Project description
Understanding how disruptors affect animal migration
Artificial light at night attracts the attention of migratory birds and disrupts their flight patterns. Frequent warm periods during migration seasons may also disrupt animal migration. The ERC-funded MigDisrupt project aims to examine how animal migration is regulated, as well as the cues animals use and the factors that influence migratory behaviour. The focus will be on three main disruptors: artificial light, magnetic storms and extreme temperatures. The project will use advanced radar monitoring, individual tracking and experimental methods. The findings should shed light on the evolutionary processes shaping animal migration and how these will interact with a changing world.
Objective
This project will use state-of-the-art monitoring and experiments to investigate how animal migration is controlled, how animals use cues, and factors that govern migratory behaviour. I will do this by taking the novel approach of focusing on three large-scale disruptors that migrants can encounter on their journeys; artificial light, magnetic storms and extreme temperatures, and use the effect of these disruptors on both the individual and system level to discover how sensitive migratory behaviours are to disturbances. I will use a unique combination of multiscale radar monitoring, individual tracking and experiments to investigate how these disruptors affect different parts of the migratory process and will uncover the effects on both bird and insect migration. I will test theoretical predictions on real world outcomes of large numbers of migrants, ushering in the next breakthrough in our understanding of animal migration.
-The recent increase in artificial light at night has been hypothesised to interrupt and change the way nocturnal migrants, such as many birds and insects, migrate. It is still unclear what effect light has on migration outcomes.
-Migrants use the earth’s magnetic field to navigate during migration. But how robust are their navigation abilities when they encounter magnetic storms?
-Migration is intimately connected to the seasonal pulse of the earth. Unseasonably warm periods are increasing in frequency, also during migration seasons. How do short periods of high temperatures affect animal migration?
The overarching goal of this action is to test if several potential disruptors have detectable effects on animal migration outcomes. The results will answer important fundamental questions about how sensitive or robust animal migration is in the face of disturbances. This will enable us to understand the evolutionary processes that have shaped animal migration, and how they will interact with a changing world.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
This project's classification has been human-validated.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
This project's classification has been human-validated.
- natural sciences biological sciences zoology ornithology
- natural sciences biological sciences ecology evolutionary ecology
- natural sciences biological sciences zoology entomology
- natural sciences biological sciences biological behavioural sciences behavioural ecology
- natural sciences earth and related environmental sciences atmospheric sciences climatology climatic changes
Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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Topic(s)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2025-COG
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
22100 Lund
Sweden
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.