Migratory connectivity and population-specific migration routes in a long-distance migratory bird

Knowledge about migratory connectivity, the degree to which individuals from the same breeding site migrate to the same wintering site, is essential to understand processes affecting populations of migrants throughout the annual cycle. Here, we study the migration system of a long-distance migratory bird, the Montagu's harrier Circus pygargus , by tracking individuals from different breeding populations throughout northern Europe. We identified three main migration routes towards wintering areas in sub-Saharan Africa. Wintering areas and migration routes of different breeding populations overlapped, a pattern best described by ‘weak (diffuse) connectivity’. Migratory performance, i.e. timing, duration, distance and speed of migration, was surprisingly similar for the three routes despite differences in habitat characteristics. This study provides, to our knowledge, a first comprehensive overview of the migration system of a Palaearctic-African long-distance migrant. We emphasize the importance of spatial scale (e.g. distances between breeding populations) in defining patterns of connectivity and suggest that knowledge about fundamental aspects determining distribution patterns, such as the among-individual variation in mean migration directions, is required to ultimately understand migratory connectivity. Furthermore, we stress that for conservation purposes it is pivotal to consider wintering areas as well as migration routes and in particular stopover sites.

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Mercury and Stable Isotopes in Feathers Of Audouin's Gulls as Indicators of Feeding Habits and Migratory Connectivity

The Condor ◽

10.1093/condor/109.2.268 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 109 (2) ◽

pp. 268-275 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Carola Sanpera ◽

Xavier Ruiz ◽

Rocío Moreno ◽

Lluís Jover ◽

Susan Waldron

Keyword(s):

Trophic Ecology ◽

Feeding Habits ◽

Geographical Area ◽

Future Research ◽

Migratory Connectivity ◽

Migration Patterns ◽

Isotopic Signatures ◽

Breeding Populations ◽

Breeding Grounds ◽

Wintering Areas

Abstract To better understand migratory connectivity between breeding and nonbreeding populations, we analyzed mercury (Hg) and stable isotope signatures of nitrogen (δ15N), carbon (δ13C), and sulfur (δ34S) in Audouin's Gulls (Larus audouinii) breeding in two different colonies, the Ebro Delta (northeastern Spain) and the Chafarinas Islands (southwestern Mediterranean). Although abundant information is available on the biology and trophic ecology of this gull's breeding populations, little is known about migration patterns, distribution in winter, or conditions faced during the nonbreeding period. Analyses were carried out on first primary feathers, grown during the summer while gulls are on the breeding grounds, and mantle feathers, grown during the winter. Different isotopic signatures (δ15N, δ13C, and δ34S) in summer (primary) feathers from each area agree with the observed differences in diet between the two colonies. In winter (mantle) feathers, isotopic signatures did not differ, consistent with a common wintering ground and common diet, although the lack of isotopic basemaps in marine systems precludes assignment to a geographical area of reference. Future research is needed to relate isotopic signatures and Hg values in mantle feathers to trophic ecology in wintering areas. Results for Hg indicate that the excretory role played by primary feathers precludes their use as indicators of trophic ecology.

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Use of stable isotopes (δ2H, δ13C and δ15N) to infer the migratory connectivity of Terek Sandpipers (Xenus cinereus) at stopover sites in the East Asian–Australasian Flyway

Avian Biology Research ◽

10.1177/1758155919901243 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 13 (1-2) ◽

pp. 10-17

Author(s):

Young-Min Moon ◽

Kwanmok Kim ◽

Jinhan Kim ◽

Hwajung Kim ◽

Jeong-Chil Yoo

Keyword(s):

Stable Isotopes ◽

East Asian ◽

Isotope Analysis ◽

Light Level ◽

Conservation Strategy ◽

Migratory Connectivity ◽

Long Distance ◽

Δ13c And Δ15n ◽

Stopover Sites ◽

Wintering Areas

Stable isotopes are well documented as effective intrinsic markers to infer migratory connectivity which provides key information for establishing an effective conservation strategy in migratory birds. However, there are few studies using stable isotopes that have been applied to long-distance migratory shorebirds globally and such studies are especially scarce along the East Asian–Australasian Flyway. We used stable isotope analysis (δ2H, δ13C and δ15N) to infer breeding and wintering areas and examine the differences in those values among populations of Terek Sandpipers ( Xenus cinereus) at stopover sites in South Korea. The range of δ2H in feathers sampled from birds caught in the Korean peninsula at spring and autumn migration stopover sites was consistent with them being grown at sites throughout their flyway as confirmed by leg flag resightings of birds on this flyway. The eastern Siberia region from Yakutsk to Norilsk and Chukotka in Russia was inferred as the most probable breeding area of the population. Papua New Guinea in the Melanesia region, Malaysia and Indonesia were identified as the most probable wintering areas. Isotope values of populations at different stopover sites and different seasons were consistent. These results suggest that stable isotopes can be effectively used alongside other existing methods (e.g. ringing, coloured leg flags, light level geolocation, satellite tag telemetry) to infer the migratory connectivity for long-distance migratory shorebird species that occur over many countries and continents.

