Long-distance bird migration within South America revealed by light-level geolocators

Abstract Although the migration ecology of birds breeding in the Neotropics is still poorly studied relative to that of their counterparts breeding at north-temperate latitudes, studies conducted over the last 2 decades have revealed that migration in the Neotropics is much more common and diverse than previously thought. These studies have identified dozens of species that migrate latitudinally within South America, altitudinally within various mountain ranges, to and between Caribbean islands, and longitudinally across diverse ecosystems such as the Amazon rainforest. Advances in miniaturized tracking technologies, enormous citizen science databases, and powerful analytical approaches provide an unprecedented ability to detect and evaluate temporally and spatially fine-scale patterns, greatly facilitating the study of migratory patterns across tropical regions. We argue that a renewed effort in research on short- and long-distance bird migration within the Neotropics will allow (1) comparative studies that identify the emergent properties of migratory behavior, (2) identification of the convergent or unique mechanistic drivers of migration across diverse ecological settings, (3) formulation of effective conservation and management plans for migratory Neotropical birds, and (4) predictions about how migratory birds will respond to large-scale climatic changes within the Neotropics. Here, we review the current state of knowledge on Neotropical bird migration, with a focus on South America. We specifically examine similarities and differences in the observed migratory patterns of birds that breed in the Nearctic compared to the Neotropics and highlight key future research questions.

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Advancement in long-distance bird migration through individual plasticity in departure

Nature Communications ◽

10.1038/s41467-021-25022-7 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Jesse R. Conklin ◽

Simeon Lisovski ◽

Phil F. Battley

Keyword(s):

Bird Migration ◽

Population Level ◽

Breeding Site ◽

Environmental Constraints ◽

Adaptive Responses ◽

Long Distance ◽

Direct Observations ◽

Breeding Resources ◽

Plastic Responses

AbstractGlobally, bird migration is occurring earlier in the year, consistent with climate-related changes in breeding resources. Although often attributed to phenotypic plasticity, there is no clear demonstration of long-term population advancement in avian migration through individual plasticity. Using direct observations of bar-tailed godwits (Limosa lapponica) departing New Zealand on a 16,000-km journey to Alaska, we show that migration advanced by six days during 2008–2020, and that within-individual advancement was sufficient to explain this population-level change. However, in individuals tracked for the entire migration (50 total tracks of 36 individuals), earlier departure did not lead to earlier arrival or breeding in Alaska, due to prolonged stopovers in Asia. Moreover, changes in breeding-site phenology varied across Alaska, but were not reflected in within-population differences in advancement of migratory departure. We demonstrate that plastic responses can drive population-level changes in timing of long-distance migration, but also that behavioral and environmental constraints en route may yet limit adaptive responses to global change.

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Consistency in long-distance bird migration: contrasting patterns in time and space for two raptors

Animal Behaviour ◽

10.1016/j.anbehav.2015.12.014 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 113 ◽

pp. 177-187 ◽

Cited By ~ 32

Author(s):

Yannis Vardanis ◽

Jan-Åke Nilsson ◽

Raymond H.G. Klaassen ◽

Roine Strandberg ◽

Thomas Alerstam

Keyword(s):

Bird Migration ◽

Time And Space ◽

Long Distance

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Memoirs of a frequent flier: Phylogenomics reveals 18 long-distance dispersals between North America and South America in the popcorn flowers (Amsinckiinae)

American Journal of Botany ◽

10.3732/ajb.1700369 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 104 (11) ◽

pp. 1717-1728 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

C. Matt Guilliams ◽

Kristen E. Hasenstab-Lehman ◽

Makenzie E. Mabry ◽

Michael G. Simpson

Keyword(s):

North America ◽

South America ◽

Long Distance

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Driftwood on Heard Island

Polar Record ◽

10.1017/s0032247400010834 ◽

1989 ◽

Vol 25 (154) ◽

pp. 223-228 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

J. M. B. Smith ◽

P. Rudall ◽

P. L. Keage

Keyword(s):

