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Winter connectivity and leapfrog migration in a migratory passerine
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Data from: Long-term mark-recapture and growth data for large-sized migratory brown trout (Salmo trutta) from Lake Mjøsa, Norway
<p>This data package contains two unique publicly available time series of individual-based data originating from a 51-year mark-recapture study of a land-locked population of large-sized migratory brown trout (<em>Salmo trutta</em>) in Norway: the Hunder trout. In the period 1966-2015, nearly 14,000 adult Hunder trout have been captured and individually marked during their spawning migration from Lake Mjøsa to the river Gubrandsdalslågen. Almost a third of those individuals were later recaptured alive during a later spawning run and/or captured by fishermen and reported dead or alive. This has resulted in the first data series: a mark-recapture-recovery dataset spanning half a century and more than 18,000 capture records. The second data series consists of additional data on juvenile and adult growth and life-history schedules from half of the marked individuals, obtained by means of scale sample analysis. The two datasets offer a rare long-term perspective on individuals and population dynamics and provide unique opportunities to gain insights into questions surrounding management, conservation, and restoration of migratory salmonid populations and freshwater ecosystems.<br> </p>
Data from: Dietary antioxidants attenuate the endocrine stress response during long-duration flight of a migratory bird
<p>Glucocorticoids (GCs) are metabolic hormones that promote catabolic processes, which release stored energy and support high metabolic demands such as during prolonged flights of migrating birds. Dietary antioxidants (e.g., anthocyanins) support metabolism by quenching excess reactive oxygen species produced during aerobic metabolism, and also by activating metabolic pathways that, similar to GCs' function, release stored energy, although the extent of complementarity between GCs and dietary antioxidants is not well known. If anthocyanins complement GCs functions, birds consuming anthocyanin-rich food can be expected to limit the secretion of GCs when coping with a metabolically challenging activity, avoiding the exposure to potential hormonal detrimental effects. We tested this hypothesis in European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) flying in a windtunnel. We compared levels of corticosterone, the main avian GCs, immediately after a sustained flight and at rest for birds that were fed diets with or without an anthocyanin supplement. As predicted, we found (1) higher corticosterone after flight than at rest in both diet groups, and (2) anthocyanin-supplemented birds had less elevated corticosterone after flight than unsupplemented control birds. This provides novel evidence that dietary antioxidants attenuate the activation of the HPA axis (i.e. increased secretion of corticosterone) during long-duration flight.</p>
Data from: Can patterns of habitat use by western Nearctic-Neotropical migratory landbirds in winter inform conservation priorities?
<p>ABSTRACT—I use point-count survey data collected from 171 locations across 11 vegetation conditions in western Mexico to illustrate common patterns of winter habitat use by 97 Nearctic-Neotropical migratory landbird species. A number of bird species are relatively restricted in their habitat use, with some [e.g., Northern Waterthrush (<i>Parkesia noveboracensis</i>), American Redstart (<i>Setophaga ruticilla</i>)] occurring only in relatively undisturbed habitats, and others [e.g., Say's Phoebe (<i>Sayornis saya</i>), Horned Lark (<i>Eremophila alpestris</i>)] occurring only in relatively disturbed lands associated with agriculture. A large number of bird species [e.g., Cassin's Vireo (<i>Vireo cassinii</i>), MacGillivray's Warbler (<i>Geothlypis tolmiei</i>)] use every one of the vegetation types considered, from low-elevation tropical deciduous forests to high-elevation conifer forests. Bird species showing patterns of restricted habitat use deserve conservation attention, but so might more broadly distributed species that become significantly less abundant in human-altered habitats. Identifying the latter will require the inclusion of a wider spectrum of altered vegetation types/conditions than what I included here, or than what is typically considered in wildlife-habitat relationship programs.</p>
Adult survival in migratory caribou is negatively associated with MHC functional diversity
