scholarly journals Autumn migration routes and wintering areas of juvenile Chinese Egrets (Egretta eulophotes) revealed by GPS tracking

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhijun Huang ◽  
Xiaoping Zhou ◽  
Wenzhen Fang ◽  
Hailong Zhang ◽  
Xiaolin Chen
Keyword(s):  
Coastal Wetlands ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
Autumn Migration ◽  
Gps Tracking ◽  
Migration Routes ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Wintering Areas ◽  
Egretta Eulophotes ◽  
Chinese Egret

Abstract Background The vulnerable Chinese Egret (Egretta eulophotes) is a long-distance migratory waterbird whose migration and wintering information is poorly understood. This study aims to identify the autumn migration routes and wintering areas of juvenile Chinese Egrets and determine the migration movement traits of this species. Methods Thirty-nine juvenile Chinese Egrets from the Fantuozi Island, an uninhabited offshore island with a large breeding colony of Chinese Egrets in Dalian, China, were tracked using GPS/GSM transmitters. Some feathers from each tracked juvenile were collected for molecular identification of sex in the laboratory. The GPS locations, recorded at 2-h intervals from August 2018 to May 2020, were used for the analyses. Results Of the 39 tracked juveniles, 30 individuals began their migration between September and November, and 13 successfully completed their autumn migration between October and November. The juveniles migrated southward via three migration routes, coastal, oceanic and inland, mainly during the night. The migration duration, migration distance, flight speed, and stopover duration of the 13 juvenile egrets that completed migration averaged 5.08 ± 1.04 days, 3928.18 ± 414.27 km, 57.27 ± 5.73 km/h, and 23.08 ± 19.28 h, respectively. These juveniles wintered in the coastal wetlands of Southeast Asia including those in the Philippines, Vietnam, and Malaysia, and only one successfully began its spring migration in June 2020. Conclusions This study newly finds that the oceanic route taken by juvenile Chinese Egrets, suggesting that the juveniles are able to fly over the Pacific Ocean without a stopover. Moreover, our novel data indicate that coastal wetlands along the East Asian–Australasian Flyway are important areas for both autumn migration stopover and the wintering of these juveniles, suggesting that international cooperation is important to conserve the vulnerable Chinese Egret and the wetland habitats on which it depends.

scholarly journals Chance long-distance or human-mediated dispersal? How Acacia s.l. farnesiana attained its pan-tropical distribution

2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 170105 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen L. Bell ◽  
Haripriya Rangan ◽  
Manuel M. Fernandes ◽  
Christian A. Kull ◽  
Daniel J. Murphy
Keyword(s):  
The Philippines ◽  
Historical Sources ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
Old World ◽  
South Central ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
The Pacific Ocean ◽  
Spanish Explorers ◽  
The Tropics ◽  
Old World Tropics

Acacia s.l. farnesiana , which originates from Mesoamerica, is the most widely distributed Acacia s.l. species across the tropics. It is assumed that the plant was transferred across the Atlantic to southern Europe by Spanish explorers, and then spread across the Old World tropics through a combination of chance long-distance and human-mediated dispersal. Our study uses genetic analysis and information from historical sources to test the relative roles of chance and human-mediated dispersal in its distribution. The results confirm the Mesoamerican origins of the plant and show three patterns of human-mediated dispersal. Samples from Spain showed greater genetic diversity than those from other Old World tropics, suggesting more instances of transatlantic introductions from the Americas to that country than to other parts of Africa and Asia. Individuals from the Philippines matched a population from South Central Mexico and were likely to have been direct, trans-Pacific introductions. Australian samples were genetically unique, indicating that the arrival of the species in the continent was independent of these European colonial activities. This suggests the possibility of pre-European human-mediated dispersal across the Pacific Ocean. These significant findings raise new questions for biogeographic studies that assume chance or transoceanic dispersal for disjunct plant distributions.

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

2014 ◽  
Vol 281 (1778) ◽  
pp. 20132897 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christiane Trierweiler ◽  
Raymond H. G. Klaassen ◽  
Rudi H. Drent ◽  
Klaus-Michael Exo ◽  
Jan Komdeur ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Migratory Bird ◽  
Habitat Characteristics ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Migratory Connectivity ◽  
Migration Routes ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
Comprehensive Overview ◽  
Migration System ◽  
Breeding Populations ◽  
Wintering Areas

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.

scholarly journals Inversions maintain differences between migratory phenotypes of a songbird

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.