South America ◽

South American ◽

Long Distance Dispersal ◽

South American Species ◽

Long Distance ◽

Heard Island

AbstractSamples from 73 pieces of non-structural driftwood on Heard Island (53°06′S, 73°30′E) were identified to genus or species. Thirty-one belonged to South American species of Nothofagus. The remainder, consisting mostly of conifers especially Picea and Larix, probably came from ships' cargoes. The assemblage is similar to those reported, from smaller samples, on other southern islands. Other items of flotsam, including fishing buoys and drift-cards, are also reported from Heard Island. The significance of driftwood transport from South America to the island in accounting for long-distance dispersal of terrestrial and intertidal organisms is discussed.

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A description and summary of the Antarctic Humpback Whale Catalogue

J. Cetacean Res. Manage. ◽

10.47536/jcrm.vi.307 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 95-99

Author(s):

Judith Allen ◽

Carole Carlson ◽

Peter T. Stevick

Keyword(s):

South America ◽

Southern Ocean ◽

Antarctic Peninsula ◽

Humpback Whale ◽

Humpback Whales ◽

Western Coast ◽

Long Distance ◽

Dorsal Fin ◽

Feeding Area ◽

The Antarctic

The Antarctic Humpback Whale Catalogue (AHWC) is an international collaborative project investigating movement patterns of humpback whales in the Southern Ocean and corresponding lower latitude waters. The collection contains records contributed by 261 researchers and opportunistic sources. Photographs come from all of the Antarctic management areas, the feeding grounds in southern Chile and also most of the known or suspected low-latitude breeding areas and span more than two decades. This allows comparisons to be made over all of the major regions used by Southern Hemisphere humpback whales. The fluke, left dorsal fin/flank and right dorsal fin/flank collections represent 3,655, 413 and 407 individual whales respectively. There were 194 individuals resighted in more than one year, and 82 individuals resighted in more than one region. Resightings document movement along the western coast of South America and movement between the Antarctic Peninsula and western coast of South America and Central America. A single individual from Brazil was resighted off South Georgia, representing the first documented link between the Brazilian breeding ground and any feeding area. A second individual from Brazil was resighted off Madagascar, documenting long distance movement of a female between non-adjacent breeding areas. Resightings also include two matches between American Samoa and the Antarctic Peninsula, documenting the first known feeding site for American Somoa and setting a new long distance seasonal migration record. Three matches between Sector V and eastern Australia support earlier evidence provided by Discovery tags. Multiple resightings of individuals in the Antarctic Peninsula during more than one season indicate that humpback whales in this area show some degree of regional feeding area fidelity. The AHWC provides a powerful non-lethal and non-invasive tool for investigating the movements and population structure of the whales utilising the Southern Ocean Sanctuary. Through this methodical, coordinated comparison and maintenance of collections from across the hemisphere, large-scale movement patterns may be examined, both within the Antarctic, and from the Antarctic to breeding grounds at low latitudes.

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Evolution of andrenine bees reveals a long and complex history of faunal interchanges between the Americas during the Mesozoic and Cenozoic

10.1101/2021.08.05.455338 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Kelli S Ramos ◽

Aline C Martins ◽

Gabriel A R Melo

Keyword(s):

