I combine the vertebrates collection management with research lines on bird ecology. I mainly focus on behavioural ecology, particularly in how plumage colour serves as a communicative ornament and interacts in the contexts of sexual-social selection (evolutionary ecology). I also study the processes of human-related disturbance and global change (urbanisation, population management) and how they affect bird communities and specific species such as the house sparrow (disturbance ecology). Last, but not least, I am interested in how zoological preparation techniques improve the long-term conservation of vertebrate specimens at the zoological collections.