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I’m a postdoc at the ECoBird lab with a great interest in behavioural ecology, evolution and cognition. My research focuses on observing and measuring animal behaviour in fine detail, while also considering the unique traits of individual species and their variations. I enjoy diving into the complexities of animal cognition (including humans), uncovering the subtle patterns that help us understand how they interact with their environment. 

Expertise and interests: learning evolution, ecotypic differentiation, movement ecology, animal consciousness, cognition in primates, insects (butterflies) and birds (vultures, gulls, chickens) 

  

Researchgate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Simon-Braem 

I'm a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Ghent, funded by the FWO. My work focuses on uncovering the complexities of disease dynamics in wildlife populations, particularly pest species, by examining how individual differences among hosts—such as personality traits and positions within social or transmission networks—affect their infection risk. My PhD research focused on rodents (more specifically the multimammate mice, Mastomys natalensis in Tanzania and the Morogoro virus), but I’ve since shifted my focus to feral pigeons, sometimes referred to as "rats with wings," as they offer a unique window into disease spread within urban environments. Using an integrative approach, I explore how factors like host movement, social behaviours, immunity, and environmental influences—such as urbanization, habitat fragmentation, and pollution—shape infection patterns. My goal is to develop a deeper understanding of disease ecology within urbanized spaces. 

I am a behavioural ecologist interested in understanding how animals deal with the challenges they face in their environment. I'm particularly interested in the role that the early-life environment has on the development of cognition, social behaviour, and animal cultures, working both in the field and the lab. By combining observational and experimental studies, my recent work has focused on challenges related to human-altered environments, such as urbanisation. In my current MSCA fellowship, I use an interdisciplinary approach (movement ecology, psychology, microbiology) to understand how high-fat high-sugar diet influences learning, navigation and collective behaviour in pigeons, and how the gut-microbiota mediates the relationship between diet and behaviour. 

  

Here is my personal website: http://camilletroisi.weebly.com 

My PhD aims to study the ecology of the endemic Falkland Steamer Duck (Tachyeres brachypterus). The approach combines mouvement ecology, trophic ecology, breeding phenology and modelling to gain a better understanding of this understudied species. In the context of climate change, the obtained knowledge will be key to better understand the species status and how resilient this coastal duck might be. 

 

This PhD is a cotutelle between Ghent University and Deakin University, with the support of SAERI. 

Combining movement (GPS tracking) and behavioural ecology, I wish to build the story of foraging strategies in Lesser black-backed gulls (Larus Fuscus), from causes to consequences. First, I am interested in the ontogeny of foraging strategies, which I investigate through a comparison of spatial use and foraging activity between juvenile and adult birds during their first migratory stopover. I also study the influence of pre-fledging behaviours on post-fledging spatial use, habitat use and foraging activity. Second, I use behavioural tests to understand the influence of certain personality traits on habitat use and foraging movements in adult birds. Finally, I look at the consequences of foraging strategies on the reproductive success, using stable isotope analysis and growth data from a four-year-monitoring. 

 Background: 

I am an agronomist with a background in animal ecology and biology. I started to be interested in birds during my first year of master. Since then, I have been working on predation in Collared and Pied flycatchers, aggressive interactions in Siberian Jays, diet analysis of Magellanic and Gentoo penguins and foraging strategies in Lesser black-backed gulls! Over the years, I also developed a real passion for wildlife photography and an enthusiasm for science communication, particularly to the broad public. 

Biological invasions are among the most significant global threats to biodiversity, the economy, and human well-being. Since eradicating established invasive species is typically difficult or even impossible, preventing new introductions is the most effective strategy for managing invasion risk. Spatially explicit predictions of invasion potential are essential for proactive risk assessments. However, many current assessments rely heavily on extrapolating species' range dynamics based on their realized niches within native ranges. Invasive species, however, frequently spread beyond their native (realized) niches, limiting the reliability of such predictive models. 

In my research, I adopt a mechanistic approach by using key functional traits to characterize species' fundamental niches, aiming to improve the accuracy of invasion risk forecasts. This method provides deeper ecological insights into the factors driving species distribution and is particularly relevant for invasive species, though it is rarely used due to perceived limitations in species trait data. My case study focuses on the successful invasion of Europe by the common waxbill (Estrilda astrild), a bird species native to tropical and southern Africa but now widespread across Portugal and Spain. To understand this invasion, I investigate the ecophysiology of common waxbills, examining their metabolism and other functional traits in both their invasive and native ranges. By integrating the ecophysiology of the common waxbill into invasion risk forecasts, this approach holds promise for a more accurate assessment of invasion potential than traditional methods. 

