Approaches
Birds are important indicators of global change and the state of the environment. We are using individual marked (ringed) bird populations to monitor changes in survival, breeding success, migratory behavior, and pollution.
We are part of a nationwide Constant Effort Ringing Scheme (Integriertes Monitoring von Singvogelpopulationen, IMS) aiming to obtain population indices, productivity indices and estimates of survival rates of songbird populations.
We also apply the same constant effort site principles to trap birds during winter to investigate the migratory behavior of local breeding populations, with a special focus on partial migrants (TEILZIEHER project).
We are also part of a nationwide program to study the use of maize fields by birds, and of the European Skylark ringing program.
During handling of the birds, we collect fecal samples of the ringed individuals to screen for pesticide residues to analyze current exposure risks.
Fecal samples are also collected from individually ringed waterbirds and are screened for microplastics. We aim to investigate whether waterbirds could be used as sentinels for microplastic pollution of freshwater lakes, and whether the consumption of microplastics has effects on body condition and survival.
© Arend Heim 
© Arend Heim Partners
Most of our work is in collaboration with Dr. Alexandra Esther and the Julius-Kühn-Institute Münster.
The project on microplastics is in collaboration with Dr. Friederike Gabel and Diana Michler-Kozma of the Institute of Landscape Ecology, Münster.
Rings are provided by the Helgoland Bird Ringing Centre.
Fieldwork is possible through the support of Moritz Meinken and Nick Niemann as bird ringers, and numerous volunteers as bird ringing helpers, especially Laurin Temme, Helma Mensing, Jan Steen and Johannes Amshoff.Teaching
All projects are integrated in the Bachelor and Master studies of Landscape Ecology at the University of Münster, e.g. in the courses on ornithological field methods and data analysis. Furthermore, numerous student projects as well BSc and MSc theses were conducted within the monitoring projects.
© Wieland Heim