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Continent-wide tracking to determine migratory connectivity and tropical habitat associations of a declining aerial insectivore

Proceedings of The Royal Society B Biological Sciences ◽

10.1098/rspb.2012.2207 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 279 (1749) ◽

pp. 4901-4906 ◽

Cited By ~ 78

Author(s):

Kevin C. Fraser ◽

Bridget J. M. Stutchbury ◽

Cassandra Silverio ◽

Patrick M. Kramer ◽

John Barrow ◽

...

Keyword(s):

North American ◽

Agricultural Landscape ◽

Ground Cover ◽

Light Level ◽

Agricultural Landscapes ◽

Habitat Associations ◽

Migratory Connectivity ◽

Population Declines ◽

Long Distance ◽

Breeding Populations

North American birds that feed on flying insects are experiencing steep population declines, particularly long-distance migratory populations in the northern breeding range. We determine, for the first time, the level of migratory connectivity across the range of a songbird using direct tracking of individuals, and test whether declining northern populations have higher exposure to agricultural landscapes at their non-breeding grounds in South America. We used light-level geolocators to track purple martins, Progne subis , originating from North American breeding populations, coast-to-coast ( n = 95 individuals). We show that breeding populations of the eastern subspecies, P. s. subis , that are separated by ca . 2000 km, nevertheless have almost completely overlapping non-breeding ranges in Brazil. Most (76%) P. s. subis overwintered in northern Brazil near the Amazon River, not in the agricultural landscape of southern Brazil. Individual non-breeding sites had an average of 91 per cent forest and only 4 per cent agricultural ground cover within a 50 km radius, and birds originating from declining northern breeding populations were not more exposed to agricultural landscapes than stable southern breeding populations. Our results show that differences in wintering location and habitat do not explain recent trends in breeding population declines in this species, and instead northern populations may be constrained in their ability to respond to climate change.

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Migratory Connectivity of Semipalmated Sandpipers: Winter Distribution and Migration Routes of Breeding Populations

Waterbirds ◽

10.1675/063.035.0109 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 35 (1) ◽

pp. 83-95 ◽

Cited By ~ 23

Author(s):

Cheri Gratto-Trevor ◽

R. I. Guy Morrison ◽

David Mizrahi ◽

David B. Lank ◽

Peter Hicklin ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Migratory Connectivity ◽

Migration Routes ◽

Winter Distribution ◽

Breeding Populations ◽

And Migration ◽

Semipalmated Sandpipers

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Tracking of Arctic terns Sterna paradisaea reveals longest animal migration

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences ◽

10.1073/pnas.0909493107 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 107 (5) ◽

pp. 2078-2081 ◽

Cited By ~ 281

Author(s):

Carsten Egevang ◽

Iain J. Stenhouse ◽

Richard A. Phillips ◽

Aevar Petersen ◽

James W. Fox ◽

...

Keyword(s):

High Arctic ◽

The Arctic ◽

Migration Routes ◽

Long Distance ◽

Seasonal Movement ◽

The North ◽

Breeding Populations ◽

Flight Costs ◽

Sterna Paradisaea ◽

And Performance

The study of long-distance migration provides insights into the habits and performance of organisms at the limit of their physical abilities. The Arctic tern Sterna paradisaea is the epitome of such behavior; despite its small size (<125 g), banding recoveries and at-sea surveys suggest that its annual migration from boreal and high Arctic breeding grounds to the Southern Ocean may be the longest seasonal movement of any animal. Our tracking of 11 Arctic terns fitted with miniature (1.4-g) geolocators revealed that these birds do indeed travel huge distances (more than 80,000 km annually for some individuals). As well as confirming the location of the main wintering region, we also identified a previously unknown oceanic stopover area in the North Atlantic used by birds from at least two breeding populations (from Greenland and Iceland). Although birds from the same colony took one of two alternative southbound migration routes following the African or South American coast, all returned on a broadly similar, sigmoidal trajectory, crossing from east to west in the Atlantic in the region of the equatorial Intertropical Convergence Zone. Arctic terns clearly target regions of high marine productivity both as stopover and wintering areas, and exploit prevailing global wind systems to reduce flight costs on long-distance commutes.

