Weak effects of geolocators on small birds: A meta‐analysis controlled for phylogeny and publication bias

Brlík, Vojtěch; Koleček, Jaroslav; Burgess, Malcolm D.; Hahn, Steffen; Humple, Diana L.; Krist, Miloš; Ouwehand, Janne; Weiser, Emily L.; Adamík, Peter; Alves, José A.; Arlt, Debora; Barišić, Sanja; Becker, Detlef; Belda, Eduardo J.; Beran, Václav; Both, Christiaan; Bravo, Susana Patricia; Briedis, Martins; Chutný, Bohumír; Ćiković, Davor; Cooper, Nathan W.; Costa, Joana S.; Cueto, Víctor R.; Emmenegger, Tamara; Fraser, Kevin C.; Gilg, Olivier; Guerrero, Marina; Hallworth, Michael T.; Hewson, Chris; Jiguet, Frédéric; Johnson, James A.; Kelly, Tosha R.; Kishkinev, Dmitry; Leconte, Michel; Lislevand, Terje; Lisovski, Simeon; López, Cosme; McFarland, Kent P.; Marra, Peter P.; Matsuoka, Steven M.; Matyjasiak, Piotr; Meier, Christoph M.; Metzger, Benjamin; Monrós, Juan S.; Neumann, Roland; Newman, Amy E. M.; Norris, Ryan W.; Pärt, Tomas; Pavel, Václav; Perlut, Noah G.; Piha, Markus; Reneerkens, Jeroen; Rimmer, Christopher C.; Roberto-Charron, Amélie; Scandolara, Chiara; Sokolova, Natalia; Takenaka, Makiko; Tolkmitt, Dirk; Oosten, Herman van; Wellbrock, Arndt H. J.; Wheeler, Hazel; Winden, J. van der; Witte, Klaudia; Woodworth, Bradley K.; Procházka, Petr

doi:10.1111/1365-2656.12962

Cited by 74 publications

(79 citation statements)

References 103 publications

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“…Although sample sizes were often small, as is typical for such exploratory studies (see Brlík et al . for an overview), we nonetheless have contributed significantly to the knowledge of migration routes and timing in this species. First, we have confirmed that western European breeders migrate on a western route to non‐breeding regions in West Africa, and that eastern European birds migrate on an eastern route to southern Africa.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Range‐wide migration corridors and non‐breeding areas of a northward expanding Afro‐Palaearctic migrant, the European Bee‐eater Merops apiaster

Hahn

Alves

Bedev

et al. 2019

Ibis

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Across their ranges, different populations of migratory species often use separate routes to migrate between breeding and non‐breeding grounds. Recent changes in climate and land‐use have led to breeding range expansions in many species but it is unclear whether these populations also establish new migratory routes, non‐breeding sites and migration phenology. Thus, we compared the migration patterns of European Bee‐eaters Merops apiaster from two established western (n = 5) and eastern (n = 6) breeding populations in Europe, with those from a newly founded northern population (n = 19). We aimed to relate the breeding populations to the two known non‐breeding clusters in Africa, and to test for similarities of migration routes and timing between the old and new populations. Western Bee‐eaters used the western flyway to destinations in West Africa; the eastern birds uniformly headed south to southern African non‐breeding sites, confirming a complete separation in time and space between these long‐established populations. The recently founded northern population, however, also used a western corridor, but crossed the Mediterranean further east than the western population and overwintered mainly in a new non‐breeding area in southern Congo/northern Angola. The migration routes and the new non‐breeding range overlapped only slightly with the western, but not with the eastern, population. In contrast, migration phenology appeared to differ between the western and both the northern and the eastern populations, with tracked birds from the western population migrating 2–4 weeks earlier. The northern population thus shares some spatial traits with western Bee‐eaters, but similar phenology only with eastern population. This divergence highlights the adjustments in the timing of migration to local environmental conditions in newly founded populations, and a parallel establishment of new breeding and non‐breeding sites.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Range‐wide migration corridors and non‐breeding areas of a northward expanding Afro‐Palaearctic migrant, the European Bee‐eater Merops apiaster

Hahn

Alves

Bedev

et al. 2019

Ibis

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“…We deployed solar geolocators (Intigeo‐W65A9, Migrate Technology Ltd) on 44 sanderlings in June–July 2013 and 2015 at Zackenberg (26 males and 18 females) and on eight sanderlings in June–July 2013 in Karupelv Valley (2 males, 3 females and 3 of unknown sex). The geolocators were attached to a leg flag, which did not affect annual return rates (Brlík et al, ; Weiser et al, ). We retrieved eight of the 52 geolocators (15%), seven of which we were able to download data from.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Four fixed effects models were considered: sex, winter area and additive and interaction effects of sex and winter area. The geolocators were attached to a leg flag, which did not affect annual return rates (Brlík et al, 2019;Weiser et al, 2016). We retrieved eight of the 52 geolocators (15%), seven of which we were able to download data from.…”

