CONTENTS Acknowledgements i 1 General introduction 1 2 Spatio-temporal dynamics of global H5N1 outbreaks match bird migration patterns 11 Yali Si, Andrew K. Skidmore, Tiejun Wang, Willem F. de Boer, Pravesh Debba, Albert G. Toxopeus, Lin Li, and Herbert H.T. Prins, 2009. Ceospatial health, 4(1): 65-78 3 Environmental factors influencing the spread of the highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1 virus in wild birds in Europe 35 Yali Si, Tiejun Wang, Andrew K. Skidmore, Willem F. de Boer, Lin Li, and Herbert H. T. Prins, 2010. Ecology and Society, 15(3): 26 4 Influence of refuges, distance to roost, and food resources on the distribution of barnacle geese in the northern Netherlands 57 Yali Si, Andrew K. Skidmore, Tiejun Wang, Willem F. de Boer, Albertus G. Toxopeus, Martin Schlerf, Mandy Oudshoorn, Susan Zwerver, Henk van tier Jeugd, Klaus-Michael Exo and Herbert H. T. Prins, ARDEA (in revision) 5 Mapping spatio-temporal variation of grassland quantity and quality using MERIS data and the PROSPECT+SAIL model 79 Yali Si, Martin Schlerf, Raul Zurita-Milla, Andrew Skidmore, and Tiejun Wang, (in revision) 6 Synthesis: avian influenza and migratory birds from a spatial-ecological perspective 105 Author's Biography 121 Summary 123 Samenvatting 125 ITC Dissertation List 127 PE&RC Education Certificate 129