<p>The genes of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) are involved in acquired, specific immunity in vertebrates. Yet, only a few studies have investigated the fitness consequences of MHC gene diversity in wild populations. Here, we looked at the association between annual survival and body mass and MHC-DRB exon 2 (MHC-DRB) genetic diversity, obtained from high-throughput sequencing, in two declining migratory caribou (Rangifer tarandus) herds. To disentangle the potential direct and general effects of MHC-DRB genetic diversity, we compared different indices of diversity that were either based on DNA-sequence variation or on physicochemical divergence of the translated peptides, covering a gradient of allelic to functional diversity. We found that i) body mass was not related to MHC-DRB diversity or genotype and that ii) adult survival probability was negatively associated with PAM distance, a corrected distance that considers the likelihood of each amino acid substitution to be accepted by the processes of natural selection. In addition, we found no evidence of fluctuating selection in time on MHC-DRB. We concluded that direct effects were involved in the negative relationship between MHC functional diversity and survival, although the mechanism underlying this result remains unclear. A possible explanation could be that individuals with higher MHC diversity suffer higher costs of immunity (immunopathology). Further studies are needed to investigate this hypothesis. Our results suggest that genetic diversity is not always beneficial even in genes that are supposed to be strongly shaped by balancing selection.</p>
Infection state can affect host migratory decisions
<p>Organisms across a wide range of taxa use migration as a strategy to avoid, reduce or recover from parasitic infection. Previous work has identified three different processes by which migration can help reduce infection risk and/or costs: migratory escape from infection, migratory culling of infected individuals, and migratory recovery from infection. However, most theoretical modelling of host migration in response to infection assumes that individuals have a single strategy during both infected and susceptible states, meaning an individual's state (susceptible or infected) is irrelevant to its decision to migrate. Here, we construct a model with two independent strategies of migration for an individual based on whether they are infected or susceptible, to study when the decision to migrate is favourable. We show that the best strategy for individuals of a given infection state is to either always migrate or never migrate. When infected and susceptible individuals differ in their migration strategy, this leads to partial migration at the population level (only some individuals migrate). Whereas previous theory showed that partial migration can be optimal in the face of infection, our work further parses out the contributors to partial or complete migration by determining which individuals in the population are involved in migration for different sets of conditions.</p> <div class="yj6qo"> </div> <div class="adL"> </div>
Data from: Avian developmental rates are constrained by latitude and migratoriness – a global analysis.
<p><b>Aim</b>: It has long been recognized that tropical bird species demonstrate a wide range of traits characteristic for slow life histories, as indicated by lower investment in reproduction, slower senescence or slower physiological pace of life. Nevertheless, evidence for latitudinal variation in avian developmental rates has, so far, been inconclusive and based on limited geographic or phylogenetic sampling. The aim of this study was to test for global associations of avian developmental rates with latitude and migratoriness.</p> <p><b>Location</b>: Global.</p> <p><b>Taxon</b>: Birds.</p> <p><b>Methods</b>: We compiled data on developmental (incubation and fledging) periods of 3500 passerine and non-passerine bird species distributed worldwide, which represented nearly all extant avian orders and families. Associations of developmental periods with latitude and migratoriness were analysed with phylogenetically-informed comparative models that controlled for major sources of variation in developmental rates (body mass, clutch size, and developmental mode across altricial-precocial spectrum).</p> <p><b>Results</b>: Our analyses provided support for a negative latitudinal gradient in the duration of fledging, but not incubation period. After controlling for latitude, we also found that migratory birds showed faster developmental rates than resident species. Finally, we found that developmental rates were non-linearly associated with clutch size (fastest developmental rates at intermediate clutch size) and that duration of fledging period had higher evolutionary lability than incubation period.</p> <p><b>Main conclusions</b>: Our global comparative analysis provided convincing and phylogenetically-robust evidence for a long-held hypothesis on latitudinal variation in avian developmental rates, although the pattern was apparent only at the post-embryonic stage of development (fledging period). This challenges a common belief on longer incubation periods in tropics and indicates that incubation and fledging periods may differently respond to external environmental factors, which can possibly be driven by their different evolutionary lability. The results may contribute to our understanding of biogeographic variation in species diversity.</p>
