dr. Y.C. (Ying-Chi) Chan, PhD

Migration ecology of shorebirds in the East Asian-Australasian Flyway

This project aims to understand the mechanisms behind the decline of migratory birds in the face of habitat loss in China. Using the latest miniature satellite transmitters, we track shorebirds that migrate from Australia to the Siberian breeding areas via the Yellow Sea, where mudflats are critical for refuelling before onward migration. These mudflats are now being developed and bird habitat shrink rapidly. We are conducting large-scale habitat surveys in the Chinese Yellow Sea, including the mapping of food landscapes of sites used by individually tracked birds. By linking their fates (breeding success, survival) with the differential use of places, we hope to establish the mechanisms of the population declines.

Internship opportunities

Students interested in doing an internship within this project are very welcome to contact me by email. I am looking for a student to work on how shorebirds respond to food shortage at a staging site in China. He/she will be conducting laboratory work on collected data, and data analysis at the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ), preferrably in summer 2017 for at least 3 months.