Selected projects

Wind energy towers and bats
Planungsbüro Dr. Robert Brinkmann, Gundelfingen
Landschaftsplanung – Landschaftsökologie – Angewandte Tierökologie

Institut für Umweltplanung, Leibniz Universität Hannover

Animal Physiology, Department of Biology, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg

Bats crash with wind energy towers. The aim of this project is to assess the number of bats dying at wind energy towers and to identify weather situations or specific characteristics of the surrounding area that are correlated with high bat mortality. The study design was made in collaboration with oikostat and we do parts of the data analyses. For example, we estimate the number of bats dying at wind energy towers using N-mixture models based on the number of dead found bats, acoustic bat activity measurements, wind velocity and further environmental variables.

2008/2009

Influence of habitat on Ortolan Bunting Emberiza hortulana breeding success
dziewiaty + bernardy Biologische Bestandserhebungen und Planung

The influence of different agricultural crop types and vegetation types on the breeding success of Ortolan Buntings in southern Germany was assessed by multiple regression analysis and compositional analysis.

August 2008

Analysis of bird migration data from Ulmethöchi (BL)
Basellandschaftlicher Natur- und Vogelschutzverband BLV

The BLV has data from 44 years of observation of bird migration at Ulmethöchi (BL) during the autumn season. Migrating birds were systematically counted, and in addition birds were caught and marked with individual rings. We explored daily and seasonal patterns in the migration activity for various species, and tested whether the number of birds per species changed over the last 44 years. For each species, we modelled the number of migrants by weather variables in order to shed some light on the mechanics of bird migration.
The results were published in scientific journals.

June 2005 - February 2007

Analysis of ringing recovery data of Tufted ducks and Pochards wintering in Switzerland
Swiss Ornithological Institute Sempach

By analysing ringing recovery data we answered the following questions for both duck species: Where do the Tufted ducks and Pochards that winter in Switzerland breed? Where are they found during the year? Are there differences in the migration behaviour between the sexes and the age classes? Are there long-term trends in the migration behaviour?

This project yielded two publications in Der Ornithologische Beobachter and a report to the Bundesamt für Veterinärwesen BVET.

July 2004 - Februar 2006