R. Nathan

Combining radio-telemetry and radar measurements to test optimal foraging in an aerial insectivore bird

This study uses radar and biotelemetry to show Little Swifts adjust foraging behavior based on insect abundance, with reduced flight distance and increased colony visits on high-prey days.

Revealing principles of autonomous thermal soaring in windy conditions using vulture-inspired deep reinforcement-learning

This study uses deep reinforcement learning to model thermal soaring in gliders, identifying learning bottlenecks and neural function clusters similar to vulture behavior.

Cranes soar on thermal updrafts behind cold fronts as they migrate across the sea

This study shows common cranes soar over open sea during migration, challenging assumptions about thermal conditions and flight strategies.

Clarifying space use concepts in ecology: range vs. occurrence distributions

This paper distinguishes between range and occurrence distributions in ecology, showing that conflating them can lead to incorrect ecological inferences and conservation practices.

Noninvasive sampling for comparisons of wildlife microbiomes may be more reliable than sampling trapped animals

The paper compares microbiomes from noninvasive fecal samples and trapped common cranes, finding that noninvasive sampling may more reliably represent host microbiota by avoiding trapping effects.

WATLAS: high throughput and real-time tracking of many small birds in the Dutch Wadden Sea

WATLAS tracks many small birds in the Wadden Sea with high-resolution data, revealing space-use patterns, individual variation, and social networks.

Validating a high-throughput tracking system: ATLAS as a regional-scale alternative to GPS

This paper tests the accuracy of the ATLAS tracking system against GPS in the Wadden Sea, finding it provides comparable location estimates to GPS for tracking small animals.

A Guide to Pre-Processing High-Throughput Animal Tracking Data

This paper provides a pre-processing pipeline for high-throughput animal tracking data to reduce location errors and improve analysis, demonstrating its use with simulated and real bat tracking data.

Causes and consequences of facultative sea crossing in a soaring migrant

This study examines how atmospheric and geographic factors influence route selection in migrating white storks, finding that wind patterns and energy costs affect whether birds cross or circumvent the Mediterranean Sea.