Melissa Bowlin Ph.D.

Postdoc

 

Research Interests

Migration has evolved repeatedly in many different clades, yet migratory behavior is often costly and risky.  My research is aimed at explaining this apparent paradox.  To do this, I integrate physiology, behavioral ecology and evolution using an avian system. 

Billions of birds migrate between continents each year; many die in transit.  Migration therefore has important consequences for avian conservation.  We know a great deal about the behavior and physiology of migratory birds on the ground at stopover sites, but we have considerably less information about their behavior and physiology while they are in the air, even though small birds use approximately one-third of their energy during migration on flight.  Without a better idea of how and why these costs vary between individuals and species, we cannot understand how life-history strategies like migration evolve nor accurately predict how anthropogenic change will affect migrants.  Much of my research to date has focused on the energetic costs of migratory flight and on various morphological features that may mitigate those costs. 

In my research program, I combine studies of migrants in their natural environments with laboratory-based work where non-target variables can be more carefully controlled.  At Lund, I am working in a state-of-the-art wind tunnel to experimentally test hypotheses about the energetic costs of migration and molt, another very costly life history strategy.

Bowlin, M. S., and M. Wikelski.  2008.  Pointed wings, low wingloading and calm air reduce the cost of migratory flight in songbirds. PLoS ONE 3:e2154. 

Cochran, W. W., Bowlin, M. S., and M. Wikelski. 2008. Wingbeat frequency and flap-pause ratio during natural migratory flight in thrushes. Integrative and Comparative Biology.  48:134-151. 

Thorup, K., Bisson, I., Bowlin, M. S., Holland , R. A., Wingfield, J. C., Ramenofsky, M., and M. Wikelski.  2007. Evidence for a navigational map stretching across the continental U.S. in a migratory songbird. PNAS 104:18115-18119.

Bowlin, M. S. 2007. Sex, wingtip shape and wing-loading predict arrival date at a stopover site in the Swainson’s Thrush (Catharus ustulatus).  Auk 124:1388-1396. 

Bowlin, M. S., Wikelski, M. C. and W. W. Cochran.  2005.  Biotelemetry of New World thrushes during migration: Physiology, energetics and orientation in the wild.  Integrative and Comparative Biology 45:295-304.

Bowlin, M. S. and D. W. Winkler. 2004.  Natural variation in flight performance is related to timing of breeding in the tree swallow Tachycineta bicolor in New York .  Auk 121:345-353.  

Positions:

Current Marie Curie Incoming International Post-doctoral Fellow, Lund University

2007-2008 Post-doctoral Fellow in Avian Biology, University of Montana

Education:

2002-2007 Ph.D. student, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University . Advisor: Martin Wikelski. Dissertation title: “Going the distance: Morphological adaptations to migration and the energetics of migratory flight in Catharus thrushes.”

1998-2002 B.S. student, Cornell University , majoring in biological sciences. Graduated summa cum laude.

Address: Theoretical Ecology, Ecology Building,  223 62 Lund , Sweden
Phone: +46 (0)46 2224955, Fax: +46 (0)46 2224716
Publisher: Jörgen Ripa
E-mail: jorgen.ripa@teorekol.lu.se