Migration distance affects how closely Eurasian wigeons follow spring phenology during migration

Movement Ecology

Sergey Kharitonov¹  Ulf Ottosson²  Jonas Waldenström²  Mariëlle L. van Toor²  Gerard Müskens³  Saulius Švažas⁴  Mindaugas Dagys⁴  Ramunas Žydelis⁵  Erik Kleyheeg⁶ 

[1] A. N. Severtsov Institut of Ecology and Evolution RAS, Moscow, Russia;Centre for Ecology and Evolution in Microbial Model Systems, Linnaeus University, Kalmar, Sweden;Müskens Fauna, Groesbeek, The Netherlands;Nature Research Centre, Vilnius, Lithuania;Ornitela UAB, Vilnius, Lithuania;Sovon Dutch Centre for Field Ornithology, Nijmegen, The Netherlands;

关键词: Arrival timing;    Herbivore;    Hidden Markov model;    Mareca penelope;    Migration timing;    Thermal growing season;    Telemetry;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s40462-021-00296-0

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundThe timing of migration for herbivorous migratory birds is thought to coincide with spring phenology as emerging vegetation supplies them with the resources to fuel migration, and, in species with a capital breeding strategy also provides individuals with energy for use on the breeding grounds. Individuals with very long migration distances might however have to trade off between utilising optimal conditions en route and reaching the breeding grounds early, potentially leading to them overtaking spring on the way. Here, we investigate whether migration distance affects how closely individually tracked Eurasian wigeons follow spring phenology during spring migration.MethodsWe captured wigeons in the Netherlands and Lithuania and tracked them throughout spring migration to identify staging sites and timing of arrival. Using temperature-derived indicators of spring phenology, we investigated how maximum longitude reached and migration distance affected how closely wigeons followed spring. We further estimated the impact of tagging on wigeon migration by comparing spring migratory timing between tracked individuals and ring recovery data sets.ResultsWigeons migrated to locations between 300 and 4000 km from the capture site, and migrated up to 1000 km in a single day. We found that wigeons migrating to more north-easterly locations followed spring phenology more closely, and increasingly so the greater distance they had covered during migration. Yet we also found that despite tags equalling only around 2% of individual’s body mass, individuals were on average 11–12 days slower than ring-marked individuals from the same general population.DiscussionOverall, our results suggest that migratory strategy can vary dependent on migration distance within species, and even within the same migratory corridor. Individual decisions thus depend not only on environmental cues, but potentially also trade-offs made during later life-history stages.

【 授权许可】

CC BY