scholarly journals Detours in long-distance migration across the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau: individual consistency and habitat associations

PeerJ ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. e4304 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dongping Liu ◽  
Guogang Zhang ◽  
Hongxing Jiang ◽  
Jun Lu
Keyword(s):  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Migratory Birds ◽  
Habitat Associations ◽  
Migration Routes ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
Migration Timing ◽  
Ecological Barriers ◽  
Flight Costs ◽  
And Migration ◽  
Individual Consistency

Migratory birds often follow detours when confronted with ecological barriers, and understanding the extent and the underlying drivers of such detours can provide important insights into the associated cost to the annual energy budget and the migration strategies. The Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau is the most daunting geographical barrier for migratory birds because the partial pressure of oxygen is dramatically reduced and flight costs greatly increase. We analyzed the repeated migration detours and habitat associations of four Pallas’s Gulls Larus ichthyaetus across the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau over 22 migration seasons. Gulls exhibited notable detours, with the maximum distance being more than double that of the expected shortest route, that extended rather than reduced the passage across the plateau. The extent of longitudinal detours significantly increased with latitude, and detours were longer in autumn than in spring. Compared with the expected shortest routes, proximity to water bodies increased along autumn migration routes, but detour-habitat associations were weak along spring migration routes. Thus, habitat availability was likely one, but not the only, factor shaping the extent of detours, and migration routes were determined by different mechanisms between seasons. Significant between-individual variation but high individual consistency in migration timing and routes were revealed in both seasons, indicating a stronger influence of endogenous schedules than local environmental conditions. Gulls may benefit from repeated use of familiar routes and stopover sites, which may be particularly significant in the challenging environment of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau.

scholarly journals A full annual perspective on sex-biased migration timing in long-distance migratory birds

2019 ◽  
Vol 286 (1897) ◽  
pp. 20182821 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martins Briedis ◽  
Silke Bauer ◽  
Peter Adamík ◽  
José A. Alves ◽  
Joana S. Costa ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Annual Cycle ◽  
Migratory Birds ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
Breeding Sites ◽  
Arrival Times ◽  
Migration Timing ◽  
Female Migration ◽  
Proximate Determinants ◽  
Carry Over ◽  
And Migration

In many taxa, the most common form of sex-biased migration timing is protandry—the earlier arrival of males at breeding areas. Here we test this concept across the annual cycle of long-distance migratory birds. Using more than 350 migration tracks of small-bodied trans-Saharan migrants, we quantify differences in male and female migration schedules and test for proximate determinants of sex-specific timing. In autumn, males started migration about 2 days earlier, but this difference did not carry over to arrival at the non-breeding sites. In spring, males on average departed from the African non-breeding sites about 3 days earlier and reached breeding sitesca4 days ahead of females. A cross-species comparison revealed large variation in the level of protandry and protogyny across the annual cycle. While we found tight links between individual timing of departure and arrival within each migration season, only for males the timing of spring migration was linked to the timing of previous autumn migration. In conclusion, our results demonstrate that protandry is not exclusively a reproductive strategy but rather occurs year-round and the two main proximate determinants for the magnitude of sex-biased arrival times in autumn and spring are sex-specific differences in departure timing and migration duration.

scholarly journals Great flights by great snipes: long and fast non-stop migration over benign habitats

2011 ◽  
Vol 7 (6) ◽  
pp. 833-835 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raymond H. G. Klaassen ◽  
Thomas Alerstam ◽  
Peter Carlsson ◽  
James W. Fox ◽  
Åke Lindström
Keyword(s):  
Migratory Birds ◽  
Strenuous Exercise ◽  
Migration Route ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
Migration Strategy ◽  
Ice Caps ◽  
Fuel Loads ◽  
Stopover Sites ◽  
Ecological Barriers ◽  
Suitable Habitats

