Why is timing of bird migration advancing when individuals are not?

Gill, J. A., Alves, J. A., Sutherland, W. J., Appleton, G. F., Potts, P. M. and Gunnarsson, T. G. (2014) Why is timing of bird migration advancing when individuals are not? Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 281 (1774). ISSN 0962-8452

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Abstract

Recent advances in spring arrival dates have been reported in many migratory species but the mechanism driving these advances is unknown. As population declines are most widely reported in species that are not advancing migration, there is an urgent need to identify the mechanisms facilitating and constraining these advances. Individual plasticity in timing of migration in response to changing climatic conditions is commonly proposed to drive these advances but plasticity in individual migratory timings is rarely observed. For a shorebird population that has significantly advanced migration in recent decades, we show that individual arrival dates are highly consistent between years, but that the arrival dates of new recruits to the population are significantly earlier now than in previous years. Several mechanisms could drive advances in recruit arrival, none of which require individual plasticity or rapid evolution of migration timings. In particular, advances in nest-laying dates could result in advanced recruit arrival, if benefits of early hatching facilitate early subsequent spring migration. This mechanism could also explain why arrival dates of short-distance migrants, which generally return to breeding sites earlier and have greater scope for advance laying, are advancing more rapidly than long-distance migrants.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	migratory behaviour,phenology,population change,shorebird,timing of breeding
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Science > School of Biological Sciences
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Science > Research Centres > Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Conservation Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Organisms and the Environment
Depositing User:	Pure Connector
Date Deposited:	14 Mar 2014 12:12
Last Modified:	16 May 2023 22:31
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/48134
DOI:	10.1098/rspb.2013.2161

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