Hypotheses and tracking results about the longest migration: The case of the arctic tern
The arctic tern Sterna paradisaea completes the longest known annual return migration on Earth, traveling between breeding sites in the northern arctic and temperate regions and survival/molt areas in the Antarctic pack‐ice zone. Salomonsen (1967, Biologiske Meddelelser, Copenhagen Danske Videnskabe...
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ftpubmed:oai:pubmedcentral.nih.gov:6745660 2023-05-15T14:02:43+02:00 Hypotheses and tracking results about the longest migration: The case of the arctic tern Alerstam, Thomas Bäckman, Johan Grönroos, Johanna Olofsson, Patrik Strandberg, Roine 2019-08-02 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6745660/ https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.5459 en eng John Wiley and Sons Inc. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6745660/ http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.5459 © 2019 The Authors. Ecology and Evolution published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. This is an open access article under the terms of the http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. CC-BY Original Research Text 2019 ftpubmed https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.5459 2019-09-22T00:30:08Z The arctic tern Sterna paradisaea completes the longest known annual return migration on Earth, traveling between breeding sites in the northern arctic and temperate regions and survival/molt areas in the Antarctic pack‐ice zone. Salomonsen (1967, Biologiske Meddelelser, Copenhagen Danske Videnskabernes Selskab, 24, 1) put forward a hypothetical comprehensive interpretation of this global migration pattern, suggesting food distribution, wind patterns, sea ice distribution, and molt habits as key ecological and evolutionary determinants. We used light‐level geolocators to record 12 annual journeys by eight individuals of arctic terns breeding in the Baltic Sea. Migration cycles were evaluated in light of Salomonsen's hypotheses and compared with results from geolocator studies of arctic tern populations from Greenland, Netherlands, and Alaska. The Baltic terns completed a 50,000 km annual migration circuit, exploiting ocean regions of high productivity in the North Atlantic, Benguela Current, and the Indian Ocean between southern Africa and Australia (sometimes including the Tasman Sea). They arrived about 1 November in the Antarctic zone at far easterly longitudes (in one case even at the Ross Sea) subsequently moving westward across 120–220 degrees of longitude toward the Weddell Sea region. They departed from here in mid‐March on a fast spring migration up the Atlantic Ocean. The geolocator data revealed unexpected segregation in time and space between tern populations in the same flyway. Terns from the Baltic and Netherlands traveled earlier and to significantly more easterly longitudes in the Indian Ocean and Antarctic zone than terns from Greenland. We suggest an adaptive explanation for this pattern. The global migration system of the arctic tern offers an extraordinary possibility to understand adaptive values and constraints in complex pelagic life cycles, as determined by environmental conditions (marine productivity, wind patterns, low‐pressure trajectories, pack‐ice distribution), inherent factors ... Text Antarc* Antarctic Arctic Arctic tern Greenland North Atlantic Ross Sea Sea ice Sterna paradisaea Weddell Sea Alaska PubMed Central (PMC) Antarctic Arctic Greenland Indian Ross Sea The Antarctic Weddell Weddell Sea Ecology and Evolution 9 17 9511 9531 |
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English |
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Original Research |
spellingShingle |
Original Research Alerstam, Thomas Bäckman, Johan Grönroos, Johanna Olofsson, Patrik Strandberg, Roine Hypotheses and tracking results about the longest migration: The case of the arctic tern |
topic_facet |
Original Research |
description |
The arctic tern Sterna paradisaea completes the longest known annual return migration on Earth, traveling between breeding sites in the northern arctic and temperate regions and survival/molt areas in the Antarctic pack‐ice zone. Salomonsen (1967, Biologiske Meddelelser, Copenhagen Danske Videnskabernes Selskab, 24, 1) put forward a hypothetical comprehensive interpretation of this global migration pattern, suggesting food distribution, wind patterns, sea ice distribution, and molt habits as key ecological and evolutionary determinants. We used light‐level geolocators to record 12 annual journeys by eight individuals of arctic terns breeding in the Baltic Sea. Migration cycles were evaluated in light of Salomonsen's hypotheses and compared with results from geolocator studies of arctic tern populations from Greenland, Netherlands, and Alaska. The Baltic terns completed a 50,000 km annual migration circuit, exploiting ocean regions of high productivity in the North Atlantic, Benguela Current, and the Indian Ocean between southern Africa and Australia (sometimes including the Tasman Sea). They arrived about 1 November in the Antarctic zone at far easterly longitudes (in one case even at the Ross Sea) subsequently moving westward across 120–220 degrees of longitude toward the Weddell Sea region. They departed from here in mid‐March on a fast spring migration up the Atlantic Ocean. The geolocator data revealed unexpected segregation in time and space between tern populations in the same flyway. Terns from the Baltic and Netherlands traveled earlier and to significantly more easterly longitudes in the Indian Ocean and Antarctic zone than terns from Greenland. We suggest an adaptive explanation for this pattern. The global migration system of the arctic tern offers an extraordinary possibility to understand adaptive values and constraints in complex pelagic life cycles, as determined by environmental conditions (marine productivity, wind patterns, low‐pressure trajectories, pack‐ice distribution), inherent factors ... |
format |
Text |
author |
Alerstam, Thomas Bäckman, Johan Grönroos, Johanna Olofsson, Patrik Strandberg, Roine |
author_facet |
Alerstam, Thomas Bäckman, Johan Grönroos, Johanna Olofsson, Patrik Strandberg, Roine |
author_sort |
Alerstam, Thomas |
title |
Hypotheses and tracking results about the longest migration: The case of the arctic tern |
title_short |
Hypotheses and tracking results about the longest migration: The case of the arctic tern |
title_full |
Hypotheses and tracking results about the longest migration: The case of the arctic tern |
title_fullStr |
Hypotheses and tracking results about the longest migration: The case of the arctic tern |
title_full_unstemmed |
Hypotheses and tracking results about the longest migration: The case of the arctic tern |
title_sort |
hypotheses and tracking results about the longest migration: the case of the arctic tern |
publisher |
John Wiley and Sons Inc. |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6745660/ https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.5459 |
geographic |
Antarctic Arctic Greenland Indian Ross Sea The Antarctic Weddell Weddell Sea |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic Arctic Greenland Indian Ross Sea The Antarctic Weddell Weddell Sea |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Arctic Arctic tern Greenland North Atlantic Ross Sea Sea ice Sterna paradisaea Weddell Sea Alaska |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Arctic Arctic tern Greenland North Atlantic Ross Sea Sea ice Sterna paradisaea Weddell Sea Alaska |
op_relation |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6745660/ http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.5459 |
op_rights |
© 2019 The Authors. Ecology and Evolution published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. This is an open access article under the terms of the http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.5459 |
container_title |
Ecology and Evolution |
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9 |
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17 |
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9511 |
op_container_end_page |
9531 |
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1766273142048686080 |