This research project is the main focus of the Max Planck Partner Group. The group is a research cooperation between the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior and Universidad del Rosario supported by the Max Planck Society. 

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Here we use oilbirds as a study system to explore how environmental fluctuations influence sociality, demography, animal movement and functional roles that animals play in their environment such as seed dispersal. Understanding the responses to natural environmental fluctuations (ecological disturbances) have important implications for the persistence and evolution of wild populations, specially under the current trends of global change. Anthropogenic induced changes pose a challenge to individuals and threat the resilience of populations. Thus, comprehending how disturbances affect individuals, social relationships and population dynamics, can be directly use in the formulation of actions towards the conservation and management of wild species and can also bring insights to another layer of questions relevant to understanding the mechanisms by which human societies can cope with disturbances such as natural catastrophes and social conflicts.