Migratory Herbivorous Waterfowl Track Satellite-Derived Green Wave Index
Many migrating herbivores rely on plant biomass to fuel their life cycles and have adapted to following changes in plant quality through time. The green wave hypothesis predicts that herbivorous waterfowl will follow the wave of food availability and quality during their spring migration. However, t...
Published in: | PLoS ONE |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
2014
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bsz:352-2-1q2qo4zvlxqi18 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0108331 |
id |
ftubkonstanz:oai:kops.uni-konstanz.de:123456789/48127 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftubkonstanz:oai:kops.uni-konstanz.de:123456789/48127 2024-02-11T10:04:21+01:00 Migratory Herbivorous Waterfowl Track Satellite-Derived Green Wave Index Shariatinajafabadi, Mitra Wang, Tiejun Skidmore, Andrew K. Toxopeus, Albertus G. Kölzsch, Andrea Nolet, Bart A. Exo, Klaus-Michael Griffin, Larry Stahl, Julia Cabot, David 2014-09-23 application/pdf http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bsz:352-2-1q2qo4zvlxqi18 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0108331 eng eng http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bsz:352-2-1q2qo4zvlxqi18 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0108331 1686084927 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ PLoS one. 2014, 9(9), e108331. eISSN 1932-6203. Available under: doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0108331 ddc:570 doc-type:article doc-type:Text 2014 ftubkonstanz https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0108331 2024-01-21T23:54:39Z Many migrating herbivores rely on plant biomass to fuel their life cycles and have adapted to following changes in plant quality through time. The green wave hypothesis predicts that herbivorous waterfowl will follow the wave of food availability and quality during their spring migration. However, testing this hypothesis is hampered by the large geographical range these birds cover. The satellite-derived normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) time series is an ideal proxy indicator for the development of plant biomass and quality across a broad spatial area. A derived index, the green wave index (GWI), has been successfully used to link altitudinal and latitudinal migration of mammals to spatio-temporal variations in food quality and quantity. To date, this index has not been used to test the green wave hypothesis for individual avian herbivores. Here, we use the satellite-derived GWI to examine the green wave hypothesis with respect to GPS-tracked individual barnacle geese from three flyway populations (Russian n = 12, Svalbard n = 8, and Greenland n = 7). Data were collected over three years (2008–2010). Our results showed that the Russian and Svalbard barnacle geese followed the middle stage of the green wave (GWI 40–60%), while the Greenland geese followed an earlier stage (GWI 20–40%). Despite these differences among geese populations, the phase of vegetation greenness encountered by the GPS-tracked geese was close to the 50% GWI (i.e. the assumed date of peak nitrogen concentration), thereby implying that barnacle geese track high quality food during their spring migration. To our knowledge, this is the first time that the migration of individual avian herbivores has been successfully studied with respect to vegetation phenology using the satellite-derived GWI. Our results offer further support for the green wave hypothesis applying to long-distance migrants on a larger scale. published published Article in Journal/Newspaper Greenland Svalbard KOPS - The Institutional Repository of the University of Konstanz Svalbard Greenland PLoS ONE 9 9 e108331 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
KOPS - The Institutional Repository of the University of Konstanz |
op_collection_id |
ftubkonstanz |
language |
English |
topic |
ddc:570 |
spellingShingle |
ddc:570 Shariatinajafabadi, Mitra Wang, Tiejun Skidmore, Andrew K. Toxopeus, Albertus G. Kölzsch, Andrea Nolet, Bart A. Exo, Klaus-Michael Griffin, Larry Stahl, Julia Cabot, David Migratory Herbivorous Waterfowl Track Satellite-Derived Green Wave Index |
topic_facet |
ddc:570 |
description |
Many migrating herbivores rely on plant biomass to fuel their life cycles and have adapted to following changes in plant quality through time. The green wave hypothesis predicts that herbivorous waterfowl will follow the wave of food availability and quality during their spring migration. However, testing this hypothesis is hampered by the large geographical range these birds cover. The satellite-derived normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) time series is an ideal proxy indicator for the development of plant biomass and quality across a broad spatial area. A derived index, the green wave index (GWI), has been successfully used to link altitudinal and latitudinal migration of mammals to spatio-temporal variations in food quality and quantity. To date, this index has not been used to test the green wave hypothesis for individual avian herbivores. Here, we use the satellite-derived GWI to examine the green wave hypothesis with respect to GPS-tracked individual barnacle geese from three flyway populations (Russian n = 12, Svalbard n = 8, and Greenland n = 7). Data were collected over three years (2008–2010). Our results showed that the Russian and Svalbard barnacle geese followed the middle stage of the green wave (GWI 40–60%), while the Greenland geese followed an earlier stage (GWI 20–40%). Despite these differences among geese populations, the phase of vegetation greenness encountered by the GPS-tracked geese was close to the 50% GWI (i.e. the assumed date of peak nitrogen concentration), thereby implying that barnacle geese track high quality food during their spring migration. To our knowledge, this is the first time that the migration of individual avian herbivores has been successfully studied with respect to vegetation phenology using the satellite-derived GWI. Our results offer further support for the green wave hypothesis applying to long-distance migrants on a larger scale. published published |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Shariatinajafabadi, Mitra Wang, Tiejun Skidmore, Andrew K. Toxopeus, Albertus G. Kölzsch, Andrea Nolet, Bart A. Exo, Klaus-Michael Griffin, Larry Stahl, Julia Cabot, David |
author_facet |
Shariatinajafabadi, Mitra Wang, Tiejun Skidmore, Andrew K. Toxopeus, Albertus G. Kölzsch, Andrea Nolet, Bart A. Exo, Klaus-Michael Griffin, Larry Stahl, Julia Cabot, David |
author_sort |
Shariatinajafabadi, Mitra |
title |
Migratory Herbivorous Waterfowl Track Satellite-Derived Green Wave Index |
title_short |
Migratory Herbivorous Waterfowl Track Satellite-Derived Green Wave Index |
title_full |
Migratory Herbivorous Waterfowl Track Satellite-Derived Green Wave Index |
title_fullStr |
Migratory Herbivorous Waterfowl Track Satellite-Derived Green Wave Index |
title_full_unstemmed |
Migratory Herbivorous Waterfowl Track Satellite-Derived Green Wave Index |
title_sort |
migratory herbivorous waterfowl track satellite-derived green wave index |
publishDate |
2014 |
url |
http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bsz:352-2-1q2qo4zvlxqi18 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0108331 |
geographic |
Svalbard Greenland |
geographic_facet |
Svalbard Greenland |
genre |
Greenland Svalbard |
genre_facet |
Greenland Svalbard |
op_source |
PLoS one. 2014, 9(9), e108331. eISSN 1932-6203. Available under: doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0108331 |
op_relation |
http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bsz:352-2-1q2qo4zvlxqi18 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0108331 1686084927 |
op_rights |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0108331 |
container_title |
PLoS ONE |
container_volume |
9 |
container_issue |
9 |
container_start_page |
e108331 |
_version_ |
1790600924893282304 |