jueves, 23 de marzo de 2017

New publication : surviving at high elevation !

Bastianelli, G., Tavecchia, G., Meléndez, L. Seoane, J., Obeso, J. R. and Laiolo, P. 2017.
Surviving at high elevations: an inter- and intra-specific analysis in a mountain bird community Oecologia doi:10.1007/s00442-017-3852-1

Photo: e.wikipedia.org
Abstract: Elevation represents an important selection agent on self-maintenance traits and correlated life histories in birds, but no study has analysed whether life-history variation along this environmental cline is consistent among and within species. In a sympatric community of passerines, we analysed how the average adult survival of 25 open-habitat species varied with their elevational distribution and how adult survival varied with elevation at the intra-specific level. For such purpose, we estimated intra-specific variation in adult survival in two mountainous species, the Water pipit (Anthus spinoletta) and the Northern wheatear (Oenanthe oenanthe) in NW Spain, by means of capture–recapture analyses. At the inter-specific level, high-elevation species showed higher survival values than low elevation ones, likely because a greater allocation to self-maintenance permits species to persist in alpine environments.
Photo : larsfoto.es
At the intra-specific level, the magnitude of survival variation was lower by far. Nevertheless, Water pipit survival slightly decreased at high elevations, while the proportion of transient birds increased. In contrast, no such relationships were found in the Northern wheatear. Intra-specific analyses suggest that living at high elevation may be costly, such as for the Water pipit in our case study. Therefore, it seems that a species can persist with viable populations in uplands, where extrinsic mortality is high, by increasing the investment in self-maintenance and prospecting behaviours.

lunes, 20 de marzo de 2017

Lizard spring campaign: tomorrow !

Lizard spring 2017 campaign is on the starting blocks. Tomorrow : first day, first island. This year we begin a collaborative research with the LIE-EBD at the Estacion Biologica de Doñana and Dr. Laura Baldo from the University of Barcelona. New exciting data are waiting for us.
Photo: G. Tavecchia

lunes, 13 de marzo de 2017

Ph.D., FPU and INTERSHIP with the G.E.P. 2017/2018

Are you interested in joining our research or developing your own one within the G.E.P ?


We regularly supervise Ph.D., Master projects and intership experiences on several issues related to Population Ecology of different species. Our main research lines at the moment are:
 
Life-history adaptations of island lizards.
Population Ecology of seabirds.
The influence of human activities on life-history tactics of birds.
Population Viability Analysis of vulnerable and endangered species. 
 
At present we do not have fellowships to offer, but if you have a Ph.D. grant or thinking to write a FPU project with the G.E.P. please contact us 

  
g.tavecchia-at-uib.es
d.oro-at-uib.es

miércoles, 8 de marzo de 2017

Shortlisted for Homeward Bound Project 2018 !

Ana Payo-Payo from the G.E.P. has been shortlisted for the Homeward Bound Project 2018.  The Homeward Bound Project (here for more details) "Mother nature needs her daugthers" is a groundbreaking initiative and outreach for women, set against the backdrop of Antarctica.

Ana releases this week an interview about her personal experience and the situation of women in science at Beleopolis (article by E. Soto) here

sábado, 4 de marzo de 2017

Yellow Legged Gull campaign on the starting blocks

The Yellow Legged Gull 2017 campaign at Dragonera Naural Park is on the starting blocks. We have received two nice pics from C. Loske of a newly marked gull (top) and an old one (bottom), respectively. Thank you Carl !