Snow Buntings Maintain Winter-Level Cold Endurance While Migrating to the High Arctic
Arctic breeding songbirds migrate early in the spring and can face winter environments requiring cold endurance throughout their journey. One such species, the snow bunting (Plectrophenax nivalis), is known for its significant thermogenic capacity. Empirical studies suggest that buntings can indeed...
Published in: | Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution |
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Online Access: | https://scholar.uwindsor.ca/glierpub/482 https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2021.724876 https://scholar.uwindsor.ca/context/glierpub/article/1484/viewcontent/fevo_09_724876__1_.pdf |
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ftunivwindsor:oai:scholar.uwindsor.ca:glierpub-1484 2023-06-11T04:08:09+02:00 Snow Buntings Maintain Winter-Level Cold Endurance While Migrating to the High Arctic Le Pogam, Audrey O’Connor, Ryan S. Love, Oliver P. Drolet, Justine Régimbald, Lyette Roy, Gabrielle Laplante, Marie Pier Berteaux, Dominique Tam, Andrew Vézina, François 2021-09-23T07:00:00Z application/pdf https://scholar.uwindsor.ca/glierpub/482 https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2021.724876 https://scholar.uwindsor.ca/context/glierpub/article/1484/viewcontent/fevo_09_724876__1_.pdf unknown Scholarship at UWindsor https://scholar.uwindsor.ca/glierpub/482 doi:10.3389/fevo.2021.724876 https://scholar.uwindsor.ca/context/glierpub/article/1484/viewcontent/fevo_09_724876__1_.pdf Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research Publications Arctic bird Arctic breeding basal metabolic rate body composition cold acclimatization migration phenotypic flexibility summit metabolic rate Biochemistry Biophysics and Structural Biology Biodiversity Biology Life Sciences Marine Biology text 2021 ftunivwindsor https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2021.724876 2023-05-06T19:11:12Z Arctic breeding songbirds migrate early in the spring and can face winter environments requiring cold endurance throughout their journey. One such species, the snow bunting (Plectrophenax nivalis), is known for its significant thermogenic capacity. Empirical studies suggest that buntings can indeed maintain winter cold acclimatization into the migratory and breeding phenotypes when kept captive on their wintering grounds. This capacity could be advantageous not only for migrating in a cold environment, but also for facing unpredictable Arctic weather on arrival and during preparation for breeding. However, migration also typically leads to declines in the sizes of several body components linked to metabolic performance. As such, buntings could also experience some loss of cold endurance as they migrate. Here, we aimed to determine whether free-living snow buntings maintain a cold acclimatized phenotype during spring migration. Using a multi-year dataset, we compared body composition (body mass, fat stores, and pectoralis muscle thickness), oxygen carrying capacity (hematocrit) and metabolic performance (thermogenic capacity – Msum and maintenance energy expenditure – BMR) of birds captured on their wintering grounds (January–February, Rimouski, QC, 48°N) and during pre-breeding (April–May) in the Arctic (Alert, NU, 82°). Our results show that body mass, fat stores and Msum were similar between the two stages, while hematocrit and pectoralis muscle thickness were lower in pre-breeding birds than in wintering individuals. These results suggest that although tissue degradation during migration may affect flight muscle size, buntings are able to maintain cold endurance (i.e., Msum) up to their Arctic breeding grounds. However, BMR was higher during pre-breeding than during winter, suggesting higher maintenance costs in the Arctic. Text Arctic Plectrophenax nivalis Snow Bunting University of Windsor, Ontario: Scholarship at UWindsor Arctic Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution 9 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of Windsor, Ontario: Scholarship at UWindsor |
op_collection_id |
ftunivwindsor |
language |
unknown |
topic |
Arctic bird Arctic breeding basal metabolic rate body composition cold acclimatization migration phenotypic flexibility summit metabolic rate Biochemistry Biophysics and Structural Biology Biodiversity Biology Life Sciences Marine Biology |
spellingShingle |
