Ecology and conservation of birds

Our research fields are behavioural ecology and conservation biology, and our main current interests are the behavioural and ecological adaptations of strong sexual selection, the evolution of sex ratio, and sexual segregation in species with extreme sexual size dimorphism. We are also interested in knowing the effects of human-induced landscape changes on the behaviour and population dynamics of wild species. Recently, we have started a new research line on self-medication in birds. Working mostly with birds, our research has been typically based on long-term monitoring of behavioural patterns and life histories of marked individuals. By linking individual behaviour with population ecology, our aim was to find answers to fundamental questions in behavioural ecology through a deep knowledge of the species and systems studied, that could also later be applied to their conservation.