Data from: Host-plant use of a polyphagous mirid, Apolygus lucorum: molecular evidence from migratory individuals
While the host-plant use of insect herbivores is important for understanding their interactions and coevolution, field evidence of these preferences is limited for generalist species. Molecular diet analysis provides an effective option for gaining such information, but data from field-sampled individuals are often greatly affected by the local composition of their host plants. The polyphagous mirid bug Apolygus lucorum (Meyer-Dür) seasonally migrates across the Bohai Sea, and molecular analysis of migrant bugs collected on crop-free islands can be used to estimate the host-plant use of A. lucorum across the large area (northern China) from where these individuals come. In this study, the host-plant use of A. lucorum adults was determined by identifying plant DNA using a three-locus DNA barcode (rbcL, trnH-psbA and ITS) in the gut of migrant individuals collected on Beihuang Island. We successfully identified the host plant families of A. lucorum adults, and the results indicated that captured bugs fed on at least 17 plant families. In addition, gut analyses revealed that 35.9% of A. lucorum individuals fed on multiple host plants but that most individuals (64.1%) fed on only one plant species. Cotton, Gossypium hirsutum L., DNA was found in 35.8% of the A. lucorum bugs examined, which was much higher than the percentage of bugs in which other host plants were found. Our work provides a new understanding of multiple host-plant use by A. lucorum under natural conditions, and these findings are available for developing effective management strategies against this polyphagous pest species.
Data from: Broad-front migration leads to strong migratory connectivity in the lesser kestrel (Falco naumanni)
Aim: Migratory animals regularly move between often distant breeding and non-breeding ranges. Knowledge about how these ranges are linked by movements of individuals from different populations is crucial for unravelling temporal variability in population spatial structuring and for identifying environmental drivers of population dynamics acting at different spatio-temporal scales. We performed a large-scale individual-based migration tracking study of the lesser kestrel (Falco naumanni), an Afro-Palearctic migratory raptor, to determine the patterns of migratory connectivity of European breeding populations. Location: Europe, Africa. Methods: Migration data were recorded using different devices (geolocators, Argos PTTs, GPS loggers) from 87 individuals breeding in the three core European populations, located in the Iberian, Italian and Balkan peninsulas. We estimated connectivity by the Mantel correlation coefficient (rM), and computed both the degree of separation between the non-breeding areas of individuals from the same population (i.e., the population spread) and the relative size of the non-breeding range (i.e., the non-breeding range spread). Results: European lesser kestrels migrated on a broad-front across the Mediterranean Sea and Sahara Desert, with different populations using different routes. Iberian birds migrated to western Sahel (Senegal, Mauritania, western Mali), Balkan birds migrated chiefly to central-eastern Sahel (Niger, Nigeria, Chad), whereas Italian ones spread from eastern Mali to Nigeria. Spatial differentiation of non-breeding areas led to a strong migratory connectivity (rM = 0.58), associated with a relatively high population (637 km) and non-breeding range (1149 km) spread. Main conclusions: Our comprehensive analysis of the non-breeding distribution of European lesser kestrel populations revealed a strong migratory connectivity, a rare occurrence in long-distance avian migrants. The geographic conformation of the species' breeding and non-breeding ranges, together with broad-front migration across ecological barriers, promoted the differentiation of migratory routes and non-breeding areas. Strong connectivity could then arise because of both high population spread and broad non-breeding range.
