Journal article
Predicting migratory corridors of white storks, ciconia ciconia, to enhance sustainablewind energy planning: A data-driven agent-based model
F Oloo, K Safi, J Aryal
Sustainability Switzerland | MDPI | Published : 2018
DOI: 10.3390/su10051470
Open access
Abstract
White storks (Ciconia ciconia) are birds that make annual long-distance migration flights from their breeding grounds in the Northern Hemisphere to the south of Africa. These trips take place in the winter season, when the temperatures in the North fall and food supply drops. White storks, because of their large size, depend on the wind, thermals, and orographic characteristics of the environment in order to minimize their energy expenditure during flight. In particular, the birds adopt a soaring behavior in landscapes where the thermal uplift and orographic updrafts are conducive. By attaining suitable soaring heights, the birds then use the wind characteristics to glide for hundreds of kil..
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Awarded by Austrian Science Fund
Funding Acknowledgements
This research is supported by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) through the Doctoral College GIScience at the University of Salzburg (DK W1237-N23). The Max-Planck Institute for Ornithology, Department for Migration and Immuno-Ecology, and the University of Konstanz's Department for Biology supported the collection of the empirical data of the storks that were used here. We are grateful to Andrea Flack, Wolfgang Fielder, and Martin Wikelski for collecting the field data of the white storks and for making them available. We are also grateful to Josef Strobl, Gudrun Wallentin, and Daniel Brown for providing useful comments that shaped this research and the manuscript.