While most migratory birds will be skyward when heading south this fall, a handful of their feathered friends will call the climate-controlled confines Advanced Facility for Avian Research (AFAR) their winter home.
The new $9-million building at The University of Western Ontario includes Canada’s first-ever bird wind tunnel. Located just west of the Support Services Building – and beside the new Graphic Services Building – the 13,000-square-foot AFAR will include many analytical and experimental facilities, such as cold rooms to understand birds’ abilities to adapt to their environment, which will have important ramifications on conservation, ecosystem health, disease and gaining a better idea of how birds respond to climate change.
For assistant biology professor Chris Guglielmo, the delivery of the tunnel brings to an end the culmination of four years of work and planning by many at Western.
“It’s exciting and a relief,” says Guglielmo, staring at the main section of the tunnel where the birds will fly. “This is the ultimate dream facility for me.”
Guglielmo and other researchers will undertake a variety of research projects, including the study of the physiology and aerodynamics of high-altitude migratory flight.
What makes this facility unique is the world’s first hypobaric climactic bird wind tunnel, allowing researchers to control everything from moisture and humidity to temperature and altitude, up to seven kilometres.
Guglielmo expects the tunnel to be constructed over the next two months and to begin testing by the end of summer. The planned research possibilities have already garnered interest from scientists and others around the world.
“We’ve already had a number of researchers from other universities interested in wanting to check out our facility,” says Guglielmo.