Chapter 2 Introduction

2.1 Course aims

Students will

  • gain a general understanding of migration, its causes and consequences
  • understand the functions of bird migration and its implications for population dynamics and ecological communities
  • apply or get introduced to some frequently used ornithological field methods
  • interpret information from various data sources (e.g. observations, mark-recapture, data loggers, tracking methods, blood samples, genetics) and evaluate their representativeness and accuracy
  • identify the more common European migrating bird species

For the conceptual background, we will cover the following aspects:

  • Morphological and physiological adaptation to flight
  • Life cycle of birds (breeding, post-fledging, molting, migration, staging)
  • Ecology and evolution of bird migration
  • Timing of migration
  • Migration strategies and orientation
  • Global change and migration

For practical and field methods, we will introduce some of the most important field methods:

  • counting and identifying migrating birds,
  • bird catching and marking,
  • morphological and physiological measurements,
  • tracking birds

Student projects are ideally conducted in groups of 2-4 persons. We expect students to choose a project during the first two days of the course (see list of potential projects ??). There are several slots for work on these projects over the course week and we expect students to give a brief (approx. 20 min) presentation on Friday, detailing the ecological question behind the project, the analytical approach chosen, the results obtained and a discussion. Within the student projects, we will introduce and apply important theoretical approaches and analytical methods

2.2 Course schedule

The course consists of lectures, project work and excursions.

2.2.1 Prepatory days 1 & 2: Thursday and Friday, 5-6 September 2024 in Sempach and Zürich

2.2.2 Course day 1: Thursday, 5 September 2024 in Sempach

  • 10:00 - 11:00 Welcome and Introduction Location: Room Schulungsraum Besuchszentrum at the Swiss Ornithological Institute, 6204 Sempach. We will meet at the main entrance of the visitor centre at 10:00.

    • Introduction of all
    • Overview of the course aims and content
    • Student expectations from the course
    • What we expect from you and your projects
    • Ask us anything!

  • 11:00 Lecture 1: Introduction to animal migration (SB)

  • 12:00 - 13:00 Lunch break

  • 13:00 - 14:30 Visitor centre (self study)

  • 14:45 - 15:45 Lecture 2: Characteristics of birds and introduction to expected species (FK)

  • 15:45 - 17:00 Overview of student projects and papers to be read (information SB, FK)

2.2.3 Course day 2: Friday, 6 September 2024 at ETH Zürich

Location: ETH seminar room CHN E 46

  • 9:15 – 10:00: Discussion of exercise linear regression (FK)

  • 10:15 - 11:00: Discussion of exercise survival estimation using mark-recapture modelling (FK)

  • 11:15 – 12:00: Lecture 3: Modelling bird migration (lecture & practical, SB)

  • State-dependent migration models

    • Basic ingredients and principles of state-dependent models
    • Backward- forward
    • Parameterisations
    • Typical research questions
    • Examples of applications of migration model

  • 12:00 – 13:00: Lunch break

  • 13:00 - 16:00: Preparations project work (find your partner, search literature, install R-packages) (SB, FK)

2.2.4 Excursion to Col de Bretolet: Mon-Fri 9-13 September 2024

The schedule of lectures, excursions and project work in Barmaz will be kept flexible as we need to take weather conditions into account and may need to re-adjust.

2.2.5 Course day 3: Monday, 9 September 2024

  • Morning/ early afternoon: Travel to Barmaz (detailed travel suggestions will be provided separately)

  • Afternoon:

  • Lecture 4: Methods for studying animal migration (SB)

    • Moon-watching
    • Satellite telemetry
    • GPS loggers
    • Geolocators
    • Multi-sensor logger
    • Radar

  • Lecture 5: Migration in the life-cycle of a bird (FK)

  • Presentations & discussion of ‘homework’ papers

    • Give a brief overview of overarching questions addressed in the paper
    • Provide background to approach used
    • Show/Explain main results
    • Discuss

2.2.6 Course day 4: Tuesday, 10 September 2024

  • Morning: Hike to field station at Col de Bretolet

    • Field methods
    • Data

  • Afternoon

  • Lecture 6: Timing of migration (SB)

  • Lecture 7: Orientation (FK)

  • Project work

2.2.7 Course day 5: Wednesday, 11 September 2024

  • Morning: Hike to field station at Col de Bretolet

    • Field methods
    • Data

  • Afternoon

  • Continue project work

  • Lecture 8: Climate change and other threats to migrating animals (SB)

2.2.8 Course day 6: Thursday, 12 September 2024

  • Morning: Hike to field station at Col de Bretolet (optional)

  • Continue project work

  • Prepare final presentation

  • Lecture 9: Climate change and other threats to Swiss breeding birds (FK)

2.2.9 Course day 7: Friday, 13 September 2024

  • Morning
    • Presentations of project work
    • Summary of course & take Home Message (FK & SB)
    • Student feedback
  • Around noon - return home

2.3 Preparations

To start the project work, we will ask students to read at least two papers - one general paper and one specific research paper and to introduce the key messages of these papers to your fellow students in the first days in the field (for guidelines to reading and summarizing papers, see Chapter Student’s projects. The specific paper may be chosen to fit the topic of the project work (see also specific recommendations at the project descriptions).

General papers, reviews, synthesis

Specific research papers

References

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