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| Mihaela Ilieva, Assoc. Prof. |
I was always fascinated by the huge diversity
in nature. Not just in terms of species, but also as processes and interactions.
I chose to focus my research on bird migration and I did my PhD on orientation
behaviour of long-distance passerine migrants under the supervision of Dr. Pavel Zehtindjiev. I am also interested in the physiological
aspects of bird migrations and the evolutionary mechanisms of the inherited
migratory programs that allow birds to make their amazing journeys. To study
bird migration my colleagues and me use a variety of methods like orientation
experiments, genetic and stable isotope analyses and light level geolocator
tracking.
My other passion are the parasites. I did my
master thesis studying chewing lice on migratory birds and later got involved
in several projects on avian malaria blood parasites. In our enthusiastic Avian Blood Parasites
Research Group we have started to accumulate knowledge about where and when the
migratory birds become infected and how blood parasites influence birds’ behaviour.
I was lucky to be able to do most of my
studies at Kalimok field station in northeastern Bulgaria but also having the possibility to work in projects as far away
as Russia and Greenland. In 2009 I started a postdoc at Lund University, Sweden
with prof. Susanne Åkesson, studying the migratory directions of different
populations of willow warblers in Sweden, and later also in Bulgaria. Currently
I am again in Sweden for a second postdoc in the frames of CAnMove program
(Centre for Animal Movement Research), this time studying the fuelling and
orientation responses of several migratory bird species to simulated magnetic
displacements.
http://www.iber.bas.bg/?q=bg/user/32
http://canmove.lu.se/staff/postdoc/Mihaela
