Melissa Bowlin
Research
A former Marie Curie International Postdoctoral Fellow in Anders Hedenström’s lab.
Ultimately, I want to know how and why an energetically costly, potentially risky life-history strategy like migration can evolve; in Lund I was investigating how turbulence and molt affect the energetics and aerodynamics of migrating birds.
I used heart rate transmitters to measure energy use as birds fly in the wind tunnel, and capture their wakes using DPIV technology so I could measure the aerodynamic forces the birds are producing. The combination allowed me to measure the costs and benefits of flying under different conditions and should provide new insight into our understanding of migratory behavior and how migration interacts with other life-history events such as molt.