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"Animal migration behavior"
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Animal journeys
Discover how animals adapt to their environments to help them thrive and survive in this beautifully illustrated journal of amazing animal journeys.
Book
Differences in Speed and Duration of Bird Migration between Spring and Autumn
It has been suggested that birds migrate faster in spring than in autumn because of competition for arrival order at breeding grounds and environmental factors such as increased daylight. Investigating spring and autumn migration performances is important for understanding ecological and evolutionary constraints in the timing and speed of migration. We compiled measurements from tracking studies and found a consistent predominance of cases showing higher speeds and shorter durations during spring compared to autumn, in terms of flight speeds (airspeed, ground speed, daily travel speed), stopover duration, and total speed and duration of migration. Seasonal differences in flight speeds were generally smaller than those in stopover durations and total speed/duration of migration, indicating that rates of foraging and fuel deposition were more important than flight speed in accounting for differences in overall migration performance. Still, the seasonal differences in flight speeds provide important support for time selection in spring migration.
Journal Article
Swimming home
\"Some fish, like the river herring called alewives, hatch in a lake or big pond, and when they are a little older, swim down a river and out to the ocean. They return home to their lake when it is time to spawn, but swimming upstream can be an adventure full of danger and challenges. After their long swim home, what will happen if the entrance to the lake is now blocked with a new road or a dam? Can the fish still go home?\"-- Provided by publisher.
Book
When and where does mortality occur in migratory birds? Direct evidence from long-term satellite tracking of raptors
1. Information about when and where animals die is important to understand population regulation. In migratory animals, mortality might occur not only during the stationary periods (e.g. breeding and wintering) but also during the migration seasons. However, the relative importance of population limiting factors during different periods of the year remains poorly understood, and previous studies mainly relied on indirect evidence. 2. Here, we provide direct evidence about when and where migrants die by identifying cases of confirmed and probable deaths in three species of long-distance migratory raptors tracked by satellite telemetry. 3. We show that mortality rate was about six times higher during migration seasons than during stationary periods. However, total mortality was surprisingly similar between periods, which can be explained by the fact that risky migration periods are shorter than safer stationary periods. Nevertheless, more than half of the annual mortality occurred during migration. We also found spatiotemporal patterns in mortality: spring mortality occurred mainly in Africa in association with the crossing of the Sahara desert, while most mortality during autumn took place in Europe. 4. Our results strongly suggest that events during the migration seasons have an important impact on the population dynamics of long-distance migrants. We speculate that mortality during spring migration may account for short-term annual variation in survival and population sizes, while mortality during autumn migration may be more important for long-term population regulation (through density-dependent effects).
Journal Article
Snowy owl invasion! : tracking an unusual migration
\"A historically large irruption of snowy owls during the winter of 2013-2014 brought them across the eastern US, and farther south than usual. Scientists used this opportunity to attach GPS tracking devices to some snowy owls to increase understanding of their winter behavior and migration.\"-- Provided by publisher.
Book
Animal Migration and Infectious Disease Risk
Animal migrations are often spectacular, and migratory species harbor zoonotic pathogens of importance to humans. Animal migrations are expected to enhance the global spread of pathogens and facilitate cross-species transmission. This does happen, but new research has also shown that migration allows hosts to escape from infected habitats, reduces disease levels when infected animals do not migrate successfully, and may lead to the evolution of less-virulent pathogens. Migratory demands can also reduce immune function, with consequences for host susceptibility and mortality. Studies of pathogen dynamics in migratory species and how these will respond to global change are urgently needed to predict future disease risks for wildlife and humans alike.
Journal Article
Social Learning of Migratory Performance
Successful bird migration can depend on individual learning, social learning, and innate navigation programs. Using 8 years of data on migrating whooping cranes, we were able to partition genetic and socially learned aspects of migration. Specifically, we analyzed data from a reintroduced population wherein all birds were captive bred and artificially trained by ultralight aircraft on their first lifetime migration. For subsequent migrations, in which birds fly individually or in groups but without ultralight escort, we found evidence of long-term social learning, but no effect of genetic relatedness on migratory performance. Social learning from older birds reduced deviations from a straight-line path, with 7 years of experience yielding a 38% improvement in migratory accuracy.
Journal Article
Trading-off fish biodiversity, food security, and hydropower in the Mekong River Basin
The Mekong River Basin, site of the biggest inland fishery in the world, is undergoing massive hydropower development. Planned dams will block critical fish migration routes between the river's downstream floodplains and upstream tributaries. Here we estimate fish biomass and biodiversity losses in numerous damming scenarios using a simple ecological model of fish migration. Our framework allows detailing trade-offs between dam locations, power production, and impacts on fish resources. We find that the completion of 78 dams on tributaries, which have not previously been subject to strategic analysis, would have catastrophic impacts on fish productivity and biodiversity. Our results argue for reassessment of several dams planned, and call for a new regional agreement on tributary development of the Mekong River Basin.
Journal Article
What Is Migration?
We outline a general scheme for migration that applies across taxa, incorporates the several varieties of migration, and includes all levels of biological organization, from genes to populations. The scheme links the environment, pathways, traits, and genes, and highlights the selective forces that shape and maintain migratory adaptation. We endorse an individual-based behavioral definition of migration that allows an objective distinction between migration and other forms of movement. We recognize migration as an adaptation to resources that fluctuate spatiotemporally either seasonally or less predictably, and note that it is often preemptive. Migration plays a central role in the spatial dynamics of mobile populations, and is largely distinct in both form and function from the within-population mixing arising from postnatal dispersal and from the interpatch movements characteristic of metapopulations. We call for more interaction between biologists studying different taxa and different forms of movement, and between behaviorists and population ecologists.
Journal Article
Tracking of Arctic terns Sterna paradisaea reveals longest animal migration
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.
Journal Article