Migration, movement and the effects of hunting on birds in a changing world

Scientific background
Many European bird species are hunted, but the role of hunting as a causal factor in population declines
relative to habitat loss and climate change is unclear. Hunting impacts are difficult to evaluate for
migratory species, as the factors that control the number of animals often operate outside the area of
concern - namely reproduction and survival in different seasons and locations. In order to sustainably
manage hunting of wild bird populations, we need to understand how productivity, survival and movement
processes combine to determine changes in local abundance, and thus how many individuals can be
removed without impacting long-term trends. Using European waterfowl species as a model system, this
project will draw on multiple data sources (including field data collection) to examine the underlying
drivers of productivity, movement and survival and develop indices of sustainable harvest at different
scales.
Research methodology
Data on productivity, ringing and harvest returns and survival of a waterfowl model system will be
analysed (e.g. mallard and teal), using integrated population modelling techniques to combine multiple
data sources to capture population dynamics and sustainability of harvest. A summer fieldwork
component in the UK and northern Europe will be used to capture productivity for UK resident and
migrant waterfowl, and finally the student will examine large scale environmental data to determine
proxies for predicting "good" vs "poor" productivity years for wintering ducks, where productivity is
measured from hunter wing returns and field observations of juvenile-to-adult ratio.
Training
You will become a Wildlife Biologist! You are joining a thriving applied ecological team across the
Universities of Essex and East Anglia with training in data analysis, demographic modelling and
visualisation; wildlife ecology fieldwork in both UK and European mainland to study waterfowl productivity
while gaining ringing licence training; and training in Geographic Information Systems to interpret
waterfowl ringing data and interannual variation in waterfowl productivity