North America ◽

South America ◽

Time Window ◽

Distributional Pattern ◽

Long Distance ◽

Early Diversification ◽

Palearctic Region ◽

Long Time ◽

The Times ◽

Dated Phylogeny

Bees are presumed to have arisen in the early to mid-Cretaceous coincident with the fragmentation of the southern continents and concurrently with the early diversification of the flowering plants. Among the main groups of bees, Andreninae sensu lato comprise about 3000 species widely distributed with greatest and disjunct diversity in arid areas of North America, South America, and the Palearctic region. Here, we present the first comprehensive dated phylogeny and historical biogeographic analysis for andrenine bees, including representatives of all currently recognized tribes. Our analyses rely on a dataset of 106 taxa and 7952 aligned nucleotide positions from one mitochondrial and six nuclear loci. Andreninae is strongly supported as a monophyletic group and the recovered phylogeny corroborates the commonly recognized clades for the group. Thus, we propose a revised tribal classification that is congruent with our phylogenetic results. The time-calibrated phylogeny and ancestral range reconstructions of Andreninae reveal a fascinating evolutionary history with Gondwana patterns that are unlike those observed in other subfamilies of bees. Andreninae arose in South America during the Late Cretaceous around 90 Million years ago (Ma) and the origin of tribes occurred through a relatively long time-window from this age to the Miocene. The early evolution of the main lineages took place in South America until the beginning of Paleocene with North American fauna origin from it and Palearctic from North America as results of multiple lineage interchanges between these areas by long-distance dispersal or hopping through landmass chains. Overall, our analyses provide strong evidence of amphitropical distributional pattern currently observed in Andreninae in the American continent as result at least three periods of possible land connections between the two American landmasses, much prior to the Panama Isthmus closure. The andrenine lineages reached the Palearctic region through four dispersal events from North America during the Eocene, late Oligocene and early Miocene, most probably via the Thulean Bridge. The few lineages with Afrotropical distribution likely originated from a Palearctic ancestral in the Miocene around 10 Ma when these regions were contiguous, and the Sahara Desert was mostly vegetated making feasible the passage by several organisms. Incursions of andrenine bees to North America and then onto the Old World are chronological congruent with distinct periods when open-vegetation habitats were available for trans-continental dispersal and at the times when aridification and temperature decline offered favorable circumstances for bee diversification.

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No detectable effect of light-level geolocators on the behaviour and fitness of a long-distance migratory seabird

Journal of Ornithology ◽

10.1007/s10336-019-01686-3 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 160 (4) ◽

pp. 1087-1095 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Nathalie Kürten ◽

Oscar Vedder ◽

Jacob González-Solís ◽

Heiko Schmaljohann ◽

Sandra Bouwhuis

Keyword(s):

Light Level ◽

Detectable Effect ◽

Long Distance ◽

Effect Of Light

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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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Long-distance dispersal of the beach strawberry, Fragaria chiloensis, from North America to Chile and Hawaii

Annals of Botany ◽

10.1093/aob/mcaa165 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

James F Hancock ◽

Harold H Prince

Keyword(s):

North America ◽

Bird Migration ◽

Aleutian Islands ◽

South American ◽

Rocky Shores ◽

Long Distance Dispersal ◽

Feeding Preferences ◽

Long Distance ◽

Central California ◽

Fragaria Chiloensis

Abstract Background and Aims The beach strawberry, Fragaria chiloensis, is found in a narrow coastal band from the Aleutian Islands to central California and then jumps thousands of kilometres all the way to Hawaii and Chile. As it probably had a North American origin, it must have been introduced to the other locations by long-distance dispersal. The aim of this study was to determine which agent carried the beach strawberry to its Pacific and South American locations. Methods A deductive framework was constructed to separate between the possible modes of long-distance dispersal involving animals, wind and ocean currents. Bird migration was subsequently identified as the most likely scenario, and then the routes, habitats, feeding preferences and flight distances of all the shorebird species were evaluated to determine the most likely carrier. Key Results Six species migrate between North America and Chile and feed on the beaches and rocky shores where F. chiloensis grows naturally: Black-bellied Plovers, Greater Yellowlegs, Ruddy Turnstones, Sanderlings, Whimbrels and Willets. Of these, only two eat fruit and migrate in long continuous flight: Ruddy Turnstones and Whimbrels. Two species travel between North America and Hawaii, eat fruit and forage on the beaches and rocky shores where F. chiloensis grows naturally: Pacific Golden-plovers and Ruddy Turnstones. Ruddy Turnstones eat far less fruit than Pacific Golden-plovers and Whimbrels, making them less likely to have introduced the beach strawberry to either location. Conclusions We provide evidence that F. chiloesis seeds were probably dispersed to Hawaii by Pacific Golden-plovers and to Chile by Whimbrels.

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