Smelly plovers: communication, concealment and antisepsis

• Applicant: Professorin Dr. Barbara Caspers
• Subject Area: Sensory and Behavioural Biology ; Evolution, Anthropology
• Term: from 2019 to 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 421568765

• Final Report Year: 2024

Final Report Abstract

The project was heavily influenced by the Pandemic which prevented us from doing field experiments as proposed. Still, we were able, thanks to the great team of Malagasies scientist and fieldworkers, to collect the scent samples needed for the proposed analysis. We were also able to perform the first experiment on odour preferences in chicks in the wild. Apart from that the Pandemic prevented us from starting any experiment to test for preen gland secretion being used in protection, which should be done in a future project. Being able to team up with collaborators we were still able to publish several papers during the duration of this project.

Publications

• Olfactory camouflage and communication in birds. Biological Reviews, 97(3), 1193-1209.
  Grieves, Leanne A.; Gilles, Marc; Cuthill, Innes C.; Székely, Tamás; MacDougall‐Shackleton, Elizabeth A. & Caspers, Barbara A.
  
• Preen oil composition of Pied Flycatchers is similar between partners but differs between sexes and breeding stages. Ibis, 166(1), 171-186.
  Gilles, Marc; Fokkema, Rienk W.; Korsten, Peter; Caspers, Barbara A. & Schmoll, Tim
  
• No sex difference in preen oil chemical composition during incubation in Kentish plovers. PeerJ, 12, e17243.
  Gilles, Marc; Kosztolányi, András; Rocha, Afonso D.; Cuthill, Innes C.; Székely, Tamás & Caspers, Barbara A.