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