Optimizing the conservation of migratory species over their full annual cycle

AbstractLimited knowledge of the distribution, abundance, and habitat associations of migratory species introduces uncertainty about the most effective conservation actions. We used Neotropical migratory birds as a model group to evaluate contrasting approaches to land prioritization to support ≥30% of the global abundances of 117 species throughout the annual cycle in the Western hemisphere. Conservation targets were achieved in 43% less land area in plans based on annual vs. weekly optimizations. Plans agnostic to population structure required comparatively less land area to meet targets, but at the expense of representation. Less land area was also needed to meet conservation targets when human-dominated lands were included rather than excluded from solutions. Our results point to key trade-offs between efforts minimizing the opportunity costs of conservation vs. those ensuring spatiotemporal representation of populations, and demonstrate a novel approach to the conservation of migratory species based on leading-edge abundance models and linear programming to identify portfolios of priority landscapes and inform conservation planners.

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Using endogenous and exogenous markers in bird conservation

Bird Conservation International ◽

10.1017/s0959270908000361 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 18 (S1) ◽

pp. S174-S199 ◽

Cited By ~ 20

Author(s):

Keith A. Hobson

Keyword(s):

Stable Isotopes ◽

Trace Elements ◽

Annual Cycle ◽

Dna Markers ◽

Bird Conservation ◽

Migratory Species ◽

Animal Tracking ◽

Stopover Sites ◽

Avian Populations ◽

Effective Conservation

AbstractUnderstanding how avian populations are structured spatially and temporally is fundamental to their effective conservation. Protecting migratory species in one jurisdiction or period of the annual cycle may be ineffective if they periodically move to areas where they are not protected or are exposed to factors that limit populations or cause their decline. Unfortunately, for most species, our understanding of connectivity between breeding, wintering or stopover sites during the annual cycle are poorly understood and there is an urgent need to define such connections in order to achieve more effective conservation. This paper provides an overview of the methods used to mark individuals in order to track their movements. Passive exogenous markers such as numbered rings or bands are typically ineffective for most avian species. Active exogenous markers such as satellite tags have provided significant breakthroughs but are still prohibitive financially and still cannot be applied to species under 200g. Endogenous markers such as DNA markers, trace elements and stable isotopes show significant promise as a means of moving forward the field of animal tracking. The advantage of these endogenous approaches is that they depend only on sampling a population once and so are not biased by limitations of mark-recapture methods. Nonetheless, all methods have disadvantages and the path ahead must consider multiple approaches to tracking avian populations.

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How Do Migratory Species Stay Healthy Over the Annual Cycle? A Conceptual Model for Immune Function and For Resistance to Disease

Integrative and Comparative Biology ◽

10.1093/icb/icq055 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 50 (3) ◽

pp. 346-357 ◽

Cited By ~ 50

Author(s):

Deborah M. Buehler ◽

B. Irene Tieleman ◽

Theunis Piersma

Keyword(s):

Immune Function ◽

Conceptual Model ◽

Annual Cycle ◽

Migratory Species

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Full-annual demography and seasonal cycles in a resident vertebrate

PeerJ ◽

10.7717/peerj.8658 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 8 ◽

pp. e8658

Author(s):

Murilo Guimarães ◽

Decio T. Correa ◽

Marília Palumbo Gaiarsa ◽

Marc Kéry

Keyword(s):

Annual Cycle ◽

Single Point ◽

Cyclic Behavior ◽

Seasonal Cycles ◽

Migratory Species ◽

Temporary Emigration ◽

Important Variation ◽

Capture Recapture ◽

Variation Explained ◽

Over Time

Wildlife demography is typically studied at a single point in time within a year when species, often during the reproductive season, are more active and therefore easier to find. However, this provides only a low-resolution glimpse into demographic temporal patterns over time and may hamper a more complete understanding of the population dynamics of a species over the full annual cycle. The full annual cycle is often influenced by environmental seasonality, which induces a cyclic behavior in many species. However, cycles have rarely been explicitly included in models for demographic parameters, and most information on full annual cycle demography is restricted to migratory species. Here we used a high-resolution capture-recapture study of a resident tropical lizard to assess the full intra-annual demography and within-year periodicity in survival, temporary emigration and recapture probabilities. We found important variation over the annual cycle and up to 92% of the total monthly variation explained by cycles. Fine-scale demographic studies and assessments on the importance of cycles within parameters may be a powerful way to achieve a better understanding of population persistence over time.

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Population trends inVermivorawarblers are linked to strong migratory connectivity

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences ◽

10.1073/pnas.1718985115 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 115 (14) ◽

pp. E3192-E3200 ◽

Cited By ~ 40

Author(s):

Gunnar R. Kramer ◽

David E. Andersen ◽

David A. Buehler ◽

Petra B. Wood ◽

Sean M. Peterson ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Annual Cycle ◽

Migratory Birds ◽

Population Trends ◽

Limiting Factors ◽

Migratory Connectivity ◽

Migratory Species ◽

Vermivora Chrysoptera ◽

Breeding Populations ◽

Migratory Songbirds ◽

Weak Connectivity

Migratory species can experience limiting factors at different locations and during different periods of their annual cycle. In migratory birds, these factors may even occur in different hemispheres. Therefore, identifying the distribution of populations throughout their annual cycle (i.e., migratory connectivity) can reveal the complex ecological and evolutionary relationships that link species and ecosystems across the globe and illuminate where and how limiting factors influence population trends. A growing body of literature continues to identify species that exhibit weak connectivity wherein individuals from distinct breeding areas co-occur during the nonbreeding period. A detailed account of a broadly distributed species exhibiting strong migratory connectivity in which nonbreeding isolation of populations is associated with differential population trends remains undescribed. Here, we present a range-wide assessment of the nonbreeding distribution and migratory connectivity of two broadly dispersed Nearctic-Neotropical migratory songbirds. We used geolocators to track the movements of 70Vermivorawarblers from sites spanning their breeding distribution in eastern North America and identified links between breeding populations and nonbreeding areas. Unlike blue-winged warblers (Vermivora cyanoptera), breeding populations of golden-winged warblers (Vermivora chrysoptera) exhibited strong migratory connectivity, which was associated with historical trends in breeding populations: stable for populations that winter in Central America and declining for those that winter in northern South America.

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