Individual Black-Tailed Godwits Do Not Stick to Single Routes: A Hypothesis on How Low Population Densities Might Decrease Social Conformity

Loonstra, A. H. Jelle; Verhoeven, Mo A.; Zbyryt, Adam; Schaaf, Ester; Both, Christiaan; Piersma, Theunis

doi:10.5253/arde.v107i3.a11

Cited by 15 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 40 publications

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“…For example, when crossing the Sahara, the longitudinal distribution of godwits is similar to that of Marsh Harriers but narrower than that of Ospreys (Pandion haliaetus) and Egyptian Vultures (Neophron percnopterus) (Lopez-Lopez et al 2014;Vardanis et al 2016). Even within the Continental Black-tailed Godwit subspecies, there is variation along this gradient: comparing our results to Loonstra et al (2019c) shows that Polish godwits exhibit higher within-and between-individual variation in space use during migration than Dutch godwits. Such variation among and within species begs the question: what causes these differences?…”

Section: Population Variation In Space Usementioning

confidence: 57%

“…Instead, space use is likely to be species-or even population specific. In the case of Polish versus Dutch godwits, for example, the ways in which social information is transmitted among individuals may be different between the high-density Dutch population and the low-density Polish population, and this may lead to different levels of canalization of migratory routines (see Loonstra et al 2019c for a more extensive discussion). The fact that migratory routines are likely not based simply on broad ecological differences supports recent calls to study the full annual cycle of different species, and stresses the need to combine the nonbreeding and migration ecology of a given species with its population dynamics to better understand the observed differences among species, and in this way effectively inform conservation measures (Marra et al 2015;Rushing et al 2017;Cresswell 2018).…”

Section: Population Variation In Space Usementioning

confidence: 99%

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Migration route, stopping sites, and non-breeding destinations of adult Black-tailed Godwits breeding in southwest Fryslân, The Netherlands

et al. 2020

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In this paper, we extend our understanding of the migration of Black-tailed Godwits (Limosa limosa limosa) by describing: (1) the orientation and geographic locations of individual migratory routes and (2) the spatial distribution of godwits across seasons and years. We accomplish this using satellite-tracking data from 36 adult godwits breeding in the 200-ha Haanmeer polder in The Netherlands, from 2015 to 2018. During both southward and northward migration, godwits used a narrow migratory corridor along which most individuals made stops within a network of sites, especially the Bay of Biscay, France and Doñana, Spain. Most sites were used consistently by the same individuals across years. However, sites in Morocco were used during northward migration by 75% of individuals, but not revisited by the same individual across years. After southward migration, a small proportion (15%) of godwits spent the entire non-breeding period north of the Sahara, but most (85%) crossed the Sahara and spent at least part of the non-breeding season among seven coastal sites in West Africa and one site in the Inner Niger Delta. Although site-use patterns varied among individuals, individuals showed high site fidelity and were consistent in the number of sites they used from year to year. The considerable differences in the spatial distribution of individuals that breed within a kilometre of one another raise questions about the causes and consequences of individual migratory differences. We discuss that full annual cycle tracking of juveniles from birth to adulthood is needed to understand the source of these individual differences. Our results on the spatial distribution of godwits throughout their annual cycle lay an important foundation of information that can be used to help conserve this declining species.

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Section: Population Variation In Space Usementioning

confidence: 57%

Section: Population Variation In Space Usementioning

confidence: 99%

Migration route, stopping sites, and non-breeding destinations of adult Black-tailed Godwits breeding in southwest Fryslân, The Netherlands

et al. 2020

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“…However, the observed levels of species‐specific developmental plasticity must also be conditional on the environment. For example, populations of the same species exhibit different degrees of variability in their migrations (Flack et al., 2016 ; Loonstra, Verhoeven, Zbyryt, et al., 2019 ). Similarly, individuals from the same population can vary considerably (Gill et al., 2019 ; Verhoeven et al., 2019 ), especially in populations that are partially migratory (Chapman et al., 2011 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Age‐dependent timing and routes demonstrate developmental plasticity in a long‐distance migratory bird