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Inversions maintain differences between migratory phenotypes of a songbird

10.1101/2021.04.05.438456 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Max Lundberg ◽

Alexander Mackintosh ◽

Anna Petri ◽

Staffan Bensch

Keyword(s):

Environmental Gradients ◽

Segmental Duplications ◽

Migration Routes ◽

Long Distance ◽

Local Adaptations ◽

Functional Differences ◽

Long Read ◽

Wintering Areas ◽

Genome Assemblies ◽

Chromosome Regions

Long-distance migration requires adaptations in a suite of behavioral, physiological and morphological traits. However, almost nothing is known about the genetic basis of these adaptations. The willow warbler Phylloscopus trochilus occurs in Europe with a northern and southern subspecies that show drastically different migration routes and wintering areas. Previous studies have demonstrated that the subspecies are genetically extremely similar except for three divergent chromosome regions, of which two are associated with the differences in migratory phenotypes and one is associated with an environmental gradient. Here we use a combination of long-read sequencing, linked-read sequencing and optical mapping to construct more complete and contiguous assemblies for both of the subspecies. We find evidence for inversions in each of the three divergent regions, which range from 0.4 to 13 Mb in size, and that breakpoints are associated with tandem repeat arrays or segmental duplications. The divergence times between inverted and non-inverted haplotypes are similar across the regions (~1.2 Myrs), which is compatible with a scenario where the inversions arose in either of two allopatric populations that subsequently hybridized. The improved genome assemblies and annotation also allowed us to detect additional functional differences in the divergent regions that provide candidate genes for migration and local adaptations to environmental gradients.

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Birds of three worlds: moult migration to high Arctic expands a boreal-temperate flyway to a third biome

Movement Ecology ◽

10.1186/s40462-021-00284-4 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 9 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Antti Piironen ◽

Antti Paasivaara ◽

Toni Laaksonen

Keyword(s):

Bird Migration ◽

High Arctic ◽

The Arctic ◽

Migratory Connectivity ◽

Migration Routes ◽

Arctic Ecosystems ◽

Long Distance ◽

Novaya Zemlya ◽

Bean Goose ◽

Moult Migration

Abstract Background Knowledge on migration patterns and flyways is a key for understanding the dynamics of migratory populations and evolution of migratory behaviour. Bird migration is usually considered to be movements between breeding and wintering areas, while less attention has been paid to other long-distance movements such as moult migration. Methods We use high-resolution satellite-tracking data from 58 taiga bean geese Anser fabalis fabalis from the years 2019–2020, to study their moult migration during breeding season. We show the moulting sites, estimate the migratory connectivity between the breeding and the moulting sites, and estimate the utilization distributions during moult. We reveal migration routes and compare the length and timing of migration between moult migrants and successful breeders. Results All satellite-tracked non-breeding and unsuccessfully breeding taiga bean geese migrated annually to the island of Novaya Zemlya in the high Arctic for wing moult, meaning that a large part of the population gathers at the moulting sites outside the breeding range annually for approximately three months. Migratory connectivity between breeding and moulting sites was very low (rm = − 0.001, 95% CI − 0.1562–0.2897), indicating that individuals from different breeding grounds mix with each other on the moulting sites. Moult migrants began fall migration later in autumn than successful breeders, and their overall annual migration distance was over twofold compared to the successful breeders. Conclusions Regular moult migration makes the Arctic an equally relevant habitat for the taiga bean goose population as their boreal breeding and temperate wintering grounds, and links ecological communities in these biomes. Moult migration plays an important role in the movement patterns and spatio-temporal distribution of the population. Low migratory connectivity between breeding and moulting sites can potentially contribute to the gene flow within the population. Moult migration to the high Arctic exposes the population to the rapid impacts of global warming to Arctic ecosystems. Additionally, Novaya Zemlya holds radioactive contaminants from various sources, which might still pose a threat to moult migrants. Generally, these results show that moult migration may essentially contribute to the way we should consider bird migration and migratory flyways.

