Resource tracking within and across continents in long-distance bird migrants

Thorup, Kasper; Tøttrup, Anders P.; Willemoes, Mikkel; Klaassen, Raymond H. G.; Strandberg, Roine; Vega, Marta Lomas; Dasari, Hari Prasad; Araújo, Miguel B.; Wikelski, Martin; Rahbek, Carsten

doi:10.1126/sciadv.1601360

Cited by 233 publications

(254 citation statements)

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“…The differences between these three Ficedula species may be related to the migratory flyway they use during the spring migration. Resource availability and ecological barriers encountered en route can influence on the rate and timing of bird migration [25, 26]. Species that encounter ecological barriers along the migratory flyway and have larger migratory distance show a greater degree of variation in their migratory behaviour and ability to adjust migration rate in response to the environment.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cold spell en route delays spring arrival and decreases apparent survival in a long-distance migratory songbird

2017

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BackgroundAdjusting the timing of annual events to gradual changes in environmental conditions is necessary for population viability. However, adaptations to weather extremes are poorly documented in migratory species. Due to their vast seasonal movements, long-distance migrants face unique challenges in responding to changes as they rely on an endogenous circannual rhythm to cue the timing of their migration. Furthermore, the exact mechanisms that explain how environmental factors shape the migration schedules of long-distance migrants are often unknown.ResultsHere we show that long-distance migrating semi-collared flycatchers Ficedula semitorquata delayed the last phase of their spring migration and the population suffered low return rates to breeding sites while enduring a severe cold spell en route. We found that the onset of spring migration in Africa and the timing of Sahara crossing were consistent between early and late springs while the arrival at the breeding site depended on spring phenology at stopover areas in each particular year.ConclusionUnderstanding how environmental stimuli and endogenous circannual rhythms interact can improve predictions of the consequences of climate changes on migratory animals.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12898-017-0121-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cold spell en route delays spring arrival and decreases apparent survival in a long-distance migratory songbird

2017

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“…A multitude of species match their period of reproduction to peaks in food availability in order to feed their young and to maximize their growth rates (Both & Visser, 2005). During spring migration, migratory species can also travel along a climatic gradient and match arrival on stopover sites to local peaks of food abundance along the gradient, described as the “green wave hypothesis” (Drent, Ebbinge, & Weijand, 1978; Shariatinajafabadi et al., 2014; Thorup et al., 2017; van der Graaf, Stahl, Klimkowska, Bakker, & Drent, 2006). This strategy is especially important for species which partly rely on capital body stores accumulated at staging sites for egg formation and incubation, such as geese (Drent et al., 2007; Gauthier, Bêty, & Hobson, 2003; Hahn, Loonen, & Klaassen, 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Forage plants of an Arctic‐nesting herbivore show larger warming response in breeding than wintering grounds, potentially disrupting migration phenology

Lameris

Jochems

Graaf

et al. 2017

Ecology and Evolution

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During spring migration, herbivorous waterfowl breeding in the Arctic depend on peaks in the supply of nitrogen‐rich forage plants, following a “green wave” of grass growth along their flyway to fuel migration and reproduction. The effects of climate warming on forage plant growth are expected to be larger at the Arctic breeding grounds than in temperate wintering grounds, potentially disrupting this green wave and causing waterfowl to mistime their arrival on the breeding grounds. We studied the potential effect of climate warming on timing of food peaks along the migratory flyway of the Russian population of barnacle geese using a warming experiment with open‐top chambers. We measured the effect of 1.0–1.7°C experimental warming on forage plant biomass and nitrogen concentration at three sites along the migratory flyway (temperate wintering site, temperate spring stopover site, and Arctic breeding site) during 2 months for two consecutive years. We found that experimental warming increased biomass accumulation and sped up the decline in nitrogen concentration of forage plants at the Arctic breeding site but not at temperate wintering and stop‐over sites. Increasing spring temperatures in the Arctic will thus shorten the food peak of nitrogen‐rich forage at the breeding grounds. Our results further suggest an advance of the local food peak in the Arctic under 1–2°C climate warming, which will likely cause migrating geese to mistime their arrival at the breeding grounds, particularly considering the Arctic warms faster than the temperate regions. The combination of a shorter food peak and mistimed arrival is likely to decrease goose reproductive success under climate warming by reducing growth and survival of goslings after hatching.

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“…Palearctic-African bird migrants presumably track seasonal resource availability on a continental scale [4,5], but it is less clear what factors shape variation in speciesspecific and individual migration patterns. Large variation among species in spatiotemporal schedules is well documented, but poorly understood, with very little theoretical work developed to explain such differences.…”

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Annual spatiotemporal migration schedules in three larger insectivorous birds: European nightjar, common swift and common cuckoo

Jacobsen

Jensen²,

Willemoes

et al. 2017

Anim Biotelemetry

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Background: Knowledge of spatiotemporal migration patterns is important for our understanding of migration ecology and ultimately conservation of migratory species. We studied the annual migration schedules of European nightjar, a large nocturnal insectivore and compared it with two other larger migratory insectivores, common swift and common cuckoo. All species breed in North Europe and winter in sub-Saharan Africa, but estimating their spatiotemporal non-breeding distributions from observations is complicated by the occurrence of similar local African species. We used geolocators to track the annual migrations of nightjars and swifts and compared these with satellite tracking of cuckoo migration.Results: Individuals of the three species migrated to wintering grounds centered in Central Africa, except some common swifts that remained in West Africa, crossing or circumventing the Sahara along different routes in spring and fall. Overall, all species showed similar regional and seasonal use of several stopover areas during migration. Among the three species, European nightjars and common cuckoos showed the most similar spatiotemporal migration patterns. The nightjars wintered in SW Central Africa and breeding and wintering made up by far the two longest stationary periods. Swifts were generally more mobile, and some individuals progressively visited areas further east in East Africa during winter and further west in West Africa on spring migration; this species also spent less time on stopovers, but more on wintering areas. Cuckoos were intermediate in their extent of movements. The speed of nightjar spring migration was equal to that of fall migration, in contrast to the two other species where spring return to breeding areas was faster. Conclusions: Ecological requirements are potentially useful for understanding spatiotemporal migration patterns and causes of declines in migratory species.

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Resource tracking within and across continents in long-distance bird migrants

Abstract: Migrant birds track seasonally available resources on a continental scale across the annual cycle.

Cited by 233 publications

References 68 publications

Cold spell en route delays spring arrival and decreases apparent survival in a long-distance migratory songbird

Cold spell en route delays spring arrival and decreases apparent survival in a long-distance migratory songbird

Forage plants of an Arctic‐nesting herbivore show larger warming response in breeding than wintering grounds, potentially disrupting migration phenology

Annual spatiotemporal migration schedules in three larger insectivorous birds: European nightjar, common swift and common cuckoo

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