6Th European Ornithologists' Union Conference 2007 24Th–29Th August
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6th European Ornithologists’ Union Conference 2007 24th–29th August 2007 Vienna, Austria Edited by R. Hengsberger, H. Hofmann, R. Wagner, and H. Winkler; Konrad Lorenz Institute for Ethology, Austrian Academy of Sciences. Plenaries No Title Speaker Page 1 Post-copulatory sexual selection in Tim Birkhead, University of 7 birds: Sperm and eggs Sheffield, UK 2 Demography, behaviour and con- Hanna Kokko, University of 7 servation: How Magpie Robins, Helsinki, Finland Guillemots, and virtual birds link it all together 3 Migrating birds know no bounda- Yossi Leshem, Tel Aviv University, 7 ries – from a local to global scale Israel 4 Communication and the mainte- Alexandre Roulin, University of 8 nance of genetic variation in colour Lausanne, Switzerland polymorphic birds 5 Physiological dynamics of birds in Irene Tieleman, University of 9 desert, tropical and temperate envi- Groningen, The Netherlands ronments 3 Symposia No. Title Convenor 1 Convenor 2 Page 1 Nightlife of diurnal birds Barbara Helm Andrey Mukhin 11 2 Health of arctic and antarctic Andrés Barbosa Maarten Loonen 14 populations 3 Postcopulatory sexual selection Simone Immler 17 in birds 4 Avian influenza risk assess- Wolfgang Fiedler Irene Keller 20 ment: The contribution of ornithology 5 Heterogeneity in bird popu- Arie van Noordwijk Marc Kéry 23 lations, causing biased sam- ples, as a challenge for eco- logical field studies 6 Ornithology past, present and Tim Birkhead Jürgen Haffer 26 future 7 Dispersal behaviour: Causes Bart Kempenaers Joost M. Tinbergen 29 and consequences 8 Palearctic migrants threatened Will Cresswell Volker Salewski 32 by environmental change in the Sahel 9 Should we feed birds? Gillian Robb Timothy Harrison 35 10 Extra-pair paternity: Male or Thomas Friedl Bart Kempenaers 38 female driven? 11 Edge effect on avian nest Péter Batáry Alfréd Trnka 41 predation in Europe 12 Radar ornithology — past ex- Mark Desholm Felix Liechti 44 periences and future chal- lenges Oral presentations 47 Poster presentations 79 Journals discussion 129 Roundtable 131 Index 132 5 Plenaries Plenaries Tim Birkhead Post-copulatory sexual selection in birds: Sperm and eggs Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield, Alfred Denny Building, Western Bank, GB-Sheffield S10 2TN, UK [email protected] Sperm and eggs have a single function: to meet and produce new individuals. It sounds so simple, but the reality is com- plicated. A number of factors affect the likelihood of sperm and egg meeting and of then producing a viable offspring. A major step forward in our understanding of the way male and female reproductive systems are designed and interact was the discovery of sperm competition, and later cryptic female choice (together referred to as post-copulatory sexual selec- tion – PCSS). Because PCSS is so widespread in birds they provide a particularly exciting system in which to explore both evolutionary and mechanistic aspects of reproduction. In this talk I will discuss the way PCSS has shaped reproduc- tive traits in birds, ranging from behaviour, through anatomy and physiology. One of the most striking patterns is the strong effect of PCSS on male traits (such as testes, phallus, ejaculate and sperm). Female traits (oviducts and ova) by comparison appear to be more highly conserved, but are probably more subtle. However, one striking and not-so-subtle example of female adaptation to post-copulatory sexual selection will be described in detail. Finally, I will discuss the interactions between male and female traits and consider some new methods and new results relating to compatibility between partners and the viability of embryos. Hanna Kokko Demography, behaviour and conservation: How Magpie Robins, Guillemots, and virtual birds link it all together University of Helsinki, Finland [email protected] Behavioural ecologists all too often regard populations as mere convenient sources of experimental individuals, when in reality we should expect population densities to shape and be shaped by individual-level traits such as behaviour. Calls to understand the links between ecology and evolution have been common for decades. Population dynamics, i.e. the demo- graphic changes in populations, arise from life history decisions of individuals and thus are a product of selection, and selection on the other hand can be modified by such dynamical properties of the population as density and stability. It follows that generating predictions and testing them correctly requires considering this ecogenetic feedback loop when- ever traits have demographic consequences, mediated via density dependence (or frequency dependence). Using avian systems to tackle these questions, I will first show two theoretical examples, then followed by two empirical ones. In all cases, population numbers should have a strong influence on what kind of behavioural strategies should evolve in the two sexes, and behaviour on the other hand influences the growth of a species — including an example of an endangered bird. The first example tackles