Arctic bird Arctic breeding basal metabolic rate body composition cold acclimatization migration phenotypic flexibility summit metabolic rate Biochemistry Biophysics and Structural Biology Biodiversity Biology Life Sciences Marine Biology Le Pogam, Audrey O’Connor, Ryan S. Love, Oliver P. Drolet, Justine Régimbald, Lyette Roy, Gabrielle Laplante, Marie Pier Berteaux, Dominique Tam, Andrew Vézina, François Snow Buntings Maintain Winter-Level Cold Endurance While Migrating to the High Arctic |
topic_facet |
Arctic bird Arctic breeding basal metabolic rate body composition cold acclimatization migration phenotypic flexibility summit metabolic rate Biochemistry Biophysics and Structural Biology Biodiversity Biology Life Sciences Marine Biology |
description |
Arctic breeding songbirds migrate early in the spring and can face winter environments requiring cold endurance throughout their journey. One such species, the snow bunting (Plectrophenax nivalis), is known for its significant thermogenic capacity. Empirical studies suggest that buntings can indeed maintain winter cold acclimatization into the migratory and breeding phenotypes when kept captive on their wintering grounds. This capacity could be advantageous not only for migrating in a cold environment, but also for facing unpredictable Arctic weather on arrival and during preparation for breeding. However, migration also typically leads to declines in the sizes of several body components linked to metabolic performance. As such, buntings could also experience some loss of cold endurance as they migrate. Here, we aimed to determine whether free-living snow buntings maintain a cold acclimatized phenotype during spring migration. Using a multi-year dataset, we compared body composition (body mass, fat stores, and pectoralis muscle thickness), oxygen carrying capacity (hematocrit) and metabolic performance (thermogenic capacity – Msum and maintenance energy expenditure – BMR) of birds captured on their wintering grounds (January–February, Rimouski, QC, 48°N) and during pre-breeding (April–May) in the Arctic (Alert, NU, 82°). Our results show that body mass, fat stores and Msum were similar between the two stages, while hematocrit and pectoralis muscle thickness were lower in pre-breeding birds than in wintering individuals. These results suggest that although tissue degradation during migration may affect flight muscle size, buntings are able to maintain cold endurance (i.e., Msum) up to their Arctic breeding grounds. However, BMR was higher during pre-breeding than during winter, suggesting higher maintenance costs in the Arctic. |
format |
Text |
author |
Le Pogam, Audrey O’Connor, Ryan S. Love, Oliver P. Drolet, Justine Régimbald, Lyette Roy, Gabrielle Laplante, Marie Pier Berteaux, Dominique Tam, Andrew Vézina, François |
author_facet |
Le Pogam, Audrey O’Connor, Ryan S. Love, Oliver P. Drolet, Justine Régimbald, Lyette Roy, Gabrielle Laplante, Marie Pier Berteaux, Dominique Tam, Andrew Vézina, François |
author_sort |
Le Pogam, Audrey |
title |
Snow Buntings Maintain Winter-Level Cold Endurance While Migrating to the High Arctic |
title_short |
Snow Buntings Maintain Winter-Level Cold Endurance While Migrating to the High Arctic |
title_full |
Snow Buntings Maintain Winter-Level Cold Endurance While Migrating to the High Arctic |
title_fullStr |
Snow Buntings Maintain Winter-Level Cold Endurance While Migrating to the High Arctic |
title_full_unstemmed |
Snow Buntings Maintain Winter-Level Cold Endurance While Migrating to the High Arctic |
title_sort |
snow buntings maintain winter-level cold endurance while migrating to the high arctic |
publisher |
Scholarship at UWindsor |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
https://scholar.uwindsor.ca/glierpub/482 https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2021.724876 https://scholar.uwindsor.ca/context/glierpub/article/1484/viewcontent/fevo_09_724876__1_.pdf |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic Plectrophenax nivalis Snow Bunting |
genre_facet |
Arctic Plectrophenax nivalis Snow Bunting |
op_source |
Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research Publications |
op_relation |
https://scholar.uwindsor.ca/glierpub/482 doi:10.3389/fevo.2021.724876 https://scholar.uwindsor.ca/context/glierpub/article/1484/viewcontent/fevo_09_724876__1_.pdf |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2021.724876 |
container_title |
Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution |
container_volume |
9 |
_version_ |
1768381285447761920 |