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

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.

scholarly journals Annual Long-Distance Migration Strategies and Home Range of Chinese Sparrowhawk (Accipiter soloensis) from South China

Animals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 2237
Author(s):  
Xiao Min ◽  
Zijing Gao ◽  
Yuanfeng Lin ◽  
Chang-Hu Lu
Keyword(s):  
Home Range ◽  
Southern China ◽  
Hunan Province ◽  
Autumn Migration ◽  
Migration Routes ◽  
Range Analysis ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
South Central ◽  
Migration Strategies ◽  
Nuclear Domains

From 2018 to 2019, two Chinese Sparrowhawks (Bird 01, male; Bird 02, female), Accipiter soloensis, were captured and fitted with Global Positioning System (GPS) loggers in order to identify summering and wintering sites, migration routes, and stop-over sites. The Chinese Sparrowhawks were first fitted with backpack solar GPS satellite trackers in China in order to explore their migration routes. The two Chinese Sparrowhawks successfully completed their migration from southern China, through Nanning city of Guangxi province, China, to Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore and finally arriving in Indonesia, where they stayed until the March of the following year. They then returned to China along the original route, arriving in Changsha city, Hunan province, China. The two individuals traveled more than 4000–5000 km. For the first time, telemetry data demonstrate, the linkages between their Indonesia wintering sites, their stop-over sites in Southeast Asia, and their breeding/summering sites near south Yangtze River in the south-central part of China. During this long-distance migration, 2653 bird satellite sites were received. The autumn migration durations for the two Chinese Sparrowhawks were 84 days and 50 days, respectively, compared to 83 days and 49 days in spring. The median stop-over duration was 12.7 and 9.3 days, respectively and the median speed of travel was 74.2 km/day during the autumn migration and 73.9 km/day during the spring migration. Furthermore, two and one stop-over sites and one and three stop-over sites were used during the autumn and spring migrations of Chinese Sparrowhawks 01 and 02, respectively. The Chinese Sparrowhawks migrated long distances and used stop-over sites during their migration. Based on the home range analysis, we can conclude that Chinese Sparrowhawks reach their maximum home range in the summer and have multiple nuclear domains.

scholarly journals Migration routes and stopover sites of the Eurasian Spoonbill (Platalea leucorodia) between the Carpathian Basin and wintering areas

2016 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 128-149 ◽  
Author(s):  
Csaba Pigniczki ◽  
Jelena Kralj ◽  
Stefano Volponi ◽  
Antun Žuljević ◽  
Mohamed-Ali Dakhli ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Statistical Significance ◽  
River Mouth ◽  
Balkan Peninsula ◽  
Spring Migration ◽  
Carpathian Basin ◽  
Autumn Migration ◽  
Western Coast ◽  
Migration Routes ◽  
Stopover Sites ◽  
Wintering Areas

Abstract Understanding the migration routes of the Central European Spoonbill population is important for their conservation. Here we analysed movements of 3186 individuals of Eurasian Spoonbills marked with colour rings in the Carpathian Basin (Hungary, Croatia and Serbia) between 2003 and 2015, and a satellite tagged individual, which was equipped in Italy in 2013, and later moved to the Carpathian Basin. Migration routes of these Spoonbills predominantly followed the Adriatic Flyway, however, some birds were also found to both east and west from this flyway. We identified 59 stopover sites, 55 of which were located along the Adriatic Flyway. Colourringed juveniles (1cy), on average, spent 4.0±0.9 (SE) days on the stopover sites along the Adriatic Flyway during autumn migration, while non-juveniles (> 1cy) spent 2.6±1.0 (SE) days during autumn and 2.1±0.4 (SE) days during spring migration there. These durations were not significantly different. Duration of stops of the satellite tracked individual was between 7 and 15 days during autumn and between 1 and 12 days during spring migration. Our results indicate the existence of two alternative routes of the Adriatic Flyway between the Carpathian Basin and the wintering areas in southern Italy and the central part of coastal North-Africa. The North-Adriatic Flyway includes stopover sites in north-eastern Italy at the river mouth of River Isonzo, Lagunes of Venice and wetlands around River Po. The South Adriatic Flyway leads through the Balkan Peninsula, with stopover sites at the karst lakes of Bosnia and Herzegovina, mouth of the river Neretva (Croatia), Ulcinj Salinas (Montenegro) and wetlands in Gulf of Manfredonia (Italy). This hypothesis was also supported by the migration of the satellite tagged individual, the paths of which was described here in detail. The average coordinates of spring and autumn stopover sites were located at different parts of the flyway: it was in south-western Italy during autumn migration, while it was close to the western coast of the Balkan Peninsula during spring migration. We found examples for Spoonbills using the same migration paths along the same route year by year on both spring and autumn migration, but also noticed shifts between routes. Some observations indicate that individuals may show site fidelity to stopover sites between years, although the sample size was low for statistical significance.

