Research articles
From May 2018 to April 2020, I worked in the group of Kevin Laland at the University of St Andrews. Amongst others, his group specializes in how animals learn, especially from each other, and how this influences their evolution.
My work was financed by a Rubicon grant awarded by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research. I studied how migratory animals learn when and where to go, and how this affects their ecology. Specifically, I wanted to know how traditions help or hinder migratory birds to respond to changing environments, for example by climate change.
One of the main projects was to find out how barnacle geese that spend the winter in the Solway Firth in Scotland decide when and via which route to travel to Spitsbergen in spring. To do so, I collaborated with colleagues from the Netherlands, Norway and Great Britain who have been spending many years in the field. They have been catching and ringing geese, and then they tried to follow these ringed geese all year round. Using these observations, I built simulation models to determine what are the most likely mechanisms by which geese learn where to go. Do they learn this from their parents? Do they use their own experiences to make choices?
My work was financed by a Rubicon grant awarded by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research. I studied how migratory animals learn when and where to go, and how this affects their ecology. Specifically, I wanted to know how traditions help or hinder migratory birds to respond to changing environments, for example by climate change.
One of the main projects was to find out how barnacle geese that spend the winter in the Solway Firth in Scotland decide when and via which route to travel to Spitsbergen in spring. To do so, I collaborated with colleagues from the Netherlands, Norway and Great Britain who have been spending many years in the field. They have been catching and ringing geese, and then they tried to follow these ringed geese all year round. Using these observations, I built simulation models to determine what are the most likely mechanisms by which geese learn where to go. Do they learn this from their parents? Do they use their own experiences to make choices?
Young birds switch but old birds lead: how barnacle geese adjust habits to environmental change
Thomas Oudman, Kevin N. Laland, Graeme Ruxton, Ingunn Tombre, Paul Shimmings & Jouke Prop (2020) Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution 7: 502
Thomas Oudman, Kevin N. Laland, Graeme Ruxton, Ingunn Tombre, Paul Shimmings & Jouke Prop (2020) Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution 7: 502
Rethinking classic starling displacement experiments: evidence for innate or for learned migratory directions?
Theunis Piersma, A. H. Jelle Loonstra, Mo A. Verhoeven & Thomas Oudman
(2020) Journal of Avian Biology 51: e02337
Northern range expansion in spring-staging barnacle geese is a response to climate change and population growth, mediated by individual experience
Ingunn M. Tombre, Thomas Oudman, Paul Shimmings, Larry Griffin & Jouke Prop
(2019) Global Change Biology 25: 3680-3693
Animal learning as a source of developmental bias
Kevin Laland, Wataru Toyokawa & Thomas Oudman
(2019) Evolution & Development: e12311
Kevin Laland, Wataru Toyokawa & Thomas Oudman
(2019) Evolution & Development: e12311
Climate change and the increasing impact of polar bears on bird populations
Jouke Prop, Jon Aars, Bård-Jørgen Bårdsen, Sveinn Are Hanssen, Claus Bech, Sophie Bourgeon, Jimmy de Fouw, Geir Wing Gabrielsen, Johannes Lang, Elin Noreen, Thomas Oudman, Benoit Sittler, Lech Stempniewicz, Ingunn Tombre, Eva Wolters & Børge Moe
(2016) Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution 3: 10.3389/fevo.2015.00033
Jouke Prop, Jon Aars, Bård-Jørgen Bårdsen, Sveinn Are Hanssen, Claus Bech, Sophie Bourgeon, Jimmy de Fouw, Geir Wing Gabrielsen, Johannes Lang, Elin Noreen, Thomas Oudman, Benoit Sittler, Lech Stempniewicz, Ingunn Tombre, Eva Wolters & Børge Moe
(2016) Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution 3: 10.3389/fevo.2015.00033
Patterns of predation of pink-footed goose nests by polar bear
Jouke Prop, Thomas Oudman, Tom M. van Spanje, Eva H. Wolters
(2013) Ornis Norvegica 36: 38-46.
Jouke Prop, Thomas Oudman, Tom M. van Spanje, Eva H. Wolters
(2013) Ornis Norvegica 36: 38-46.
Trans-equatorial migration routes, staging sites and wintering areas of a high-arctic avian predator: the long-tailed skua (Stercorarius longicaudus)
Olivier Gilg, Børge Moe, Sveinn Are Hanssen, Niels Martin Schmidt, Benoît Sittler, Jannik Hansen, Jeroen Reneerkens, Brigitte Sabard, Olivier Chastel, Jérôme Moreau, Richard A. Phillips, Thomas Oudman, Elisabeth M. Biersma, Anette A. Fenstad, Johannes Lang & Loïc Bollache
(2013) PLoS ONE 8: e64614.
Olivier Gilg, Børge Moe, Sveinn Are Hanssen, Niels Martin Schmidt, Benoît Sittler, Jannik Hansen, Jeroen Reneerkens, Brigitte Sabard, Olivier Chastel, Jérôme Moreau, Richard A. Phillips, Thomas Oudman, Elisabeth M. Biersma, Anette A. Fenstad, Johannes Lang & Loïc Bollache
(2013) PLoS ONE 8: e64614.
