Tracking of Arctic terns Sterna paradisaea reveals longest animal migration
The study of long-distance migration provides insights into the habits and performance of organisms at the limit of their physical abilities. The Arctic tern Sterna paradisaea is the epitome of such behavior; despite its small size (<125 g), banding recoveries and at-sea surveys suggest that its...
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ftpubmed:oai:pubmedcentral.nih.gov:2836663 2023-05-15T14:41:57+02:00 Tracking of Arctic terns Sterna paradisaea reveals longest animal migration Egevang, Carsten Stenhouse, Iain J. Phillips, Richard A. Petersen, Aevar Fox, James W. Silk, Janet R. D. 2010-01-11 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2836663 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20080662 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0909493107 en eng National Academy of Sciences http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2836663 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20080662 http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0909493107 Freely available online through the PNAS open access option. Biological Sciences Text 2010 ftpubmed https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0909493107 2013-09-02T22:24:25Z The study of long-distance migration provides insights into the habits and performance of organisms at the limit of their physical abilities. The Arctic tern Sterna paradisaea is the epitome of such behavior; despite its small size (<125 g), banding recoveries and at-sea surveys suggest that its annual migration from boreal and high Arctic breeding grounds to the Southern Ocean may be the longest seasonal movement of any animal. Our tracking of 11 Arctic terns fitted with miniature (1.4-g) geolocators revealed that these birds do indeed travel huge distances (more than 80,000 km annually for some individuals). As well as confirming the location of the main wintering region, we also identified a previously unknown oceanic stopover area in the North Atlantic used by birds from at least two breeding populations (from Greenland and Iceland). Although birds from the same colony took one of two alternative southbound migration routes following the African or South American coast, all returned on a broadly similar, sigmoidal trajectory, crossing from east to west in the Atlantic in the region of the equatorial Intertropical Convergence Zone. Arctic terns clearly target regions of high marine productivity both as stopover and wintering areas, and exploit prevailing global wind systems to reduce flight costs on long-distance commutes. Text Arctic Arctic tern Greenland Iceland North Atlantic Southern Ocean Sterna paradisaea PubMed Central (PMC) Arctic Greenland Southern Ocean Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 107 5 2078 2081 |
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Biological Sciences |
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Biological Sciences Egevang, Carsten Stenhouse, Iain J. Phillips, Richard A. Petersen, Aevar Fox, James W. Silk, Janet R. D. Tracking of Arctic terns Sterna paradisaea reveals longest animal migration |
topic_facet |
Biological Sciences |
description |
The study of long-distance migration provides insights into the habits and performance of organisms at the limit of their physical abilities. The Arctic tern Sterna paradisaea is the epitome of such behavior; despite its small size (<125 g), banding recoveries and at-sea surveys suggest that its annual migration from boreal and high Arctic breeding grounds to the Southern Ocean may be the longest seasonal movement of any animal. Our tracking of 11 Arctic terns fitted with miniature (1.4-g) geolocators revealed that these birds do indeed travel huge distances (more than 80,000 km annually for some individuals). As well as confirming the location of the main wintering region, we also identified a previously unknown oceanic stopover area in the North Atlantic used by birds from at least two breeding populations (from Greenland and Iceland). Although birds from the same colony took one of two alternative southbound migration routes following the African or South American coast, all returned on a broadly similar, sigmoidal trajectory, crossing from east to west in the Atlantic in the region of the equatorial Intertropical Convergence Zone. Arctic terns clearly target regions of high marine productivity both as stopover and wintering areas, and exploit prevailing global wind systems to reduce flight costs on long-distance commutes. |
format |
Text |
author |
Egevang, Carsten Stenhouse, Iain J. Phillips, Richard A. Petersen, Aevar Fox, James W. Silk, Janet R. D. |
author_facet |
Egevang, Carsten Stenhouse, Iain J. Phillips, Richard A. Petersen, Aevar Fox, James W. Silk, Janet R. D. |
author_sort |
Egevang, Carsten |
title |
Tracking of Arctic terns Sterna paradisaea reveals longest animal migration |
title_short |
Tracking of Arctic terns Sterna paradisaea reveals longest animal migration |
title_full |
Tracking of Arctic terns Sterna paradisaea reveals longest animal migration |
title_fullStr |
Tracking of Arctic terns Sterna paradisaea reveals longest animal migration |
title_full_unstemmed |
Tracking of Arctic terns Sterna paradisaea reveals longest animal migration |
title_sort |
tracking of arctic terns sterna paradisaea reveals longest animal migration |
publisher |
National Academy of Sciences |
publishDate |
2010 |
url |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2836663 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20080662 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0909493107 |
geographic |
Arctic Greenland Southern Ocean |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Greenland Southern Ocean |
genre |
Arctic Arctic tern Greenland Iceland North Atlantic Southern Ocean Sterna paradisaea |
genre_facet |
Arctic Arctic tern Greenland Iceland North Atlantic Southern Ocean Sterna paradisaea |
op_relation |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2836663 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20080662 http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0909493107 |
op_rights |
Freely available online through the PNAS open access option. |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0909493107 |
container_title |
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |
container_volume |
107 |
container_issue |
5 |
container_start_page |
2078 |
op_container_end_page |
2081 |
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1766313643229577216 |