The Genetics and Evolution of Avian Migration

Pulido, Francisco

doi:10.1641/b570211

Cited by 240 publications

(282 citation statements)

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“…Among-population differences in the potential to adapt to environmental changes are also expected on theoretical grounds on the basis of differences in the extent to which populations are composed of both migrants and residents, i.e., in partial migration (29). In partially migratory populations, adaptive evolution of migration distance or the proportion of migrants is expected to be very fast as the response to selection on these traits is reinforced by high, favorable genetic correlations (29)(30)(31). It has been predicted that completely migratory populations may become partially migratory, which may increase their evolutionary response if mean migratory activity decreases, e.g., as a response to selection for shorter migration distance (29,31).…”

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confidence: 99%

Current selection for lower migratory activity will drive the evolution of residency in a migratory bird population

Pulido

Berthold

2010

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Global warming is impacting biodiversity by altering the distribution, abundance, and phenology of a wide range of animal and plant species. One of the best documented responses to recent climate change is alterations in the migratory behavior of birds, but the mechanisms underlying these phenotypic adjustments are largely unknown. This knowledge is still crucial to predict whether populations of migratory birds will adapt to a rapid increase in temperature. We monitored migratory behavior in a population of blackcaps (Sylvia atricapilla) to test for evolutionary responses to recent climate change. Using a common garden experiment in time and captive breeding we demonstrated a genetic reduction in migratory activity and evolutionary change in phenotypic plasticity of migration onset. An artificial selection experiment further revealed that residency will rapidly evolve in completely migratory bird populations if selection for shorter migration distance persists. Our findings suggest that current alterations of the environment are favoring birds wintering closer to the breeding grounds and that populations of migratory birds have strongly responded to these changes in selection. The reduction of migratory activity is probably an important evolutionary process in the adaptation of migratory birds to climate change, because it reduces migration costs and facilitates the rapid adjustment to the shifts in the timing of food availability during reproduction.adaptation | bird migration | climate change | genetic variation | natural selection

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confidence: 99%

Current selection for lower migratory activity will drive the evolution of residency in a migratory bird population

Pulido

Berthold

2010

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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196

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“…Migration behavior has evolved in many species of birds to take advantage of seasonally available resources in temperate regions to increase reproductive success (Pulido, 2007;Ramenofsky and Wingfield, 2007). Each year millions of birds migrate vast distances between their breeding and wintering areas to benefit from seasonal environments (Moore et al, 1993;Alerstam et al, 2003;Pulido, 2007;Ramenofsky and Wingfield, 2007), but we are still far from understanding many aspects of this important life cycle phase in birds *Corresponding author.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Each year millions of birds migrate vast distances between their breeding and wintering areas to benefit from seasonal environments (Moore et al, 1993;Alerstam et al, 2003;Pulido, 2007;Ramenofsky and Wingfield, 2007), but we are still far from understanding many aspects of this important life cycle phase in birds *Corresponding author. E-mail: bart.ballard@tamuk.edu.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

High passage rates and different seasonal migration strategies of birds along the lower Texas coast

Walsh¹,

Ballard²,

Wester³

et al. 2017

Int. J. Biodivers. Conserv.

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This research examined nocturnal and diurnal bird migration using an automated marine radar system during three autumn (August 15 to November 17) and three spring (March 15 to June 1) periods in 2007-2010 along the lower Texas coast. We quantified migration timing, magnitude, and flight altitudes for over 14 million targets during 16,360 h of radar operation. Autumn migration was prolonged in contrast to spring migration, which was concentrated within a four-week period in mid-April to mid-May. Mean migration traffic rate in autumn averaged 1,186 targets km -1 h -1 and was 46% greater than spring. Migration traffic rates at our northern site were at least 62% higher than at our southern site. We found bird passage to be similar between diurnal and nocturnal periods in autumn, but predominately nocturnal (68% of targets) in spring. Mean flight altitudes were 10-33% higher in spring than autumn. Our results confirm that the lower Gulf coast of Texas is a significant migration corridor concentrating millions of birds during migration. This new information on temporal and spatial dynamics of migration provides guidance for the placement and operation of wind power developments to reduce the risk to migratory birds along the lower Texas coast.

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“…The portfolio includes studies of artificial selection and heritability experiments on quantitative behavioural traits related to migration such as the duration and timing of migratory restlessness (e.g. van Noordwijk et al 2006;Pulido 2007;Pulido and Berthold 2010). As impressive and as valuable all these studies are, I have found myself frustrated when applying the supposedly unifying but passerine-biased frameworks to the thinking about flyway evolution in the group of birds that I am most familiar with, the shorebirds, and especially the family of sandpipers Scolopacidae and the plover family Charadriidae .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Flyway evolution is too fast to be explained by the modern synthesis: proposals for an ‘extended’ evolutionary research agenda

Piersma

2011

J Ornithol

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In this paper, I argue that to fully grasp the generation and maintenance of variation in the migratory phenotypes of (shore-)birds we need to expand our scientific search image and include developmental processes and non-genetic pathways of inheritance in the explanatory frameworks. Traditionally, studies of micro-evolution of migratory phenotypes were restricted to comparative studies on migratory versus non-migratory taxa, and artificial selection and heritability experiments on quantitative behavioural traits related to migration. Such studies had a focus on the genetic axis of inheritance and were restricted to songbirds. In avian groups such as the shorebird families Scolopacidae and Charadriidae, all but a few island species are migrants, which precludes comparative studies at the species level. Like other taxa, shorebirds have geographically separate breeding populations (either or not recognized as subspecies on the basis of morphological differences) which differentiate with respect to the length, general direction and timing of migration, including the use of fuelling at staging sites and the timing of moult. However, their breeding systems preclude artificial selection and heritability experiments on quantitative traits. This would seem to limit the prospects of evolutionary analysis until one realizes that the speed of evolutionary innovation in shorebird migratory life-histories may be so fast as to necessitate other avenues of explanation and investigation. According to our best current estimates based on mitochondrial gene sequence variation, in Red Knots Calidris canutus considerable phenotypic variation has evolved since the Last Glacial Maximum ca. 20,000 years ago, to the extent that six subspecies are currently recognized. This would be too short a time for the origin of the qualitatively and quantitatively distinct and non-overlapping traits to be explained by random point mutations followed by natural selection, although we cannot dismiss the possibility of previously unexpressed (standing) genetic variation followed by selection. I argue that, to understand the flyway evolution of such shorebirds in the 'extended' evolutionary framework, we need to give due attention to developmental versatility and broad-sense epigenetic evolutionary mechanisms. This means that experimental studies at the phenotypic level are now necessary. This could involve a combination of observational studies in our rapidly changing world, common garden experiments, and even experiments involving global-scale displacements of particular migratory phenotypes at different phases of development. I provide suggestions on how such experiments could be carried out.

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The Genetics and Evolution of Avian Migration

Cited by 240 publications

References 64 publications

Current selection for lower migratory activity will drive the evolution of residency in a migratory bird population

Current selection for lower migratory activity will drive the evolution of residency in a migratory bird population

High passage rates and different seasonal migration strategies of birds along the lower Texas coast

Flyway evolution is too fast to be explained by the modern synthesis: proposals for an ‘extended’ evolutionary research agenda

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