Francesco Bonadonna
Papers
1
Total Citations
107
H-Index
1
About
Francesco Bonadonna is a leading behavioral ecologist renowned for his pioneering work on the sensory ecology and navigation of seabirds, particularly procellariiforms like albatrosses and petrels. His major contributions have fundamentally reshaped our understanding of how these pelagic birds orient across vast, featureless oceans. He is best known for his landmark 2012 study, “Flying at No Mechanical Energy Cost: Disclosing the Secret of Wandering Albatrosses” (107 citations), which experimentally confirmed that wandering albatrosses achieve near-zero mechanical energy expenditure during flight by expertly exploiting wind gradients through dynamic soaring—a feat unmatched in the animal kingdom. Beyond flight energetics, Bonadonna’s research has revealed that seabirds use a sophisticated “olfactory landscape” for navigation, demonstrating that species like Antarctic prions can detect dimethyl sulfide to locate productive feeding zones. His integrative approach, combining field experiments with biomechanical and chemical analyses, has produced a highly cited body of work that bridges physiology, behavior, and conservation. For his groundbreaking insights into the secret lives of the world’s most accomplished avian navigators, Bonadonna is recognized as a central figure in seabird sensory biology.
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Top Papers
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