Data from: Factors influencing plasticity in the arrival-breeding interval in a migratory species reacting to climate change
Climate change is profoundly affecting the phenology of many species. In migratory birds, there is evidence for advances in their arrival time at the breeding ground and their timing of breeding, yet empirical studies examining the interdependence between arrival and breeding time are lacking. Hence, evidence is scarce regarding how breeding time may be adjusted via the arrival-breeding interval to help local populations adapt to local conditions or climate change. We used long-term data from an intensively monitored population of the northern wheatear (Oenanthe oenanthe) to examine the factors related to the length of 734 separate arrival-to-breeding events from 549 individual females. From 1993 to 2017 the mean arrival and egg-laying dates advanced by approximately the same amount (~5-6 days), with considerable between-individual variation in the arrival-breeding interval. The arrival-breeding interval was shorter for: (1) individuals that arrived later in the season compared to early arriving birds, (2) for experienced females compared to first-year breeders, (3) as spring progressed, and (4) in later years compared to earlier ones. The influence of these factors was much larger for birds arriving earlier in the season compared to later arriving birds, with most effects on variation in the arrival-breeding interval being absent in late arriving birds. Thus, in this population it appears that the timing of breeding is not constrained by arrival for early- to mid-arriving birds, but instead is dependent on local conditions after arrival. For late arriving birds, however, the timing of breeding appears to be influenced by arrival constraints. Hence, impacts of climate change on arrival dates and local conditions are expected to vary for different parts of the population, with potential negative impacts associated with these factors likely to differ for early- versus late-arriving birds.
Data from: The effects of climate warming on the migratory status of early summer populations of Mythimna separata(Walker) moths: a case-study of enhanced corn damage in central-northern China, 1980 - 2016
Mythimna separata (Walker) moths captured in light-traps were monitored in Luohe, central-northern China, from 1980 to 2016. Annual average temperature recorded an increase of 0.298 oC/10 years in this region in the period. Our results indicate that a rising Apr and May avarage temprature and earlier occurrences of days recording the highest day temperature (30℃) caused an advanced peak and increasing proportion of high ovarian development levels of first generation females in earlier summers. Results using Johnson's formulation of 'oogenesis-flight syndrome' indicate that increasing sexual maturity proportion has resulted in more emigrant individuals in the local first generaton moth becoming residents, and then increased individuls repidly in the local second generation moth since 2006. Consequences of this action have a boom in corn damage since 2007 in this region. Advanced peak dates of the first and second generation moth revealed the same response to increasing average monthly temperatures in the monitoring period. Increasing temperatures, the avarage May temperature exceeds or equal to 22℃, during the early 2000's may represent a physiological threshold for M. separata development. Our results suggest that climate warming may impact M. separata migratory status and cause a problem of crop production in this region.
Factors influencing fall departure phenology in migratory birds that bred in northeastern North America
<p>The phenology of migrating birds is shifting with climate change. For instance, short-distance migrants wintering in temperate regions tend to delay their migration in fall<br> during spells of warmer temperature. However, some species do not show strong shifts, and the factors determining which species will react to temperature changes by delaying their migration are poorly known. In addition, it is not known whether a slower migration or a postponed departure creates the observed delays in fall migration because most studies occur far south of the boreal breeding areas making it difficult to separate those two mechanisms. We used 22 years of data at a northern observatory in eastern North America, at the southern edge of the boreal forest, to examine how 21 short-distance migrants responded to changing temperatures. We investigated if those species responding to temperature share life history features (i.e. diet, size, total migration distance, breeding habitat, timing of migration). The period of migration in each species was, by far, the most important factor predicting the response of a species to temperature. Eight of the 13 species migrating in October changed their migration onset with temperature (usually by delaying migration by 1-2d/°C), while the migration timing of none of the eight species migrating in September was dependent on temperature. Furthermore, the absence of a greater migration delay by birds breeding farther from the study site (i.e. Arctic breeding birds) suggests the mechanism is a postponed departure rather than a slower migration. We conclude that temperature variations in late fall influence the conditions on the breeding grounds, so that birds still present at that time might benefit more from postponing their departure in warm weather.</p>
Adaptive strategies of high-flying migratory hoverflies in response to wind currents
Large migrating insects, flying at high altitude, often exhibit complex behaviour. They frequently elect to fly on winds with directions quite different from the prevailing direction, and they show a degree of common orientation, both of which facilitate transport in seasonally beneficial directions. Much less is known about the migration behaviour of smaller (10–70 mg) insects. To address this issue, we used radar to examine the high-altitude flight of hoverflies (Diptera: Syrphidae), a group of day-active, medium-sized insects commonly migrating over the UK. We found that autumn migrants, which must move south, did indeed show migration timings and orientation responses that would take them in this direction, despite the unfavourability of the prevailing winds. Evidently, these hoverfly migrants must have a compass (probably a time-compensated solar mechanism), and a means of sensing the wind direction (which may be determined with sufficient accuracy at ground level, before take-off). By contrast, hoverflies arriving in the UK in spring showed weaker orientation tendencies, and did not correct for wind drift away from their seasonally adaptive direction (northwards). However, the spring migrants necessarily come from the south (on warm southerly winds), so we surmise that complex orientation behaviour may not be so crucial for the spring movements.
