Imagine what it is like to be a Bar-tailed Godwit over the Pacific Ocean, four days into a nonstop flight from Alaska to New Zealand, with another four or five days yet to travel. Visualize a Blackpoll Warbler flying continuously for three days over the Atlantic Ocean, or a Garden Warbler crossing the Sahara Desert without stopping. These birds sustain extremely intense exercise for many days, with no external sources of water or nourishment. Chris Guglielmo, professor of biology and co-director of the Advanced Facility for Avian Research at the University of Western Ontario, will explore the physiological mechanisms that allow birds to make these astonishing flights as well as how variation in atmospheric conditions and stopover habitats affect migration. In addition he will discuss his recent discoveries about long-distance migration of North American bats.