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Migration and Staging Patterns of the Wryneck (Jynx Torquilla) at Eilat, Israel

Israel Journal of Ecology and Evolution ◽

10.1560/ijee.57.3.247 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 57 (3) ◽

pp. 247-256 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Reuven Yosef ◽

Piotr Zduniak

Keyword(s):

Body Condition ◽

Bird Species ◽

Condition Index ◽

Migratory Bird ◽

The Body ◽

Body Condition Index ◽

Migration Routes ◽

Long Distance ◽

Stopover Site ◽

The Mean

The wryneck is an unusual representative of PalearcticPicidaein that it is a long-distance migrant, whose populations have declined across Europe in the last century. Israel is at the eastern extremes of the known wryneck migration routes in the spring, which are little studied. Hence, we studied the species migration patterns and staging at Eilat, the southern tip of Israel being a very important stopover site for many migratory bird species. During 28 springs and 25 autumn migration seasons in the years 1983-2010, a total of 588 wrynecks were trapped.The mean number of birds recorded per spring season was 18.32 (SE = 2.12) and only 3.00 ± 0.71 per autumn season. The analysis performed for spring passage showed that the mean proportion of juveniles to all birds to which ages were assigned was 48.9 ± 5.2%. Furthermore, we did not find any differences in the dates of ringing, wing length, body mass or body condition index of juvenile and adults. We retrapped 97 (18.9%) wrynecks during the spring. The average proportion retrapped per season was 18.3 ± 2.9% and the average stopover was 4.8 ± 0.4 days. Recaptured birds were in better body condition than at first capture, and the body condition index gained significantly during their stay at the stopover site. The low conservation priority accorded to these habitats — and ignored in spite of many studies from the reagion — highlights the importance of the preservation of priority areas such that avian and other migrations can continue with minimal human impact.

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Concentration of a widespread breeding population in a few critically important nonbreeding areas: Migratory connectivity in the Prothonotary Warbler

The Condor ◽

10.1093/condor/duz019 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 121 (2) ◽

Cited By ~ 12

Author(s):

Christopher M Tonra ◽

Michael T Hallworth ◽

Than J Boves ◽

Jessie Reese ◽

Lesley P Bulluck ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Annual Cycle ◽

Large Scale ◽

Light Level ◽

Breeding Population ◽

Migratory Bird ◽

Migratory Connectivity ◽

Long Distance ◽

Breeding Range ◽

Migratory Routes ◽

Prothonotary Warbler

Abstract One of the greatest challenges to informed conservation of migratory animals is elucidating spatiotemporal variation in distributions. Without such information, it is impossible to understand full-annual-cycle ecology and effectively implement conservation actions that address where and when populations are most limited. We deployed and recovered light-level geolocators (n = 34) at 6 breeding sites in North America across the breeding range of a declining long-distance migratory bird, the Prothonotary Warbler (Protonotaria citrea). We sought to determine migratory routes, stopover location and duration, and the location of overwintering grounds. We found that the species exhibits a large-scale, east‒west split in migratory routes and weak migratory connectivity across its range. Specifically, almost all individuals, regardless of breeding origin, overlapped in their estimated wintering location in northern Colombia, in an area 20% the size of the breeding range. Additionally, most of the individuals across all breeding locations concentrated in well-defined stopover locations in Central America while en route to Colombia. Although error inherent in light-level geolocation cannot be fully ruled out, surprisingly much of the estimated wintering area included inland areas even though the Prothonotary Warbler is considered a specialist on coastal mangroves in winter. Based on these results, conservation efforts directed at very specific nonbreeding geographical areas will potentially have benefits across most of the breeding population. Our findings highlight the importance of using modern technologies to validate assumptions about little-studied portions of a species’ annual cycle, and the need to distribute sampling across its range.

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Pair bonds during the annual cycle of a long-distance migrant, the Arctic Tern (Sterna paradisaea)

Avian Research ◽

10.1186/s40657-021-00268-3 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Chris P. F. Redfern

Keyword(s):

Annual Cycle ◽

Migratory Birds ◽

The Arctic ◽

Migration Routes ◽

Long Distance ◽

Breeding Colony ◽

Arrival Times ◽

Pair Bonds ◽

Sterna Paradisaea ◽

Wintering Areas

Abstract Background The extent to which pairs remain together during the annual cycle is a key question in the behavioural ecology of migratory birds. While a few species migrate and winter as family units, for most the extent to which breeding partners associate in the non-breeding season is unknown. The Arctic Tern (Sterna paradisaea) has one of the longest migrations of any species, and the aim of this study was to establish whether or not partners remain together after breeding. Methods Leg-mounted geolocators were fitted to breeding pairs of Arctic Terns nesting on the Farne Islands, Northumberland, UK. The devices were recovered for analysis the following year. Results Analysis of data for the six pairs which returned the following year showed that partners departed from the colony at different times after breeding and migrated independently to different Antarctic regions. Partners also departed from the Antarctic and turned to the breeding colony independently. One third of the pairs divorced on return. Conclusions For long-distance migrants reliant on unpredictable foraging opportunities, it may not be viable to remain as pairs away from the breeding colony. Synchrony in arrival times at the breeding colony may maximise the chance of retaining a familiar partner, but could be affected by environmental factors in wintering areas or along migration routes.

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