Exploring intraspecific variation in migratory destinations to investigate the drivers of migration
<p class="Standard">Various benefits (e.g. tracking of resources and of climate niche) and costs (e.g. distance travelled) are hypothesized to drive seasonal animal migrations. Until now, these potential factors have been investigated together at the species level, but migratory movements are made at the individual level, leading to intraspecific variability. Here, we use ringing/recovery data from 1308 individuals belonging to thirteen North American bird species to analyse patterns in intraspecific variability of migratory destinations in order to investigate which factors underpin bird migration and how individuals trade-off among multiple factors. Our results suggest that migratory destinations have been shaped by access to resources (most important during the breeding season) and climatic niche tracking (during winter, mostly). However, the benefits of resource surpluses and climate niche tracking appear to be traded off against the cost of migratory distance, which seems to strongly constrain where individuals migrate.</p> <p class="Standard"><span>Data and codes used in this analysis are presented here.</span></p>
Overlap in the wing shape of migratory, nomadic and sedentary grass parrots
Bird wing shape is highly correlated with mobility, and vagile species have more pointed wing tips than sedentary ones. Most studies of bird wing shape are biased to the northern hemisphere, and consider only two migratory syndromes (north-south migrants or sedentary species). There are major gaps in knowledge about the wing shapes of different taxa with other movement strategies (e.g. nomads) in the southern hemisphere. Parrots are a prominent southern hemisphere bird order with complex movement patterns, but their wing shapes are mostly unstudied. We test whether three metrics of wing shape of grass parrots (Neophema and Neopsephotus spp.) correspond to their purported migration syndromes (and other factors). We show that two strongly migratory grass parrots and an arid-adapted nomad had pointed wings, with flight feather longer distally and shorter proximally. However, purportedly sedentary species overlapped extensively with migrants and nomads in all aspects of wing shape, and taxonomic relationships, purported migratory syndromes and ecological barriers did not explain the variation we recorded. The most distantly related species (Neopsephotus) had most dissimilar wing shape to the others, but broadly conformed to the expectations of long pointed wings of a nomad. Why purportedly sedentary grass parrots had unexpectedly pointed wings is unclear. We propose the hypothesis that this wing shape may persist in sedentary populations if individuals experience strong but intermittent selection to disperse when environmental conditions are poor. If pointed wings are not costly during good times when individuals are sedentary, this wing shape may persist in populations as a 'back up' in bad times. Our study highlights the interesting migration patterns in the southern hemisphere that remain largely unstudied. Wing shape offers an interesting way to identify potentially undiscovered capacity for movement in data deficient species, which may also have implications for conservation.
