Scottish seabird migration study secures support
The study will look at seabird response to climate change
- Published
More than £2m has been awarded to an Aberdeen University-led research team to study the rapid evolution of Scottish seabirds in response to climate change.
The European Research Council has announced the funding - worth €2.5m - to try to predict how wild bird populations, particularly those of European shags, will respond to more frequent extreme winter storms through their migration patterns.
The study, also involving the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, and the Norwegian University for Science and Technology, is expected to last five years.
It builds on extensive fieldwork already carried out on Scotland's east coast.
The project's leader, Prof Jane Reid, said it would greatly increase scientists' ability to predict and manage the fates of wild bird populations in the face of climate change.