protandry: What mechanisms can predict the arrival order of individuals of migratory birds? I will show that our earlier understanding of protandry (male-first arrival) can be considered incomplete. The second ex- ample considers parenting decisions: give or take some variation, why are sex roles often so much more egalitarian in birds than in mammals? The third example (the first empirical) shows that competition for breeding sites can shape divorce patterns in common guillemots (Uria aalge), and my final example examines the tension between individually optimal traits and population- level performance in a bird that until recently was threatened by immediate extinction: the Seychelles magpie robin Copsychus sechellarum. Yossi Leshem Migrating birds know no boundaries – from a local to global scale Dept. of Zoology and The International Center for the Study of Bird Migration, Tel Aviv University, Ramat Aviv, IL-69978 Tel Aviv, Israel [email protected] Israel’s unique location at the junction of three continents has created one of the most important “bottlenecks”, with 500 million birds crossing twice a year during the autumn and spring migrations. The Israeli Air Force (IAF), maneuver- ing through this same air space, has suffered from numerous aircraft-bird collisions. During three decades, 9 fighter 7 Plenaries planes crashed and 75 aircraft were involved in accidents with damage costing between 1-10 million dollars each, as well as the lives of three pilots. A large proportion of collisions (74 %) involved migrating birds, with soaring birds causing the most significant damage. Over the last two and a half decades, long-term monitoring of soaring birds has been conducted with a network of ground observers, a motorized-glider, drones and radar stations, reducing collisions by 76 % and saving the IAF 700 million dollars since 1984 (not to mention the lives of pilots and birds). Over the last 12 years since the establishment of the International Center for the Study of Bird Migration at Latrun, an interdisciplinary approach has been developed that combines migration research with flight safety activities, a broad educational network in schools and bird-watching stations for the benefit of people, migrating birds and their habitats. In a joint research project of the Max Planck Institute in Radolfzell, Germany and the Tel Aviv University in Israel, funded by the German Ministry of the Environment, we tracked 120 migrating White Storks to which satellite transmit- ters had been attached. Founded on this joint research, an educational curriculum was developed for 300 schools in Israel, based on an Internet site, www.birds.org.il, which has enabled the online tracking of the migrating birds, as well as including field trips for direct observations. In addition, during the last decade research data about vultures, pelicans and cranes with satellite transmitters has been entered into the site's database, as well as the data collected from a Russian meteorological radar, MRL-5, which was adapted to track birds and is active during the seven migration months every year. This scientific-educational project was extended from a local to regional level, funded by US-AID MERC, when Pales- tinian and Jordanian researchers and schools joined the project between 1998 and 2004. The aim of the project was to use migrating birds as the platform for the furthering of regional co-operation in the Middle East, an area rife with conflict. Later on, with funding by the European Union, we established three tracking stations in Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority along the Great Rift Valley (GRV) in order to develop eco-tourism and bird-watching as well as to nurture connection to the community. Since 2001 we have advanced an additional regional project encompassing the use of Barn Owls and Common Kestrels as biological pest control in agriculture in the Beit Shean Valley in Israel (27 km south of the Sea of Galilee), on the east- ern side of the Jordan River in Jordan and in Jericho in the Palestinian Authority. This project has led to excellent co- operation between all sides involved from the scientific and agricultural aspects. The success in the Middle East has led us to a new concept, the extension of our activities in the Middle East to the win- tering areas of the migrating birds in Africa, with the focus on the GRV. The GRV is one of the unique geological phe- nomena on earth, stretching from Turkey to Mozambique along 7,200 km. As a result it constitutes a migration route of global importance through which hundreds of millions of migrating birds migrate yearly from Europe–Asia to Africa and back. Instead of the conventional treatment of each country separately protecting migrating birds and their habitat, a proposal was made to the UNESCO World Heritage Center to declare the entire GRV as one global World Heritage Site as a serial nomination of 22 countries. These countries will together develop policies of research, conservation, education and eco- tourism in a new approach that will expand the conventional approach on a mega scale for the benefit of the migrating birds and their habitat.