science

Lake Bant tern colony

Lake Bant tern colony is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Lake Bant tern colony rather than just read about it. In short: The Lake Bant tern colony is a breeding colony of common terns (Sterna hirundo) at Lake Bant (Banter See in German) in the port city of Wilhelmshaven, north-western Germany. It is the subject of a long-term research project carried out by the Institute of Avian Research (Heligoland Bird Observatory).

Key takeaways

Lake Bant tern colony belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Lake Bant tern colony to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Lake Bant tern colony from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Lake Bant tern colony is a breeding colony of common terns (Sterna hirundo) at Lake Bant (Banter See in German) in the port city of Wilhelmshaven, north-western Germany. It is the subject of a long-term research project carried out by the Institute of Avian Research (Heligoland Bird Observatory).

Location The colony breeds on six concrete islands, which were originally used as a loading dock for the now abandoned U-boat harbour at Banter See. The site is protected as a natural monument of the city. The colony was attracted to the site in 1984 using taped lures, after their previous breeding site had been destroyed.

Colony development From an initial 90 breeding pairs the colony grew rapidly to a maximum of 530 pairs in 2005. Following several years of low breeding success, lower juvenile survival and delayed first breeding attempts, the colony was reduced to 430 pairs in 2011. This was most likely due to lack of food; breeding success is highly variable, dependent on food availability in the Wadden Sea. Banter See terns feed mostly on juvenile herring, sprat and smelt. The predation rate is low, since the islands are protected from terrestrial predators, but in some years there have been high losses caused by owls.

Methods Since 1980 all chicks have been ringed and breeding success estimated. Since 1992, all fledglings (more than 5000 so far) also get a passive transponder inserted, identifying them individually. An automatic antenna recording system identifies individual terns when they return to the breeding site each season, without birds having to be trapped. Antennas are distributed in prominent places around the colonies and also placed around nests to identify breeding partners. Scales are also distributed around the colony, to record individual weights throughout the season. This system collects data on arrival dates, body weights, breeding partners and breeding success of hundreds of individuals each breeding season with minimal disturbance. These life histories provide important information on the population ecology of long-lived birds. Terns tend to improve with age. Older birds arrive at the breeding site earlier and lay their eggs earlier than their younger counterparts. They increase their breeding success with age and experience, until around the age of 15, when senescence seems to set in. Despite senescence, birds that reach very old age have the highest life-time reproductive success. Physiological analyses of hormones and other blood parameters, as well as genetic analyses are also performed at this colony. Blood samples of breeding birds are taken without trapping, as this reduces stress, which could change blood parameters, for example by increasing stress hormones. This is done using Mexican triatomine blood-sucking bugs (Dipetalogaster maxima), that are placed hungry into a hollowed-out dummy egg, which is placed into the nest of the brooding bird. The bug is able to suck blood through small holes in the wall of the dummy egg. The blood is subsequently extracted from the bug and analysed.

References

External links Institute of Avian Research

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Lake Bant tern colony

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Lake Bant tern colony claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Lake Bant tern colony before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Lake Bant tern colony ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Lake Bant tern colony

In research: Lake Bant tern colony appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Lake Bant tern colony in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Lake Bant tern colony is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Ornithological equipment and methods, Seabird colonies, Terns, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Lake Bant tern colony outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Lake Bant tern colony in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Lake Bant tern colony means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Lake Bant tern colony out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Lake Bant tern colony in simple terms?

Why does Lake Bant tern colony matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Lake Bant tern colony?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Lake Bant tern colony.