Systematics, Biogeography, and Morphological Character Evolution of the Hemiepiphytic Subfamily Monsteroideae (Araceae)

2019 ◽  
Vol 104 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-48 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alejandro Zuluaga ◽  
Martin Llano ◽  
Ken Cameron
Keyword(s):  
Dna Sequences ◽  
Pacific Islands ◽  
R Package ◽  
Morphological Characters ◽  
Ancestral State ◽  
Seed Shape ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
And Migration ◽  
The Tropics

The subfamily Monsteroideae (Araceae) is the third richest clade in the family, with ca. 369 described species and ca. 700 estimated. It comprises mostly hemiepiphytic or epiphytic plants restricted to the tropics, with three intercontinental disjunctions. Using a dataset representing all 12 genera in Monsteroideae (126 taxa), and five plastid and two nuclear markers, we studied the systematics and historical biogeography of the group. We found high support for the monophyly of the three major clades (Spathiphylleae sister to Heteropsis Kunth and Rhaphidophora Hassk. clades), and for six of the genera within Monsteroideae. However, we found low rates of variation in the DNA sequences used and a lack of molecular markers suitable for species-level phylogenies in the group. We also performed ancestral state reconstruction of some morphological characters traditionally used for genera delimitation. Only seed shape and size, number of seeds, number of locules, and presence of endosperm showed utility in the classification of genera in Monsteroideae. We estimated ancestral ranges using a dispersal-extinction-cladogenesis model as implemented in the R package BioGeoBEARS and found evidence for a Gondwanan origin of the clade. One tropical disjunction (Monstera Adans. sister to Amydrium Schott–Epipremnum Schott) was found to be the product of a previous Boreotropical distribution. Two other disjunctions are more recent and likely due to long-distance dispersal: Spathiphyllum Schott (with Holochlamys Engl. nested within) represents a dispersal from South America to the Pacific Islands in Southeast Asia, and Rhaphidophora represents a dispersal from Asia to Africa. Future studies based on stronger phylogenetic reconstructions and complete morphological datasets are needed to explore the details of speciation and migration within and among areas in Asia.

scholarly journals LC–MS/MS Analysis of Ciguatoxins Revealing the Regional and Species Distinction of Fish in the Tropical Western Pacific

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 299 ◽  
Author(s):  
Naomasa Oshiro ◽  
Takumi Tomikawa ◽  
Kyoko Kuniyoshi ◽  
Akira Ishikawa ◽  
Hajime Toyofuku ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Fish Species ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
Western Pacific ◽  
Tropical Region ◽  
Northern Coast ◽  
Coastal Regions ◽  
Main Island ◽  
Tropical Western Pacific ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Fish Samples

