© Marcel Burkhardt

      Christoph Meier

      Contact

      Christoph Meier
      Christoph Meier (Foto © Archiv Vogelwarte)
      Dr. Christoph Meier
      Schweizerische Vogelwarte
      Seerose 1
      6204 Sempach
      Schweiz

      ++41 41 462 97 00 (Phone)
      ++41 41 462 97 10 (Fax)
      christoph.meier@vogelwarte.ch

      Function

      Post-doc

      • Collecting geolocator data, analysis, and publication
      • Supervision of master students

      Expertise

      • Palearctic-African bird migration
      • Dispersal biology
      • Species range dynamics
      • Spatially-explicit models

      Current Projects

      Migration ecology of the alpine swift (Tachymarptis melba)

      • Investigating the annual cycle of this species (determining staging sites, non-breeding sites, and migratory schedule)
      • Which factors affect the individual variation in migration strategies?
        • weather along the migration route and at the breeding ground
        • individual brood performance
        • population dynamic at the breeding site
        • genetic variation between individuals
      • How do migration strategies differ between populations?

      Migration ecology of the northern wheatear (Oenanthe oenanthe)

      • Localisation of the non-breeding sites and stop-over sites for the alpine wheatear population
      • Identifying temporal constrains in the migration schedule for individuals breeding at different altitudes
      • Understanding the costs of maladapted timing of migration

      Co-operations

      • Dr. Pavel Zehtindjiev, Institute of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia, Bulgaria
      • Dr. Raül Aymí, Institut Català d'Ornitologia, Barcelona, Spain
      • Dr. Hakan Karaardiҫ, Biyoloji Bölümü, Akdeniz Üniversitesi, Antalya, Turkey
      • Dr. Heiko Schmaljohan, Institute of Avian Research, “Vogelwarte Helgoland” Wilhelmshaven, Germany
      • Dr. Debora Arlt, Department of Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Science – SLU, Sweden
      • Willem Witvliet, Broek op Langedijk, Niederlande

      Other

      Languages: German, English, (Finnish)
      Programming: R, Matlab

      CV

      2013 –

      Post-doc at the Swiss Ornithological Institute, Department migration research
      2012 – 2013 Internship at the department for construction of Kanton Zürich, division for nature conservation
      2007 – 2012 PhD in evolutionary ecology at the University of Helsinki, Finland with Prof. Dr. Hanna Kokko, University of Helsinki, Finland and Prof. Dr. Dries Bonte, University of Ghent, Belgium on “The consequences of spatial environmental variability on dispersal and on the spatial distribution of species”
      2006 Assistant at Zoological Museum of the University of Zurich, planning a special exhibit on Alpine Ibex
      2005 – 2006 MSc in Zoology at the University of Zurich with Prof. Dr. Lukas Keller, Zoological Museum, University of Zurich on “Can anthelminthic resistance in gastrointestinal parasites spread across host species?”
      2000 – 2004 Undergraduate studies at the University of Zurich, main degree Zoology, secondary systematics of botany

      Publications