I am a pre-doctoral researcher currently working on the behavioural and cognitive effects of an adverse early social environment (characterized by parent-offspring aggression and/or neglect) and its transgenerational transmission in canaries (Serinus canaria). This project is a joint PhD between the University of Antwerp, the University of Gent, and the Natural Sciences Museum of Madrid (CSIC-MNCN; Madrid, Spain). My research interests are centred in social behaviour -especially aggressive and affiliative interactions across diverse contexts and species, ranging from fruit flies to spider monkeys or bonobos- and on understanding how early-life experiences shape behavioural and cognitive development.   

Diederik Strubbe is a biogeographer at INBO (Flemish Research Institute for Nature and Forest), specializing in research that informs invasive species management and policy. His work investigates how non-native species adapt to new environments and their potential impacts on native ecosystems. By combining observational studies, experiments, and niche modeling, he explores factors that influence invasion success and the reliability of risk forecasts. His research also examines how species might respond to climate-driven temperature changes, with a focus on ecophysiological and thermal tolerance mechanisms, supporting both invasive species management and conservation of vulnerable native species.  

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Aliquam tincidunt lorem enim, eget fringilla turpis congue vitae. Phasellus aliquam nisi ut lorem vestibulum eleifend. Nulla ut arcu non nisi congue venenatis vitae ut ante. Nam iaculis sem nec ultrices dapibus. Phasellus eu ultrices turpis. Vivamus non mollis lacus, non ullamcorper nisl. Pellentesque habitant morbi tristique senectus et netus et malesuada fames ac turpis egestas. Phasellus sit amet scelerisque ipsum. Morbi nulla dolor, adipiscing non convallis rhoncus, ornare sed risus.
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I am a movement ecologist, with particular interests in individual variation and its contribution to overall population maintenance, stability and adaptation to change. I gained my PhD from the University of York, UK, in 2019, which looked at individual variation in movement behaviour among breeding adult nightjars in the UK, and analysed their movement according to a number of environmental variables to assess their adaptability to change. 

Following this, I went on to my first postdoc at the University of Hull, UK, becoming the UK ‘Motus’ tracking network coordinator, seeking to expand its development. Subsequently I moved on to a second postdoc at the University of the Highlands and Islands in Scotland, where I worked on seabirds and environmental impact assessments. 

Now I am a Doctoral Assistant at Gent University, working across many projects but all focusing on avian movement, individual variation, learning and cognition. I also still work on the UK Motus network, encouraging expansion and providing training on tagging projects and help with funding. 

My PhD research explores the cost of learning in birds, focusing on how juveniles acquire skills, crucial to survival, like foraging and navigating. By examining factors such as social context, cognitive ability, and early-life conditions, I aim to uncover how these costs shape behaviour and influence survival outcomes.

In my PhD I am investigating how early-life social environments shape the development of behaviour and cognition in birds, with a focus on inhibitory control and learning. I am also passionate about science communication, both within the academic community and through public outreach, and have a strong interest in animal welfare research.

@KatyWillcoxABW 

My name is Wen, and I am a PhD student specializing in neuroscience and neurobiology. My research focuses on the gene expression of neurotransmitter receptors related to cognitive behaviors in quails and chickens. I also study the relationship between egg yolk and brain development in gulls.

My PhD research focuses on understanding how birds respond to the challenges posed by urbanisation, with an emphasis on the earliest stages of avian life, including embryonic development within the egg and post-hatching chick development. Specifically, I investigate the impacts of urban-related stressors—such as rooftop nesting, altered diets, and maternal stress—on reproductive success.

My PhD research explores response inhibition (RI) in birds, focusing on how they stop or cancel actions that are no-longer relevant, inappropriate, or overly risky. RI is essential for flexible and adaptive behavior, like avoiding predators or optimizing foraging strategies. By examining the (neuro)cognitive mechanisms underlying RI in complex, real-life environments, I aim to link neural, cognitive, behavioral and ecological levels of analysis, contributing to a more comprehensive understanding of animal behavior.

A key question in ecology is how species adjust their physiology to cope with different environmental conditions, as a better understanding of the underlying processes may allow ecologists to better predict how organisms will respond to changes in their environment. This is particularly important for endotherms, which must maintain their core body temperature within a narrow range. While endothermy allows animals to remain active across a range of temperatures, it comes with high energetic costs and physiological demands. For example, birds, due to their small size and primarily diurnal habits, are particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change. As temperature extremes continue to rise, many bird species are being pushed beyond their thermoneutral zone (TNZ) more frequently than ever before. 

In this context, my research focuses on the ecophysiological adaptations of passerine birds. By integrating laboratory respirometry, field studies, and spatially explicit geospatial modeling, I assess how both native and invasive bird species respond to environmental changes. The overall aim is to improve our understanding of how bird species cope with temperature changes, to better predict the invasion success of introduced species, and to assess how native species are likely to respond to temperature changes caused by global climate change.

