Hot Birds Research Project
Research
Climate change is relentless and ongoing, affecting all habitats from the most urbanised to the most remote and pristine.
We investigate the thermal physiology and behaviour of birds across biomes: from deserts to mountains to mesic subtropical and tropical lowlands. We study birds at both community and species levels, and our core goal is to understand how and why they are likely to cope – or fail to cope – in a hotter world. Along the way we are making exciting discoveries and adding to our knowledge of thermal biology, ecophysiology, behavioural ecology and life history strategies: and how changes in these at species level affect ecosystem function.
The Hot Birds Project was initiated in 2009 as a partnership between the FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology at the University of Cape Town, and the University of Pretoria.
Today we are an interdisciplinary team of physiologists and behavioural ecologists led by Associate Professor Susie Cunningham, Director of the FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology (University of Cape Town) and Professor Andrew McKechnie, SARChI Research Chair of Conservation Physiology (University of Pretoria and SANBI). Our team consists of professors, lecturers, post-docs, students, and research assistants from multiple universities in South Africa, the USA, and Australia, with collaborators even further afield.​​
Integrative research
Biodiversity responds to rapid environmental change at all scales from the molecular to the macroecological. Here, we integrate learnings from our behavioural and physiological research to improve holistic understanding of responses of species and ecosystems to global change, using molecular, remote sensing, and biophysical modelling tools.
Research on temperature and behaviour
Physiological thermoregulation in the heat is costly for endotherms. Changes in behaviour (e.g. reduction in activity) and microsite selection (choosing shaded, cool locations in the landscape) can reduce some of these costs by reducing the animal's 'heat load'. However, these strategies carry their own baggage. Here we investigate the fitness payoffs and community and ecosystem level consequences of behavioural thermoregulation.
Research on temperature and physiology
Birds exist in all environments from polar to arid, montane, temperate, subtropical and tropical. They cope, physiologically, with an extraordinary range of environmental challenges. Here we explore the limits of avian physiological thermoregulation and what shapes these, across biomes from the arid to the extremely humid. We are interested in the ecology, evolution, and molecular underpinnings of avian thermoregulation in the heat.
Climate change poses a major conservation threat to wildlife and ecosystems globally. Our research under the themes above is helping us to understand which species are vulnerable, and why, and where. Here, we attempt to leverage this knowledge to design effective conservation interventions.
Research on temperature and physiology
