Using such techniques we may, for the first time, gain insights into how events in breeding and non-breeding seasons interact.
- NERC Reference:
- NE/X508321/1
- Grant Stage:
- Completed
- Scheme:
- Postdoctoral Fellow
- Grant Status:
- Closed
- Programme:
- Postdoctoral Fellowship
This fellowship award has a total value of £26,285
FDAB - Financial Details (Award breakdown by headings)
| Total - Staff | Total - Other Costs |
|---|---|
| £18,547 | £7,738 |
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