Section: Age Of First Northward Migrationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Low fitness at low latitudes: Wintering in the tropics increases migratory delays and mortality rates in an Arctic breeding shorebird

Reneerkens

Versluijs

Piersma

et al. 2019

Journal of Animal Ecology

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Evolutionary theories of seasonal migration generally assume that the costs of longer migrations are balanced by benefits at the non‐breeding destinations. We tested, and rejected, the null hypothesis of equal survival and timing of spring migration for High Arctic breeding sanderling Calidris alba using six and eight winter destinations between 55°N and 25°S, respectively. Annual apparent survival was considerably lower for adult birds wintering in tropical West Africa (Mauritania: 0.74 and Ghana: 0.75) than in three European sites (0.84, 0.84 and 0.87) and in subtropical Namibia (0.85). Moreover, compared with adults, second calendar‐year sanderlings in the tropics, but not in Europe, often refrained from migrating north during the first possible breeding season. During northward migration, tropical‐wintering sanderlings occurred at their final staging site in Iceland 5–15 days later than birds wintering further north or south. Namibia‐wintering sanderlings tracked with solar geolocators only staged in West Africa during southward migration. The low annual survival, the later age of first northward migration and the later passage through Iceland during northward migration of tropical‐wintering sanderlings, in addition to the skipping of this area during northward but not southward migration by Namibia‐wintering sanderlings, all suggest they face issues during the late non‐breeding season in West Africa. Migrating sanderlings defy long distances but may end up in winter areas with poor fitness prospects. We suggest that ecological conditions in tropical West Africa make the fuelling prior to northward departure problematic.

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“…For instance, supposedly harmless devices caused a fivefold decrease in foraging efficiency of Magellanic penguins (Wilson, Kreye, Lucke, & Urquhart, 2004) and heavy collars reduced survival of migratory caribou by 18% (Rasiulis, Festa-Bianchet, Couturier, & Côté, 2014). Recent meta-analyses show that tracking devices have a negative effect on different traits in birds (Barron, Brawn, & Weatherhead, 2010;Bodey et al, 2017;Brlík et al, 2019). These effects can be partially mitigated, for instance by the mode of attachment (White et al, 2013) and by minimizing tag size (Bodey et al, 2017;Casper, 2009).…”

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confidence: 99%

The neglected impact of tracking devices on terrestrial arthropods

et al. 2020

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Tracking devices have become small enough to be widely applied to arthropods to study their movement. However, possible side effects of these devices on arthropod performance and behaviour are rarely considered. We performed a systematic review of 173 papers about research in which tracking devices—radio frequency identification (RFID), harmonic radar and radio telemetry tags—were attached to terrestrial arthropods. The impact of such tags was quantified in only 12% of the papers, while in 40% the potential impact was completely disregarded. Often‐cited rules of thumb for determining appropriate tag weight had either no empirical basis or were misconstrued. Several properties of a tracking device (e.g. weight, balance, size, drag) can affect different aspects of an arthropod's life history (e.g. energy, movement, foraging, mating). The impact can differ among species and environments. Taken together, these tag effects can influence the reliability of obtained movement data and conclusions drawn from them. We argue that the impact of tracking devices on arthropods should be quantified for each (a) study species, (b) tag type, and (c) environmental context. As an example, we include a low‐effort impact study of the effect of an RFID tag on a digger wasp. Technological advancements enable studying the movement of arthropods in unprecedented detail. However, we should adopt a more critical attitude towards the use of tracking devices on terrestrial arthropods. The benefits of tracking devices should be balanced against their potential side effects on arthropods and on the reliability of the resulting data.

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Weak effects of geolocators on small birds: A meta‐analysis controlled for phylogeny and publication bias

Cited by 74 publications

References 103 publications

Range‐wide migration corridors and non‐breeding areas of a northward expanding Afro‐Palaearctic migrant, the European Bee‐eater Merops apiaster

Range‐wide migration corridors and non‐breeding areas of a northward expanding Afro‐Palaearctic migrant, the European Bee‐eater Merops apiaster

Low fitness at low latitudes: Wintering in the tropics increases migratory delays and mortality rates in an Arctic breeding shorebird

The neglected impact of tracking devices on terrestrial arthropods

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