Duck Stop

Above all, they want to answer one question: do water birds prefer plant food? To find out, biologists from Constance and the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology in Radolfzell are diving into the depths of Lake Constance to study the menu of the water birds. And there are plenty of birds: up to 260,000 of them overwinter on Lake Constance. When they all go in search of food, there are most certainly consequences for the animal and plant world. What do life and survival look like on and in the lake? Do the feeding habits of the birds change over the course of the year? Are there gender-specific or perhaps individual differences in the choice of food? And what do the researchers discover on the bottom of the lake?

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Duck Stop: Episode 06, 27/10/2009

Going Bird Catching

Anja needs feathers and blood samples from the birds for her experiments. No easy task, because the coots aren’t easy to catch and they can escape again very quickly! She hopes that a duck trap will help her catch some. Will her plan work? Another problem is that the bird’s migration makes it hard to say where they ate what.

At a glance

University: University of Konstanz

Field of Research: Biology, Botany, Ecology, Geosciences, Limnology, Ornithology

Location: Lake Constance

Episodes: 11

Season/Year: 2. Season/ 2009

Status: Finished

Topics: coot, blood, summer, lake, biology, adventure, germany

15.06.2009

Lake Constance Menu

260,000 water birds in search of food

30.06.2009

Life in the Lower Lake

At the diving station: above all, the researchers want to learn one thing in particular: how many plants do the water birds eat and how does that affect the symbiotic community of animals in the lower lake. But how do the researchers keep track of the feeding habits?