I am director of studies in Faunistics at the Department of Zoology and coordinator for the Bachelor thesis course in biology, marine biology and molecular biology. I am also coordinator for the courses Traineeship in Biology and the evening course Bird ecology, systematics and behavior.

Long-term effects of climate change on Swedish bird populations

Global warming is affecting the annual cycle of birds with consequences on population trends. Still, there is a need to understand the large variability between species, and the mechanisms underlying current phenological changes to foresee future effects on biodiversity of avian species and their ecosystem services. In this project we investigate the effects of climate change on shifts in wintering areas, breeding time and reproductive success of birds breeding in Sweden, by time-series analysis of ringing data and nest reports (collected 1950 and onwards) in relation to environmental variables such as temperature, rain and a vegetation index. The project is funded by The Bolin Centre for Climate Research; Research Area 8.

I also take part in a project that in detail study the breeding population of willow warbler in the vicinity of Tovetorp Reseach Station, which has been going on since 1979. From 2020 I also take part in David Wheatcroft’s project on song learning and vocalization in birds.

Collaborators

• Dr Marta Lomas Vega; Post Doc, SU, Dept of Zoology
• Prof Thord Fransson; Swedish Museum of Natural History
• Dr David Wheatcroft; SU, Dept of Zoology
• Prof Sven Jakobsson; SU, Dept of Zoology
• Dr Johanna Hedlund; University of Exeter; UK

Earlier PhD students

• Maria Almbro: Flight ability in butterflies; 2009
• Ian Henshaw: Avian migration -the role of geomagnetic cues; 2009
• Robert Stach: Migratory routes and stopover behavior in avian migration; 2016