Migratory land birds perform extreme endurance flights when crossing ecological barriers, such as deserts, oceans and ice-caps. When travelling over benign areas, birds are expected to migrate by shorter flight steps, since carrying the heavy fuel loads needed for long non-stop flights comes at considerable cost. Here, we show that great snipes Gallinago media made long and fast non-stop flights (4300–6800 km in 48–96 h), not only over deserts and seas but also over wide areas of suitable habitats, which represents a previously unknown migration strategy among land birds. Furthermore, the great snipes achieved very high ground speeds (15–27 m s −1 ), which was not an effect of strong tailwind support, and we know of no other animal that travels this rapidly over such a long distance. Our results demonstrate that some migratory birds are prepared to accept extreme costs of strenuous exercise and large fuel loads, even when stopover sites are available along the route and there is little tailwind assistance. A strategy of storing a lot of energy before departure, even if migration is over benign habitats, may be advantageous owing to differential conditions of fuel deposition, predation or infection risk along the migration route.

Automated monitoring of a large-scale cod (Gadus morhua) migration in the open sea

2002 ◽  
Vol 59 (12) ◽  
pp. 1845-1850 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luc A Comeau ◽  
Steven E Campana ◽  
Martin Castonguay
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Gadus Morhua ◽  
Atlantic Cod ◽  
Seasonal Migration ◽  
Migration Routes ◽  
Eastern Canada ◽  
Migration Patterns ◽  
Migration Timing ◽  
Open Sea ◽  
And Migration

The migration patterns of marine fishes are poorly known, in part owing to the technical limitations associated with tracking the movements of animals in deep water. Here we document a large-scale, directed, migration of Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) off eastern Canada. Our approach was based on the acoustic tagging of 126 fish and the deployment of 69 subsurface receivers, stretching over a 160-km distance along the edge of the Laurentian Channel. After 1 year of automated recording, we found that 65% of the fish migrated out of coastal waters in two distinct runs during the summer–autumn period. The offshore-migrating fish overwintered in deep Laurentian Channel waters, returning inshore in April. Individual migration routes and migration timing were variable, indicating that the cod did not aggregate in large schools during the seasonal migration events.

scholarly journals Climate change relaxes the time constraints for late-born offspring in a long-distance migrant

2016 ◽  
Vol 283 (1839) ◽  
pp. 20161366 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara M. Tomotani ◽  
Phillip Gienapp ◽  
Domien G. M. Beersma ◽  
Marcel E. Visser
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Annual Cycle ◽  
Migratory Birds ◽  
Climate Change Impacts ◽  
Egg Laying ◽  
Time Constraints ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
Hatch Date ◽  
Breeding Bird ◽  
And Migration

Animals in seasonal environments need to fit their annual-cycle stages, such as moult and migration, in a tight schedule. Climate change affects the phenology of organisms and causes advancements in timing of these annual-cycle stages but not necessarily at the same rates. For migratory birds, this can lead to more severe or more relaxed time constraints in the time from fledging to migration, depending on the relative shifts of the different stages. We tested how a shift in hatch date, which has advanced due to climate change, impacts the organization of the birds' whole annual cycle. We experimentally advanced and delayed the hatch date of pied flycatcher chicks in the field and then measured the timing of their annual-cycle stages in a controlled laboratory environment. Hatch date affected the timing of moult and pre-migratory fattening, but not migration. Early-born birds hence had a longer time to fatten up than late-born ones; the latter reduced their interval between onset of fattening and migration to be able to migrate at the same time as the early-born birds. This difference in time constraints for early- and late-born individuals may explain why early-born offspring have a higher probability to recruit as a breeding bird. Climate change-associated advancements of avian egg-lay dates, which in turn advances hatch dates, can thus reduce the negative fitness consequences of reproducing late, thereby reducing the selection for early egg-laying migratory birds.

scholarly journals Citrine Wagtail migration on the Indo-European flyway: a first geolocator track reveals alternative migration route and endurance flights to cross ecological barriers

