Understanding climate-driven range shifts of common Swiss breeding birds

Climate change is reshaping bird populations across landscapes, with important consequences for population dynamics, community composition and biodiversity. Understanding why some species increase in certain locations and decrease in others is essential for anticipating future changes and developing conservation strategies that remain effective under a warming climate. This Master’s thesis offers the opportunity to explore these questions using long-term monitoring data from Swiss breeding birds and high-resolution climate information.

This project aims to uncover how climate shapes local population trends of Swiss breeding birds. By analysing spatial patterns in abundance change across Switzerland, the student will identify the climatic factors most strongly associated with population increases and declines. The project will also explore how climate-driven shifts in bird abundance at the local scale may influence population dynamics and biodiversity, with a particular focus on mountain landscapes.

This is a data-driven desktop project without fieldwork. It will combine data from the Swiss Ornithological Institute’s common bird monitoring programme (MHB) with climatic data from MeteoSwiss. The student will develop statistical models to predict abundance changes from climatic variables. The expected outcome is a Master’s thesis with the potential to form the basis of a scientific publication on climatic drivers of bird abundance redistribution and their consequences for biodiversity in mountain landscapes.

We are looking for a motivated Master’s student with a strong interest in quantitative ecology, climate change and bird conservation. Previous experience with R is required; experience with statistical modelling and familiarity with the Swiss avifauna are desirable. The data are ready to be analyzed so the student can start at any time as of September 2026 (open to discussion).

The student will be part of the State of the Avifauna Unit at the Swiss Ornithological Institute and supervised by Dr. Marvin Moosmann and Nicolas Strebel (Unit leader).