The exception to the rule: Retreating ice front makes Bewick's swans Cygnus columbianus bewickii migrate slower in spring than in autumn
In the vast majority of migratory bird species studied so far, spring migration has been found to proceed faster than autumn migration. In spring, selection pressures for rapid migration are purportedly higher, and migratory conditions such as food supply, daylength, and/or wind support may be bette...
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Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10536/DRO/DU:30072045 https://figshare.com/articles/journal_contribution/The_exception_to_the_rule_Retreating_ice_front_makes_Bewick_s_swans_Cygnus_columbianus_bewickii_migrate_slower_in_spring_than_in_autumn/20926018 |
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ftdeakinunifig:oai:figshare.com:article/20926018 2024-06-23T07:52:20+00:00 The exception to the rule: Retreating ice front makes Bewick's swans Cygnus columbianus bewickii migrate slower in spring than in autumn RJM Nuijten A Kölzsch JA van Gils BJ Hoye K Oosterbeek PP de Vries Marcel Klaassen BA Nolet 2014-03-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/10536/DRO/DU:30072045 https://figshare.com/articles/journal_contribution/The_exception_to_the_rule_Retreating_ice_front_makes_Bewick_s_swans_Cygnus_columbianus_bewickii_migrate_slower_in_spring_than_in_autumn/20926018 unknown http://hdl.handle.net/10536/DRO/DU:30072045 https://figshare.com/articles/journal_contribution/The_exception_to_the_rule_Retreating_ice_front_makes_Bewick_s_swans_Cygnus_columbianus_bewickii_migrate_slower_in_spring_than_in_autumn/20926018 All Rights Reserved Science & Technology Life Sciences & Biomedicine Ornithology Zoology BIRD MIGRATION PONDWEED TUBERS FUELING RATES TUNDRA SWANS WHITE SEA SPEED DISTANCE TEMPERATURE POPULATIONS ADJUSTMENTS 060201 Behavioural Ecology 960899 Flora Centre for Integrative Ecology School of Life and Environmental Sciences Text Journal contribution 2014 ftdeakinunifig 2024-06-06T01:57:32Z In the vast majority of migratory bird species studied so far, spring migration has been found to proceed faster than autumn migration. In spring, selection pressures for rapid migration are purportedly higher, and migratory conditions such as food supply, daylength, and/or wind support may be better than in autumn. In swans, however, spring migration appears to be slower than autumn migration. Based on a comparison of tundra swan Cygnus columbianus tracking data with long-term temperature data from wheather stations, it has previously been suggested that this was due to a capital breeding strategy (gathering resources for breeding during spring migration) and/or to ice cover constraining spring but not autumn migration. Here we directly test the hypothesis that Bewick's swans Cygnus columbianus bewickii follow the ice front in spring, but not in autumn, by comparing three years of GPS tracking data from individual swans with concurrent ice cover data at five important migratory stop-over sites. In general, ice constrained the swans in the middle part of spring migration, but not in the first (no ice cover was present in the first part) nor in the last part. In autumn, the swans migrated far ahead of ice formation, possibly in order to prevent being trapped by an early onset of winter. We conclude that spring migration in swans is slower than autumn migration because spring migration speed is constrained by ice cover. This restriction to spring migration speed may be more common in northerly migrating birds that rely on freshwater resources. © 2013 The Authors. Article in Journal/Newspaper Cygnus columbianus Tundra Tundra Swan White Sea DRO - Deakin Research Online White Sea |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
DRO - Deakin Research Online |
op_collection_id |
ftdeakinunifig |
language |
unknown |
topic |
Science & Technology Life Sciences & Biomedicine Ornithology Zoology BIRD MIGRATION PONDWEED TUBERS FUELING RATES TUNDRA SWANS WHITE SEA SPEED DISTANCE TEMPERATURE POPULATIONS ADJUSTMENTS 060201 Behavioural Ecology 960899 Flora Centre for Integrative Ecology School of Life and Environmental Sciences |
spellingShingle |