Data from: The importance of using topographic features to predict climate-resilient habitat for migratory forest landbirds: an example for the Rusty Blackbird, Olive-sided Flycatcher, and Canada Warbler
<p>Maintaining a functionally-connected network of high-quality habitat is one of the most effective responses to biodiversity loss. However, the spatial distribution of suitable habitat may shift over time in response to climate change. Taxa such as migratory forest landbirds are already undergoing climate-driven range shifts. Therefore, patches of climate-resilient habitat (also known as "climate refugia") are especially valuable from a conservation perspective. Here, we performed maximum entropy (Maxent) species distribution modeling to predict suitable and potentially climate-resilient habitat in Nova Scotia, Canada, for three migratory forest landbirds: Rusty Blackbird (Euphagus carolinus), Olive-sided Flycatcher (Contopus cooperi), and Canada Warbler (Cardellina canadensis). We used a reverse stepwise elimination technique to identify covariates that influence habitat suitability for the target species at broad scales, including abiotic (topographic control of moisture and nutrient accumulation) and biotic (forest characteristics) covariates. As topography should be relatively unaffected by a changing climate and helps regulate the structure and composition of forest habitat, we posit that the inclusion of appropriate topographic features may support the identification of climate-resilient habitat. Of all covariates, Depth to water table was the most important predictor of relative habitat suitability for the Rusty Blackbird and Canada Warbler, with both species showing a strong association with wet areas. Mean canopy height was the most important predictor for the Olive-sided Flycatcher, whereby the species was associated with taller trees. Our models, which comprise the finest scale species distribution models available for these species in this region, further indicated that, for all species, habitat (1) remains relatively abundant and well distributed in Nova Scotia and (2) is often located in wet lowlands (a climate-resilient topographic landform). These findings suggest that opportunities remain to conserve breeding habitat for these species despite changing temperature and precipitation regimes.</p>
Habitat loss on seasonal migratory range imperils an endangered ungulate
<ol> <li>Endangered species policies and their associated recovery documents and management actions do not always sufficiently address the importance of migratory behavior and seasonal ranges for imperiled populations.</li> <li>Using a telemetry location dataset spanning 1981 – 2018, we tested for changes in prevalence of migratory tactics (resident, migrant) over time, switching between tactics, shifts in seasonal space-use including migration corridors, and survival consequences of migrant and resident tactics for 237 adult female endangered woodland mountain caribou in one population in western Canada.</li> <li>Over more than three decades, the proportion of individuals displaying annual migration to the low elevation forested winter range declined from nearly 100% to 38%. Correspondingly, there was a strong switch away from being migrant to being year-round residents at high elevation.</li> <li>These behavioral changes corresponded to abandonment of low elevation winter ranges in association with increasing levels of anthropogenic land uses, including forestry and oil and gas developments. Furthermore, there were no identifiable migration corridors to target for migratory route protection.</li> <li>These shifts translated to lower survival rates, particularly for caribou demonstrating resident tactics, consistent with recent declines of the caribou population. That migrants switched to residency in their largely undisturbed summer range, despite lower survival, indicates maladaptive habitat selection consistent with recent patterns of mountain caribou extirpations.</li> <li>Globally, endangered species policies and their associated recovery plans and management actions often do not explicitly consider the challenge of protecting migratory species. Effective conservation of migratory species requires protecting critical habitats needed for the entire life history of the species, including all seasonal ranges and migratory habitat.</li> </ol>
Integrating stable isotopes, parasite and ring-reencounter data to quantify migratory connectivity - a case study with Barn Swallows breeding in Switzerland, Germany, Sweden and Finland
<p>Ecosystems around the world are connected by seasonal migration. The migrant animals themselves are influenced by migratory connectivity through effects on the individual and the population level. Measuring migratory connectivity is notoriously difficult due to the simple requirement of data conveying information about the non-breeding distribution of many individuals from several breeding populations. Explicit integration of data derived from different methods increases the precision and the reliability of parameter estimates.</p> <p>We combine ring-reencounter, stable isotope and blood parasite data of Barn Swallows <i>Hirundo rustica</i> in a single integrated model to estimate migratory connectivity for three large scale breeding populations across a latitudinal gradient from Central Europe and Scandinavia. To this end, we integrated a non-Markovian multi-state mark-recovery model for the ring-reencounter data with normal and binomial mixture models for the stable isotope and parasite data.</p> <p>The integration of different data sources within a mark-recapture modelling framework enables the most precise quantification of migratory connectivity on the given broad spatial scale. The results show that northern breeding populations and Southern Africa as well as southern breeding populations and Western-Central Africa are more strongly connected through Barn Swallow migration than central European breeding populations with any of the African wintering areas. The non-breeding distribution of Barn Swallows from central European breeding populations seems to be a mixture of those populations breeding further North and South, indicating a migratory divide.</p>
Data from: Finish with a sprint: evidence for time‐selected last leg of migration in a long‐distance migratory songbird
Under time‐selected migration, birds should choose a strategy for outcompeting rivals over securing access to prime resources at the final destination. Thus, migration can be viewed as a race among individuals where winners are arriving first when conditions are suitable. The sprint migration hypothesis predicts that individuals shift from maximum sustained speed to a final burst of sprint to shorten the transition from migration to breeding (Alerstam, 2006). In this study, we test the hypothesis of a final sprint migration in a long‐distance Afro‐Palearctic migrant, the collared flycatcher Ficedula albicollis, during autumn and spring, and compare migration strategies between the seasons. In both seasons, collared flycatchers evidently exhibited sprint migration by increasing their overall speed over the last leg of migration after the Sahara crossing. This phenomenon was more pronounced in spring, contributing to overall faster spring migration and possibly highlighting higher importance for early arrival at the breeding grounds. In both seasons and particularly in spring, late departing individuals flew at a faster rate, partially being able to catch up with their early departing conspecifics. Differential fueling strategies may play an important role in determining migration speed, especially during the early stages of the migration, and might explain the observed differences in migration speeds between late and early departing individuals. Our findings suggest competition for early arrival at the breeding and at the nonbreeding destinations alike. Sprint migration might be an appropriate strategy to gain advantage over conspecifics and settle in prime territories as well as to cope with the increasingly earlier springs at high latitudes.
