Dr. Wolfgang Fiedler

I am primarily interested in the phenology of bird migrations and the consequences associated with migratory behavior for both the bird and its environment. The first aspect comprises morphological adaptations of the flight apparatus (wing shape, ultrastructures on the wing) as well as behavioural adaptations e.g. in distance and timing of migration, movement strategies, temporal schedules and the incorporation of movement in the annual calendar where also time for breeding and moulting is needed. With respect to the effects of bird migration on the environment my current main interest focusses on the seed dispersal of frugivores and the disperal of pathogens through migrating waterbirds.

I am head of the Centre for Animal Marking (CAM) which continues to focus on studying the movement behaviour of birds through individual tracking or other marking.

The white stork is expected to undergo significant changes in its migratory behaviour due to widely varying mortalities in the wintering areas in Central Europe, the Mediterranean region and south of the Sahara, which will be flanked by climate change-related changes (frost, snow cover, precipitation) on the one hand and man-made changes (dismantling of landfills as an important food source, changes in land use) on the other. With electronic tracking devices, traditional ringing and the opportunity to work with numerous volunteers (ultimately highly qualified citizen scientists), the CAM has excellent tools at its disposal to record the storks' reactions to the significant changes in environmental conditions and to understand their influence on migration behaviour and population development. The next important aim we are heading for is a combination of the classical bird rings with a tracking device. This “intelligent ring” shall be attached by our trained amateur bird ringers under the legal coverage of their ringers’ licenses as they perform bird ringing since decades instead of the currently demanded long and tedious permit procedure as animal experiment that require presence of a scientist when the bird are tagged. Integrating tracking electronics into usual bird rings will enable us to achieve much larger sample sizes of tagged individuals for long term and large scale studies on birds in their natural environment. After successful tests in 2024 and 2025 we plan to start with a prototype on several 100 white stork nestlings from various parts of the European / North African population in 2026.

In the past three years, avian influenza has also caused measurable damage to wild bird populations in Central Europe for the first time and has become endemic in some regions. Waterfowl (especially anatids, more recently also gulls) play a special role as reservoirs and vehicles for the spread of the viruses, in addition to anthropogenic pathways. In cooperation with virologists and epidemiologists it is planned to gain a better overview of the significantly increased impact of the disease in wild birds by sampling and tracking individuals of the reservoir species that are particularly under suspicion and to use this to develop sensible measures to contain the disease.

In a couple of smaller studies I intend to continue my work within tracking projects on conservation relevant birds (currently Black Stork, Red Kite, Honey Buzzard and Curlew in Germany, White-bellied Heron in Bhutan, Vultures in Rwanda). In these projects tracking data is needed to develop or evaluate conservation measures and the authorities and NGOs are in need of a cooperation partner from the scientific site. This also includes legal questions and access to amateur experts. I think that CAM and our institute holds exactly the expertise and the technical requirements needed.

The CAM is intensively involved in the operation and further development of Movebank, in particular in the establishment of the Movebank Museum. Data collected in the telemetry and ringing projects are already being used in practical applications such as the prediction tool for the probability of bird flu outbreaks or the Eurasian-African bird migration atlas, or are being used to train prediction models for collisions with wind turbines, for example. This central service, based on a very open data policy that often leads to research collaborations as a direct benefit for the CAM, is to be further expanded.

A central task of the CAM will also be to create the necessary conditions for the deployment of highly qualified volunteers. This applies not only to the training and further education of the still large number of interested people, but also to the creation of the administrative and legal basis (particularly with regard to animal experimentation law) for the deployment of volunteers in modern bird migration research.