Charles Bishop

Dr Charles Bishop has links with the Animal Physiology, Behaviour and Conservation Group. Primary interests include the morphological and physiological adaptations that underlie inter- and intra-specific differences in animal locomotor abilities and in the energetic costs involved in different behaviours, especially vertebrate flight performance and migration.

Techniques include the use of miniature electronic data loggers to monitor the heart rate and body motions of animals during free-ranging locomotion, and the modelling of cardiovascular variables with respect to adaptive and allometric variation. Recent model systems combining heart rate and acceleration data include the migratory physiology of bar-headed geese (Anser indicus) in Central Asia (http://barheadedgoose.bangor.ac.uk/), and the flight abilities of homing pigeons (Columba livia). Heart rate has also been measured in free-ranging fish and reptile species. The use of GPS satellite tags is also a vital part of understanding flight capabilities and studies have been undertaken on turtles, wandering albatrosses, king penguins, Manx shearwaters, Shags, razorbills, pigeons as well as migratory geese.