Ciguatera fish poisoning (CFP) is one of the most frequently reported seafood poisoning diseases. It is endemic to the tropical region and occurs most commonly in the regions around the Pacific Ocean, Indian Ocean, and Caribbean Sea. The principal toxins causing CFP are ciguatoxins (CTXs). In the Pacific region, more than 20 analogs of CTXs have been identified to date. Based on their skeletal structures, they are classified into CTX1B-type and CTX3C-type toxins. We have previously reported species-specific and regional-specific toxin profiles. In this study, the levels and profiles of CTXs in fish present in the tropical western Pacific regions were analyzed using the liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (LC–MS/MS) technique. Forty-two fish specimens, belonging to the categories of snappers, groupers, Spanish mackerel, and moray eel, were purchased from various places such as Fiji, the Philippines, Thailand, and Taiwan. Only the fish captured from Fijian coastal waters contained detectable amounts of CTXs. The toxin levels in the fish species found along the coastal regions of the Viti Levu Island, the main island in Fiji, and the toxin profiles were significantly different from those of the fish species present in other coastal regions. The toxin levels and profiles varied among the different fish samples collected from different coastal areas. Based on the toxin levels and toxin profiles, the coast was demarcated into three zones. In Zone-1, which covers the northern coast of the main island and the regions of the Malake Island and Korovau, CTXs in fish were below the detection level. In Zone-2, CTX3C-type toxins were present in low levels in the fish. CTX1B-type and CTX3C-type toxins co-occurred in the fish present in Zone-3. The toxin profiles may have reflected the variation in Gambierdiscus spp.

scholarly journals Global phylogeography of a pantropical mangrove genus Rhizophora

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Koji Takayama ◽  
Yoichi Tateishi ◽  
Tadashi Kajita
Keyword(s):  
Phylogenetic Trees ◽  
Nuclear Dna ◽  
Divergence Time ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
F1 Hybrid ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Comprehensive Picture ◽  
Dated Phylogeny ◽  
Stochastic Mapping ◽  
Historical Scenario

AbstractRhizophora is a key genus for revealing the formation process of the pantropical distribution of mangroves. In this study, in order to fully understand the historical scenario of Rhizophora that achieved pantropical distribution, we conducted phylogeographic analyses based on nucleotide sequences of chloroplast and nuclear DNA as well as microsatellites for samples collected worldwide. Phylogenetic trees suggested the monophyly of each AEP and IWP lineages respectively except for R. samoensis and R. × selala. The divergence time between the two lineages was 10.6 million years ago on a dated phylogeny, and biogeographic stochastic mapping analyses supported these lineages separated following a vicariant event. These data suggested that the closure of the Tethys Seaway and the reduction in mangrove distribution followed by Mid-Miocene cooling were key factors that caused the linage diversification. Phylogeographic analyses also suggested the formation of the distinctive genetic structure at the AEP region across the American continents around Pliocene. Furthermore, long-distance trans-pacific dispersal occurred from the Pacific coast of American continents to the South Pacific and formed F1 hybrid, resulting in gene exchange between the IWP and AEP lineages after 11 million years of isolation. Considering the phylogeny and phylogeography with divergence time, a comprehensive picture of the historical scenario behind the pantropical distribution of Rhizophora is updated.

scholarly journals Seasonal differences in migration strategies of Red Kites (Milvus milvus) wintering in Spain

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jorge García-Macía ◽  
Javier Vidal-Mateo ◽  
Javier De La Puente ◽  
Ana Bermejo ◽  
Rainer Raab ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Spring Migration ◽  
Great Variability ◽  
Autumn Migration ◽  
Seasonal Differences ◽  
North Eastern ◽  
Wintering Areas ◽  
Satellite Transmitters ◽  
Migration Strategies ◽  
Migratory Movements ◽  
Milvus Milvus

AbstractRed Kite shows a great variability in its migration strategies: most individuals in north-eastern Europe are migrants, but there is also a growing number of sedentary individuals. Here, we tagged 49 Red Kites wintering in Spain with GPS/satellite transmitters between 2013 and 2020 to study the autumn and spring migration between the breeding or summering areas in Central Europe and the wintering quarters in Spain. In first place, differences between immatures and adults were found for spring migration. Adults began the spring migration towards the northeast in February–March while the immature individuals began to migrate significantly later and showing a wider date range (February-June). Adults also takes significantly less days to arrive at their destinations (12 ± 5 days) and cover more distance per day (134.2 ± 37.1 km/day) than immatures (19 ± 11 days and 98.9 ± 21.2 km/day). In second place, we also found differences between spring and autumn migration (excluding immatures). Spring migrations were clearly faster and with less stopovers days than autumn migrations. Autumn migration began between mid-October and late November and two different behaviours were observed: most birds made a quick migration direct to the wintering areas with only some days of stopovers, but others prolonged the migration with long stops along the route. These results highlight a great variation in the migratory movements of Red Kite, not only according to age but also between individuals and seasons.

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