Science & Technology Life Sciences & Biomedicine Ornithology Zoology BIRD MIGRATION PONDWEED TUBERS FUELING RATES TUNDRA SWANS WHITE SEA SPEED DISTANCE TEMPERATURE POPULATIONS ADJUSTMENTS 060201 Behavioural Ecology 960899 Flora Centre for Integrative Ecology School of Life and Environmental Sciences RJM Nuijten A Kölzsch JA van Gils BJ Hoye K Oosterbeek PP de Vries Marcel Klaassen BA Nolet The exception to the rule: Retreating ice front makes Bewick's swans Cygnus columbianus bewickii migrate slower in spring than in autumn |
topic_facet |
Science & Technology Life Sciences & Biomedicine Ornithology Zoology BIRD MIGRATION PONDWEED TUBERS FUELING RATES TUNDRA SWANS WHITE SEA SPEED DISTANCE TEMPERATURE POPULATIONS ADJUSTMENTS 060201 Behavioural Ecology 960899 Flora Centre for Integrative Ecology School of Life and Environmental Sciences |
description |
In the vast majority of migratory bird species studied so far, spring migration has been found to proceed faster than autumn migration. In spring, selection pressures for rapid migration are purportedly higher, and migratory conditions such as food supply, daylength, and/or wind support may be better than in autumn. In swans, however, spring migration appears to be slower than autumn migration. Based on a comparison of tundra swan Cygnus columbianus tracking data with long-term temperature data from wheather stations, it has previously been suggested that this was due to a capital breeding strategy (gathering resources for breeding during spring migration) and/or to ice cover constraining spring but not autumn migration. Here we directly test the hypothesis that Bewick's swans Cygnus columbianus bewickii follow the ice front in spring, but not in autumn, by comparing three years of GPS tracking data from individual swans with concurrent ice cover data at five important migratory stop-over sites. In general, ice constrained the swans in the middle part of spring migration, but not in the first (no ice cover was present in the first part) nor in the last part. In autumn, the swans migrated far ahead of ice formation, possibly in order to prevent being trapped by an early onset of winter. We conclude that spring migration in swans is slower than autumn migration because spring migration speed is constrained by ice cover. This restriction to spring migration speed may be more common in northerly migrating birds that rely on freshwater resources. © 2013 The Authors. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
RJM Nuijten A Kölzsch JA van Gils BJ Hoye K Oosterbeek PP de Vries Marcel Klaassen BA Nolet |
author_facet |
RJM Nuijten A Kölzsch JA van Gils BJ Hoye K Oosterbeek PP de Vries Marcel Klaassen BA Nolet |
author_sort |
RJM Nuijten |
title |
The exception to the rule: Retreating ice front makes Bewick's swans Cygnus columbianus bewickii migrate slower in spring than in autumn |
title_short |
The exception to the rule: Retreating ice front makes Bewick's swans Cygnus columbianus bewickii migrate slower in spring than in autumn |
title_full |
The exception to the rule: Retreating ice front makes Bewick's swans Cygnus columbianus bewickii migrate slower in spring than in autumn |
title_fullStr |
The exception to the rule: Retreating ice front makes Bewick's swans Cygnus columbianus bewickii migrate slower in spring than in autumn |
title_full_unstemmed |
The exception to the rule: Retreating ice front makes Bewick's swans Cygnus columbianus bewickii migrate slower in spring than in autumn |
title_sort |
exception to the rule: retreating ice front makes bewick's swans cygnus columbianus bewickii migrate slower in spring than in autumn |
publishDate |
2014 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/10536/DRO/DU:30072045 https://figshare.com/articles/journal_contribution/The_exception_to_the_rule_Retreating_ice_front_makes_Bewick_s_swans_Cygnus_columbianus_bewickii_migrate_slower_in_spring_than_in_autumn/20926018 |
geographic |
White Sea |
geographic_facet |
White Sea |
genre |
Cygnus columbianus Tundra Tundra Swan White Sea |
genre_facet |
Cygnus columbianus Tundra Tundra Swan White Sea |
op_relation |
http://hdl.handle.net/10536/DRO/DU:30072045 https://figshare.com/articles/journal_contribution/The_exception_to_the_rule_Retreating_ice_front_makes_Bewick_s_swans_Cygnus_columbianus_bewickii_migrate_slower_in_spring_than_in_autumn/20926018 |
op_rights |
All Rights Reserved |
_version_ |
1802643601377722368 |