With the world’s biodiversity in crisis, understanding how biodiversity influences ecosystem functioning and disease regulation has become a major focus of research. Particularly, the relationship between biodiversity and disease, and whether more diverse ecosystems can help protect humans and wildlife from pathogens, is attracting increasing attention. While much research has focused on community-level effects, individual-based pathways—such as stress-induced susceptibility—are becoming recognized as key factors in understanding these relationships.

Therefore, my PhD research focuses on understanding how forest structural complexity influences body condition and stress-mediated host-pathogen dynamics in birds. My work involves a combination of extensive field observations in forests across Belgium and detailed laboratory experiments on parasites and zoonotic agents, such as ticks and the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi sl. Using advanced statistical and mechanistic modeling, we aim to generalize our findings beyond individual cases, providing new insights into the links between biodiversity, forest health, and pathogen transmission. By adopting an individual-based approach, we move beyond community-level analyses to uncover the fine-scale interactions that shape these vital ecological relationships. My PhD is part of the FORESTER project, a collaborative effort between the Faculty of Science, Bioscience Engineering, and Veterinary Medicine.

Research Journey

I started my scientific education at the Karl Franzens University in Graz, Austria with a Bachelor degree in Ethology followed by a degree in Behaviour, Neuro and Cognition from the University of Vienna, Austria. During this time I developed a keen interest in animal behaviour and cognition, especially social cognition and individual differences. In 2016, I moved to Sydney, Australia, to pursue a PhD studying the link between cognition and sociality across lizard species with varying degrees of sociability. While I was using the comparative approach during my PhD to study the evolution of cognition in lizards, I changed to understand how intra-specific variation in sociality might influence the expression of behaviour and cognition in lizards during my PostDoc at the University of Bern, Switzerland. During my time in Bern, I was able to also pursue my interest in linking animal behaviour and cognition to welfare in lizards. Now, at the University of Gent, I focus on applied research linking early-life experiences to the development of behaviour and cognition to improve welfare in chicken.

Research Interests

My research interests focus on animal cognition and behaviour. I am fascinated by how animals learn, individually and socially, and how the acquired information can help them to cope with the challenges of everyday life. In particular, I am interested in cognitive flexibility and executive function. Recently my research focus has broadened towards cognitive ecology including questions such as how sociality influences learning ability, how parental care affects offspring behavioural and cognitive phenotype, how the sexes learn in different context and how a species ecology shapes its cognitive ability. I am most excited about the comparative approach to find out how species differ in their cognition and how cognitive abilities have evolved in different taxa. In this context I am very interested in individual differences and how these might reflect necessary variation to cope with different challenges that might arise within an individuals’ lifetime but also across generations. I am also interested in how we can use both behaviour and cognitive ability to develop and improve animal welfare and conservation measures.

Also, here is the link to my website: https://birgitszabo.wixsite.com/cogsciresearch

I’m Nathan Audenaert, the animal caretaker at the VOC in Oostende with a bachelor’s degree in agro- and biotechnology, specializing in animal care. In my role, I’m responsible for the daily care, well-being, and health monitoring of the animals, ensuring they have optimal living conditions. I combine my academic background with practical experience to contribute to sustainable animal care practices at EcoBird.

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Aliquam tincidunt lorem enim, eget fringilla turpis congue vitae. Phasellus aliquam nisi ut lorem vestibulum eleifend. Nulla ut arcu non nisi congue venenatis vitae ut ante. Nam iaculis sem nec ultrices dapibus. Phasellus eu ultrices turpis. Vivamus non mollis lacus, non ullamcorper nisl. Pellentesque habitant morbi tristique senectus et netus et malesuada fames ac turpis egestas. Phasellus sit amet scelerisque ipsum. Morbi nulla dolor, adipiscing non convallis rhoncus, ornare sed risus.
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Luc Lens (PI & co-founder of ECoBird).

My research programs include both captive-bred and free-living individuals and cover topics such as parental investment, movement ecology, avian invasions, avian cognition, population genetics, infection dynamics and conservation management. Our research takes place in a variety of field environments, from state-of-the-art aviaries in Ostend, through coastal, urban and forested habitats in Flanders, to tropical rainforests in Africa and small islands off the Australian coast.

Frederick Verbruggen (PI & co-founder of ECoBird).

With a background in cognitive psychology (and a touch of neuroscience), my academic journey has taken me from fellowships in the US and Wales to a professorship in England, before finally returning to Ghent in 2017—where it all began. Since my return, I’ve shifted my research focus from human cognition to avian cognition and behavior, merging professional expertise with a personal fascination for birds. This interdisciplinary exploration has also led to the creation of ECoBird. Feel free to explore this website to learn more about what we’re doing!