Is there more than one way to cross the Caribbean Sea? Migratory strategies of Nearctic-Neotropical landbirds departing from northern Colombia
For migratory landbird species, large expanses of open water or inhospitable areas provide unique challenges during migration. Research on the strategies that species use to navigate barriers can yield insights into the factors shaping the evolution of migration and facilitate the identification of critical staging areas prior to barrier crossing. One such barrier, the Caribbean Sea, has received little study but must be negotiated by ≈50 migratory landbirds as they fly from South America to North America in spring. Recent discoveries from the Gray-cheeked Thrush (Catharus minimus), which undertakes non-stop flights >3000 km across the Caribbean Sea, raises the possibility that the breadth of potential strategies has been unappreciated thus far. We calculated fuel load and potential flight range in 9985 individuals of 16 species captured over 10 years at two stopover sites in northern Colombia to 1) evaluate the likely migratory strategy of these species as they depart northern Colombia in spring, and 2) evaluate the influence of family, diet, morphology and migratory distance on potential flight range. We found considerable variation in flight ranges and therefore strategies for crossing the Caribbean Sea/Gulf of Mexico barrier complex. In addition to Gray-cheeked Thrush, non-stop flights >2500 km were possible in Yellow-billed Cuckoo (Coccyzus americanus), Yellow Warbler (Setophaga petechia) and Northern Waterthrush (Parkesia noveboracensis). The remaining species were either capable of over-water flights to the Yucatan Peninsula/Cuba (>1800 km) or shorter flights to middle Central America (>1000 km) and likely required one or more stopovers to reach North America. Predicted flight ranges were influenced by morphology but not by distance, diet or taxonomic group, providing a novel insight into the evolution of migratory strategies. Our study confirms the vital role northern Colombia performs in providing energy for migratory birds and highlights the Caribbean as a key migratory barrier for many species.
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Allen Brain Atlas
Allen Brain Atlas is an Allen Institute collection of brain map atlases, datasets, APIs, and analysis tools covering mouse, human, and non-human primate brain resources.
Annotated Behaviour and Observability Dataset (ABODe)
ABODe is a University of Edinburgh DataShare dataset for behavior classification in group-housed mice using home-cage video, identities, bounding boxes, ground-plate positions, and annotator labels.
DANDI Archive for NWB datasets
DANDI is a BRAIN Initiative archive for publishing and sharing neurophysiology data, including electrophysiology, optophysiology, and behavioral data packaged as NWB and related standards.
International Brain Laboratory public data
The International Brain Laboratory public data releases expose standardized mouse decision-making experiments, including Neuropixels recordings, widefield calcium imaging, behavior, and session metadata accessed through the ONE API.
OpenNeuro
OpenNeuro is a free, open platform for sharing neuroimaging datasets, with public search, dataset pages, and download paths for web, S3, DataLad, and the OpenNeuro CLI.