Summary
Large-scale climate changes as well as changes in land use currently threaten bird populations. In order to understand how birds will respond to these changes it is essential to understand how the environment affects their decisions during reproduction (such as laying date, clutch size, etc.) as it is likely that these responses are constrained by the physiological control mechanisms underlying these decisions. It is on these mechanisms that we will focus in the proposed Network. There are two fundamentally different questions that can be posed, and for a full answer both need to be addressed in a integrated fashion. The first is how these mechanisms have evolved and how they might change due to selection. This falls within the domain of ecology. The second is how the mechanism works causally. In vertebrates, hormones are the stepping-stone from environment to behaviour. Therefore, this second question falls within the domain of endocrinology. Unfortunately ecologists and endocrinologists have taken radically different conceptual and methodological approaches to understanding and predicting how animals adapt to environmental change. A Network was therefore proposed to foster exchange of knowledge, techniques and data between endocrinologists and ecologists to address this pressing and topical issue.
For more information on E-BIRD Network activities Go to Website
Duration
Three years, from September 2003 to November 2006