Verhoeven

Loonstra

McBride

et al. 2021

Journal of Animal Ecology

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Longitudinal tracking studies have revealed consistent differences in the migration patterns of individuals from the same populations. The sources or processes causing this individual variation are largely unresolved. As a result, it is mostly unknown how much, how fast and when animals can adjust their migrations to changing environments. We studied the ontogeny of migration in a long‐distance migratory shorebird, the black‐tailed godwit Limosa limosa limosa, a species known to exhibit marked individuality in the migratory routines of adults. By observing how and when these individual differences arise, we aimed to elucidate whether individual differences in migratory behaviour are inherited or emerge as a result of developmental plasticity. We simultaneously tracked juvenile and adult godwits from the same breeding area on their south‐ and northward migrations. To determine how and when individual differences begin to arise, we related juvenile migration routes, timing and mortality rates to hatch date and hatch year. Then, we compared adult and juvenile migration patterns to identify potential age‐dependent differences. In juveniles, the timing of their first southward departure was related to hatch date. However, their subsequent migration routes, orientation, destination, migratory duration and likelihood of mortality were unrelated to the year or timing of migration, or their sex. Juveniles left the Netherlands after all tracked adults. They then flew non‐stop to West Africa more often and incurred higher mortality rates than adults. Some juveniles also took routes and visited stopover sites far outside the well‐documented adult migratory corridor. Such juveniles, however, were not more likely to die. We found that juveniles exhibited different migratory patterns than adults, but no evidence that these behaviours are under natural selection. We thus eliminate the possibility that the individual differences observed among adult godwits are present at hatch or during their first migration. This adds to the mounting evidence that animals possess the developmental plasticity to change their migration later in life in response to environmental conditions as those conditions are experienced.

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“…In the second scenario, divergent migratory phenotypes have neither functional nor neutral genomic signals, because they arise from developmental plasticity or postdevelopment phenotypic flexibility (Piersma & Drent 2003). This is most easily imagined in socially migrating birds in which behaviour and routes are culturally learned and maintained, as shown in several non-passerine birds (Mueller et al 2013, Flack et al 2018 and proposed in the closely-related Black-tailed Godwit L. limosa (Loonstra et al 2020). When social groups overlap in space and time, such as the overlapping pre-and post-breeding Siberian staging areas in our study, exchanges of individuals may occur when birds from one flyway population join flocks of the other, as shown in White-fronted Geese Anser albifrons (K€ olzsch et al 2019).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Central‐West Siberian‐breeding Bar‐tailed Godwits (Limosa lapponica) segregate in two morphologically distinct flyway populations

Bom

Conklin

Verkuil

et al. 2021

Ibis

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Long-distance migratory species often include multiple breeding populations, with distinct migration routes, wintering areas and annual-cycle timing. Detailed knowledge on population structure and migratory connectivity provides the basis for studies on the evolution of migration strategies and for species conservation. Currently, five subspecies of Bar-tailed Godwits Limosa lapponica have been described. However, with two apparently separate breeding and wintering areas, the taxonomic status of the subspecies L. l. taymyrensis remains unclear. Here we compare taymyrensis Bar-tailed Godwits wintering in the Middle East and West Africa, respectively, with respect to migration behaviour, breeding area, morphology and population genetic differentation in mitochondrial DNA. By tracking 52 individuals from wintering and staging areas over multiple years, we show that Bar-tailed Godwits wintering in the Middle East bred on the northern West-Siberian Plain (n = 19), while birds from West Africa bred further east, mostly on the Taimyr Peninsula (n = 12). The two groups differed significantly in body size and shape, and also in the timing of both northward and southward migrations. However, they were not genetically differentiated, indicating that the phenotypic (i.e. geographical, morphological and phenological) differences arose either very recently or without current reproductive isolation. We conclude that the taymyrensis taxon consists of two distinct

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Individual Black-Tailed Godwits Do Not Stick to Single Routes: A Hypothesis on How Low Population Densities Might Decrease Social Conformity

Abstract: BioOne Complete (complete.BioOne.org) is a full-text database of 200 subscribed and open-access titles in the biological, ecological, and environmental sciences published by nonprofit societies, associations, museums, institutions, and presses.

Cited by 15 publications

References 40 publications

Migration route, stopping sites, and non-breeding destinations of adult Black-tailed Godwits breeding in southwest Fryslân, The Netherlands

Migration route, stopping sites, and non-breeding destinations of adult Black-tailed Godwits breeding in southwest Fryslân, The Netherlands

Age‐dependent timing and routes demonstrate developmental plasticity in a long‐distance migratory bird

Central‐West Siberian‐breeding Bar‐tailed Godwits (Limosa lapponica) segregate in two morphologically distinct flyway populations

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