Swainson's Thrush (Catharus ustulatus)

Mack, Diane Evans; Yong, Wang; Poole, Angela Z.; Gill, F.

doi:10.2173/bna.swathr.02

Cited by 37 publications

(37 citation statements)

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“…When breeding information (enlarged gonads or signs of nesting) was available, we restricted our selection to breeding birds. In cases where no breeding information was available, we used point localities for the month of July, the month when individuals are most likely to be breeding and least likely to be migrating or dispersing (Mack, 2000). Occurrence records are often biased towards areas that are easily accessible or near cities or other areas of high population density (Hijmans et al.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This procedure reduced the number of records from 177 coastal and 659 inland sites to 43 coastal and 327 inland sites, but they were more evenly distributed across the known range. Subspecies range distributions (Mack, 2000) in combination with mtDNA haplotype distributions from Ruegg & Smith (2002) and Ruegg (unpublished) were used to group point locality data into coastal and inland subspecies groups (herein referred to as coastal and inland groups).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Climate change and the origin of migratory pathways in the Swainson's thrush,Catharus ustulatus

Ruegg

Hijmans

Moritz

2006

Journal of Biogeography

117

131

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Aim To provide a spatially explicit model of how geographic distributions at the last glacial maximum (LGM) and post‐glacial colonization routes shaped current migratory pathways in the Swainson's thrush, Catharus ustulatus, a long‐distance migratory bird. Location The Swainson's thrush breeds in boreal forest regions of the United States and Canada as well as in riparian woodlands along the Pacific coast of North America. Methods Palaeodistribution modelling is combined with mtDNA phylogeography to predict the breeding range of the Swainson's thrush at the LGM. Quantitative environmental analysis and bioclimatic modelling are used to reconstruct the most likely post‐glacial colonization pathways. A maximum likelihood method for estimating growth rates is used to approximate the relative change in population size since the LGM. Main conclusions The palaeodistribution models are concordant with the Swainson's thrush mtDNA phylogeography, suggesting that the inland and coastal groups were geographically isolated in eastern (inland) and western (coastal) regions at the LGM. Estimates of change in population size based on genetic data are remarkably consistent with estimates of change in range size, suggesting that the coastal group has undergone a 2‐ to 3‐fold demographic and range expansion, while the inland group has undergone a 6‐ to 12‐fold demographic and range expansion since the LGM. Bioclimatic analyses strongly support the hypothesis that populations expanding out of the east into previously glaciated areas in the west were undergoing a natural extension of their range by tracking the changes in climatic conditions. The combination of bioclimatic and molecular analyses is consistent with the idea that coastal and inland groups expanded from separate eastern and western regions after the LGM and that the current migratory pathway of the inland group retraces its post‐glacial colonization route.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Climate change and the origin of migratory pathways in the Swainson's thrush,Catharus ustulatus

Ruegg

Hijmans

Moritz

2006

Journal of Biogeography

117

131

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“…The Swainson's thrush Catharus ustulatus is a long-distance migratory omnivore, that mainly forages on the ground in forested habitats. This species breeds as far north as Alaska and northern Canada and winters primarily in northern South America (Mack and Wang 2008). The white-throated sparrow Zonotrichia albicollis, is a short-to medium-distance migrant that is primarily granivorous and forages mostly on the ground.…”

Section: Study Speciesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evidence of negative seasonal carry‐over effects of breeding ground mercury exposure on survival of migratory songbirds

Branfireun

Hobson

et al. 2018

Journal of Avian Biology

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Mercury (Hg) is a well‐known global contaminant that persists in the environment. The organic form, methylmercury (MeHg) has been shown to adversely affect bird immune function, foraging behavior, navigation, and flight ability, which individually or together could reduce migration performance, and ultimately survival. Nestlings grow feathers at their natal site, and in North America many adult passerines undergo a complete feather molt prior to autumn migration at or near their breeding location. Body Hg is redistributed into growing feathers, and remains stable following feather growth. As flight feathers are retained in most species over the non‐breeding season until molt in the following summer, tail feathers can be used at other times and places as indicators of Hg body burden on the breeding grounds. In five migratory passerine species, we compared Hg concentrations in tail feathers that were grown prior to autumn migration and retained until the following spring. We predicted that we would observe a shift in the distribution of species‐specific feather Hg values towards lower means in the spring if Hg reduced survival over the migration and winter periods. We found reductions in mean feather Hg between autumn and spring in two long‐distance migratory insectivores (blackpoll warbler Setophaga striata; American redstart Setophaga ruticilla). Most significantly, spring‐returning blackpoll warblers, a species that undertakes long non‐stop flights to South America during autumn migration, had nearly 50 percent lower Hg concentrations than those that departed in the autumn. Our finding suggests that Hg exposure on the breeding areas could have a carry‐over effect to influence migration success and survival of insectivorous songbirds that undergo extensive and demanding migratory journeys. More investigation is needed to fully understand the relationships among Hg exposure, migration performance, and survival of songbirds.

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“…This analysis also accounts for the fact that data from 10/30 birds were interpolated at 30°N because of overlap with the equinox. We considered wintering sites to be locations where birds were stationary for long periods in the known wintering range of Swainson's thrushes (Mack et al 2000). Five of the birds included in this analysis (two from the present study and three from Delmore et al 2012) used two sites on the wintering grounds; we used the average longitude of these sites in our analysis.…”

Section: Relationship Between Migratory Behaviour and Genetic Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hybrid songbirds employ intermediate routes in a migratory divide

2014

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Migratory divides are contact zones between populations that use different routes to navigate around unsuitable areas on seasonal migration. Hybrids in divides have been predicted to employ intermediate and potentially inferior routes. We provide the first direct test of this hypothesis, using light-level geolocators to track birds breeding in a hybrid zone between Swainson's thrushes in western Canada. Compared to parental forms, hybrids exhibited increased variability in their migratory routes, with some using intermediate routes that crossed arid and mountainous regions, and some using the same routes as one parental group on fall migration and the other on spring migration. Hybrids also tended to use geographically intermediate wintering sites. Analysis of genetic variation across the hybrid zone suggests moderately strong selection against hybrids. These results indicate that seasonal migratory behaviour might be a source of selection against hybrids, supporting a possible role for migration in speciation.

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Swainson's Thrush (Catharus ustulatus)

Cited by 37 publications

References 0 publications

Climate change and the origin of migratory pathways in the Swainson's thrush,Catharus ustulatus

Climate change and the origin of migratory pathways in the Swainson's thrush,Catharus ustulatus

Evidence of negative seasonal carry‐over effects of breeding ground mercury exposure on survival of migratory songbirds

Hybrid songbirds employ intermediate routes in a migratory divide

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