Early‐life development of contrasting outbound and return migration routes in a long‐lived seabird

Wynn, Joe; Guilford, Tim; Padget, Oliver; Perrins, C. M.; Mckee, Neville; Gillies, Natasha; Tyson, Chris; Dean, Ben; Kirk, Holly; Fayet, Annette L.

doi:10.1111/ibi.13030

Cited by 13 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 44 publications

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“…Similar observations have been made in various other migratory bird species (e.g. [ 33 , 103 ]), suggesting many birds to generally use a genetically inherited (see [ 104 ]) or familiar (previously encountered or socially learned) wintering area. The latter may be facilitated by spatial memory formation [ 105 ], develop through ontogeny as birds change from exploratory to more consistent migratory behaviour (e.g.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 74%

High individual repeatability of the migratory behaviour of a long-distance migratory seabird

et al. 2022

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Background Understanding the evolution of migration requires knowledge of the patterns, sources, and consequences of variation in migratory behaviour, a need exacerbated by the fact that many migratory species show rapid population declines and require knowledge-based conservation measures. We therefore need detailed knowledge on the spatial and temporal distribution of individuals across their annual cycle, and quantify how the spatial and temporal components of migratory behaviour vary within and among individuals. Methods We tracked 138 migratory journeys undertaken by 64 adult common terns (Sterna hirundo) from a breeding colony in northwest Germany to identify the annual spatiotemporal distribution of these birds and to evaluate the individual repeatability of eleven traits describing their migratory behaviour. Results Birds left the breeding colony early September, then moved south along the East Atlantic Flyway. Wintering areas were reached mid-September and located at the west and south coasts of West Africa as well as the coasts of Namibia and South Africa. Birds left their wintering areas late March and reached the breeding colony mid-April. The timing, total duration and total distance of migration, as well as the location of individual wintering areas, were moderately to highly repeatable within individuals (repeatability indexes: 0.36–0.75, 0.65–0.66, 0.93–0.94, and 0.98–1.00, respectively), and repeatability estimates were not strongly affected by population-level inter-annual variation in migratory behaviour. Conclusions We found large between-individual variation in common tern annual spatiotemporal distribution and strong individual repeatability of several aspects of their migratory behaviour.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 74%

High individual repeatability of the migratory behaviour of a long-distance migratory seabird

et al. 2022

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“…In birds, inherited directional information is typically, though not universally (Thorup et al, 2020), assumed to comprise 'clock and compass' vector orientation: a compass to determine direction, and a clock to determine when to start and when to end migration (Berthold et al, 2013). This hypothesis is supported by experimental and observational studies, with naïve birds unable to compensate for displacement from the conventional migratory trajectory (Perdeck, 1958;Thorup et al, 2007) and following straight-line courses that accumulate error over time (consistent with vector navigation; (Mouritsen and Mouritsen, 2000;Wynn et al, 2021;Yoda et al, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 79%

Bi-axial orientation could explain range expansion in a migratory songbird

Wynn

Fandós

Delmore

et al. 2022

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The likelihood of a new migratory route evolving is a function of the associated fitness payoff, and the probability that the route arises in the first place. Cross-breeding studies suggest that young birds migrate in a direction intermediate between their parents, though this would seemingly not explain how highly divergent migratory trajectories arise in apparently sympatric populations. It has been suggested that diametrically opposed ‘reverse’ migratory trajectories might be surprisingly common, and if such routes were heritable it follows that they could underlie the rapid evolution of divergent migratory trajectories. Here, we used Eurasian blackcap (Sylvia atricapilla; ‘blackcap’) ringing recoveries and geolocator trajectories to investigate whether a recently-evolved northwards autumn migratory route could be explained by the reversal of each individual’s expected southwards migratory direction. We found that northwards migrants were recovered closer to the sites specified by a precise axis reversal than would be expected by chance, consistent with the rapid evolution of new migratory routes via bi-axial variation in orientation. We suggest that the surprisingly high probability of axis reversal might allow birds to expand their ranges rapidly, and hence propose that understanding how direction is encoded is crucial when characterising the genetic basis of migratory direction and how this relates to route evolution.

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“…Given the considerable and growing body of evidence for the use of learnt cues on return migration (e.g. [2,[27][28][29][30][31][32][33]), and the remarkable precision with which some birds return to the natal site [34], it seems extremely unlikely that an inherited orientation vector is used in isolation on return migration in freely migrating birds. Nonetheless, considering the present results, it seems likely that learnt cues complement rather than replace those inherited, with innate orientation preferences therefore playing a surprisingly important role in return migration.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Naive songbirds show seasonally appropriate spring orientation in the laboratory despite having never completed first migration

et al. 2023

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The role of inherited orientation programmes in determining the outbound migratory routes of birds is increasingly well understood, though less is known about the influence of inherited information on return migration. Previous studies suggest that spatial gradient cues learnt through experience could be of considerable importance when relocating the natal site, though such cues could, in principle, augment rather than replace inherited migratory information. Here, we show that juvenile Eurasian blackcaps ( Sylvia atricapilla ) that have never left northwest Europe (i.e. never had the opportunity to learn navigational information on a continental scale) show significant spring orientation in a direction near-identical to that expected based on ringing recoveries from free-flying individuals. We suggest that this is probably indicative of birds inheriting an orientation programme for spring as well as autumn migration and speculate that, as long as the birds are not displaced far from their normal migration route, the use of inherited spring migratory trajectories might make uni-coordinate ‘stop signs’ sufficiently accurate for the long-distance targeting of their breeding sites.

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Early‐life development of contrasting outbound and return migration routes in a long‐lived seabird

Cited by 13 publications

References 44 publications

High individual repeatability of the migratory behaviour of a long-distance migratory seabird

High individual repeatability of the migratory behaviour of a long-distance migratory seabird

Bi-axial orientation could explain range expansion in a migratory songbird

Naive songbirds show seasonally appropriate spring orientation in the laboratory despite having never completed first migration

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