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Dr Sonia Kleindorfer
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| Birdlab people in Galapagos
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Contact Details
Key Responsibilities
- Senior Lecturer in Biodiversity and Conservation
- Course Coordinator Bachelor of Ecotourism
Teaching
- Biodiversity & Conservation
- Ecotourism
- Animal Behaviour
Research
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| Measuring superb fairywren male
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The BirdLab at Flinders University is currently made up of 8 PhD and 5 Honours students. Our focus is the behavioural ecology of birds. We conduct two main research programs: (1) identifying the fitness costs of a recently introduced parasitic fly to birds of the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador, and (2) identifying the causes of population decline in South Australian birds. Both projects have high international conservation priority, given the severe impacts of parasitism in bird species no less iconic than Darwin’s finches, and national concerns over the high level of declining birds in Australia. During 2003-2004, we conducted the first systematic study of avian parasites in the Mount Lofty Ranges (South Australia) and found evidence for distinct geographical tick distributions as well as physiological costs of tick parasitism in Australian birds.
In addition to studies on the fitness costs of parasitism, researchers in the BirdLab at Flinders University use experimental methods to (1) study the effects of predation in natural populations of passerines in South Australia, (2) examine bioacoustic characteristics of birds and their role in speciation scenarios, and (3) examine morphological variation and foraging behaviour in Darwin’s Finches and Australian birds to better understand trait utility and adaptive landscapes.
Fitness costs of Philornis downsi in Darwin’s finches. Once a year I travel to the Galapagos Islands to study the fitness costs of the introduced parasitic fly Philornis downsi for Darwin’s finches. Larvae of the fly were discovered in Darwin finch nests in 1997. My long-term research in collaboration with Birgit Fessl (Max Planck Centre of Ornithology) and Charlotte Causton (Charles Darwin Research Station) shows increasing mortality costs of the fly since its discovery. Total brood mortality in parasitised Darwin finch nests was 19% in 2000 and 76% in 2005. The fly is also implicated in the local extinction of Darwin’s Warbler Finch (Certhidea fusca) by 2004. We are currently monitoring the spread of the fly across the islands. Future work will address the molecular ecology of this host-parasite interaction to contribute to the management of this highly invasive pest on the Galapagos Islands.
Fitness costs of Ixodes ticks in Australian birds. After mosquitoes, ticks are the main vectors of disease in birds. Specifically, Ixodes spp. are known to transmit Borrelia burgdorferi, a Lyme disease agent. We found a consistent geographical pattern of Ixodes tick distribution in South Australia: ticks occurred on Kangaroo Island and at coastal sites but not at mainland sites further inland. Declining bird species, such as White-browed Scrub-wren that foraged in the moist understorey, were found to have extraordinarily high parasite intensity (maximum number of Ixodes ticks per individual was 48); New Holland Honeyeaters had consistently high tick prevalence (over 40% of birds with 1-2 ticks). Our results showed that birds infested with ticks had lower body condition and reduced haemoglobin levels. Notably, declining bird species tended to have higher parasite intensity than common species. Future work will address the molecular ecology of ticks and their hosts, as well as experimental studies on the costs of parasitism.
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