Niklas Meisenzahl
Niklas Meisenzahl
PhD Student (extern)
Key aspects:
Bird migration, Stop over ecology, Habitat quality, Bird-environment relationships
Dissertation topic:
Bird migration is an important phase in the annual cycle of a bird on which successful reproduction and thus the existence of a species depends. Migratory birds require stopover sites to rest and replenish energy stores to arrive on time in viable condition at breeding or wintering grounds. Lake Neusiedl in eastern Austria serves as a critical stopover site, offering diverse habitats for about two hundreds of migratory species. However, climate change has altered environmental conditions, including water levels, which influence food availability for insectivorous and endangered species. With this study I want to examine shifts in species-specific migration timing, population trends, and the environmental factors affecting migration numbers and stopover duration. By comparing long-term bird ringing data from over 40 years ago with recent records, I assess changes in migratory patterns. Therefore, I investigate the relationship between climate-driven environmental variables and insect availability, which impacts fuel deposition rates and ultimately stopover duration. These insights contribute to an assessment of Lake Neusiedl as an important stopover site and set up a valuable reference to which stopover sites can be assessed worldwide.
Curriculum Vitae
Professional career:
2024 – 2026 Ecologist at Revital – Integrative Naturraumplanung GmbH, project management of species conservation concepts and nature conservation law submissions, as well as administrative work in the field of the ecology of birds, dormice, reptiles, amphibians, insects, plants and habitat types
Academic career:
2020 – 2024 Master’s degree in Biodiversity and Ecology at the University of Bayreuth, thesis on short- and long-term trends in understory bird communities in the lowland rainforest of Costa Rica
2017 – 2020 Bachelor’s degree in Geoecology at the University of Bayreuth, thesis on amphibian distribution and population sizes in the southern urban area of Bayreuth
Funding:
2026 – 2029 PhD scholarship from the German National Academic Foundation (Autumn Migration at Lake Neusiedl: Habitat Quality, Stopover Duration, and Ecological Changes)
2022 – 2023 Research grant from the German Ornithological Society, the Society for Tropical Ornithology e.V., the Association for the Promotion of the La Gamba Tropical Station, and PROMOS scholarship from the German Academic Exchange Service (short- and long-term trends in understory bird communities in the lowland rainforest of Costa Rica)
Research stays:
2021 – 2025 Bird ringing during autumn migration at Lake Neusiedl, on Helgoland, and during winter in northern Bavaria
2020 – 2024 Monitoring of bird and insect migration at the Randecker Maar Research Station e.V.
Publications
Fäth L., Brandl R., Meisenzahl N., Stadler J., Soto D. X., Milano S., Pfeifer R. (2025) Woher kommen winterliche Erlenzeisige Spinus spinus an einem Futterplatz in Nordbayern? Ornithologischer Anzeiger 63, 142-161.
Meisenzahl, N., Jacobsen, P., Rödel, M.O. & Obermaier, E. (2022) Amphibien im südlichen Stadtgebiet von Bayreuth (Oberfranken, Bayern) und ihre Entwicklung in den letzten 26 Jahren. Berichte der Naturwissenschaftlichen Gesellschaft Bayreuth 29, 96-113.