This is the main conclusion reached by a team from the ICM-CSIC after a detailed analysis of how electronic warfare in Eastern Europe is distorting the GPS signals of black-headed gulls that winter in Barcelona.
The current escalation of global conflicts is producing effects that go beyond the political and social spheres, directly impacting scientific infrastructure. A paper published in the scientific journal Ambio by a team from the Institut de Ciències del Mar (ICM-CSIC), in collaboration with the Barcelona Public Health Agency (ASPB) and the Doñana Biological Station (EBD-CSIC), reveals how the technological-military conflict in Eastern Europe is undermining satellite tracking systems used to monitor wildlife.
The focus of the study is the black-headed gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus), a migratory species that spends the winter months in cities such as Barcelona and, with the arrival of spring, undertakes a journey of thousands of kilometres to its breeding colonies in Ukraine, Russia and other countries in Eastern Europe. When passing through war zones, the birds’ GPS devices record anomalous and impossible data that do not correspond to natural movements.
“Ghost” signals and impossible routes
To reach this conclusion, the scientific team analysed the trajectories of a group of gulls captured and tagged in the city of Barcelona between 2024 and 2025, detecting an increase in data inaccuracy along the borders of countries in conflict. GPS devices recorded locations placing the birds in Algeria or Greenland within seconds, or tracing perfectly concentric circular patterns.
Víctor Martín-Vélez, researcher at ICM-CSIC and lead author of the study, explains:
“Our results show that modern conflicts can also affect the devices used in ecological studies. We observed that when GPS-tagged gulls enter conflict zones, the signal becomes unstable. This produces inconsistent locations and makes it difficult to accurately reconstruct their migratory routes. These errors may be due to techniques such as jamming or spoofing, which reduce the quality of the data needed to analyse bird movements.”
A risk to global health
The distortion of these data has serious implications for public health, as these birds act as reservoirs and potential spreaders of pathogens such as the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 virus, as well as various antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Consequently, the inability to accurately identify where the birds feed or rest limits the creation of risk maps and early warning systems.
Joan Navarro, researcher at ICM-CSIC and co-author of the study, highlights the seriousness of the situation:
“The reliability of predictive models for preventing pathogen transmission may be affected by current conflicts. Being unable to identify resting or feeding sites, as well as breeding colonies, limits our capacity to respond to threats such as avian influenza. In a geopolitically unstable world, science requires systematic correction methods and greater international coordination to safeguard ‘One Health’ approaches.”
Towards adaptive science
Finally, the analysis underlines the vulnerability of GNSS technologies (such as the American GPS or the Russian GLONASS), which are subject to strategic military interests.
“In front of this lack of technological neutrality, we urge the scientific community to incorporate a ‘geopolitical awareness’ into their study designs,” explains Isabel Afán, technologist at ICM-CSIC and co-author of the study.
For all these reasons, the research team recommends developing tools to ensure the quality of geolocation in the face of intentional interference and, in critical cases, complementing tracking with traditional low-tech methods, such as bird ringing, which do not depend on satellite signals.