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Michał Korniluk ◽  
Paweł Białomyzy ◽  
Grzegorz Grygoruk ◽  
Tomasz Tumiel ◽  
Piotr Świętochowski ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Range Expansion ◽  
Caspian Sea ◽  
Breeding Site ◽  
Movement Speed ◽  
Breeding Period ◽  
Migration Route ◽  
Migration Routes ◽  
The Caspian Sea ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
Ecological Barriers

AbstractMost long-distance migrating passerines that breed in Europe spend their winters in Africa, with only a few species migrating eastward to spend the non-breeding period in South Asia. The use of the Indo-European flyway is rare and has been poorly studied so far. However, it is extremely interesting as within that system we are currently witnessing a recent range expansion of European breeding long distance migrants and thus the lengthening of migration routes. It may therefore conceal a unique migratory strategies and behaviour that can help us to understand the underlying factors and mechanisms determining the evolution of migration routes, strategies and breeding range extinction. Based on light-level geolocator we reveal a first track of the Citrine Wagtail (Motacilla citreola) migration, providing insight into the migration pattern, timing and behaviour of the species that recently has extended its migration routes. Unexpectedly, the studied individual did not retrace a recent range expansion that runs north and east from the Caspian Sea but followed a migration route running south form the Caspian sea, suggesting possible presence of an alternative species range expansion. The overall migration distance between the breeding site in Poland and the non-breeding site in Pakistan was about 10,420 km and included two endurance movement phases (920 and 2240 km) covering 30% of the whole journey length, with an average movement speed of 574 km/day. We explain this migration behaviour as an adaptation for crossing the ecological barriers imposed by arid environments.

Major stopover regions and migratory bottlenecks for Nearctic-Neotropical landbirds within the Neotropics: a review

2017 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
NICHOLAS J. BAYLY ◽  
KENNETH V. ROSENBERG ◽  
WENDY E. EASTON ◽  
CAMILA GÓMEZ ◽  
JAY CARLISLE ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sierra Nevada ◽  
Migratory Birds ◽  
Current Knowledge ◽  
Boreal Winter ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
Important Distinction ◽  
Conservation Actions ◽  
Neotropical Migratory Birds ◽  
And Migration ◽  
Multiple Species

SummaryNearly 300 species of landbirds, whose populations total billions, migrate between the Neotropics and North America. Many migratory populations are in steep decline, and migration is often identified as the greatest source of annual mortality. Identifying birds’ needs on migration is therefore central to designing conservation actions for Nearctic-Neotropical migratory birds; yet migration through the Neotropics is a significant knowledge gap in our understanding of the full annual cycle. Here, we synthesise current knowledge of Neotropical stopover regions and migratory bottlenecks, focusing on long-distance, migratory landbirds that spend the boreal winter in South America. We make the important distinction between “true” stopover—involving multi-day refuelling stops—and rest-roost stops lasting < 24 hours, citing a growing number of studies that show individual landbirds making long stopovers in just a few strategic areas, to accumulate large energy reserves for long-distance flights. Based on an exhaustive literature search, we found few published stopover studies from the Neotropics, but combined with recent tracking studies, they describe prolonged stopovers for multiple species in the Orinoco grasslands (Llanos), the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta (Colombia), and the Yucatan Peninsula. Bottlenecks for diurnal migrants are well described, with the narrowing Central American geography concentrating millions of migrating raptors at several points in SE Mexico, Costa Rica, Panama and the Darién. However, diurnally migrating aerial insectivores remain understudied, and determining stopover/roost sites for this steeply declining group is a priority. Despite advances in our knowledge of migration in the Neotropics, we conclude that major knowledge gaps persist. To identify stopover sites and habitats and the threats they face, we propose a targeted and collaborative research agenda at an expanded network of Neotropical sites, within the context of regional conservation planning strategies.

scholarly journals Tracking of Arctic terns Sterna paradisaea reveals longest animal migration

2010 ◽  
Vol 107 (5) ◽  
pp. 2078-2081 ◽  
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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