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| Open AccessGene regulation and speciation in a migratory divide between songbirds
Little is known about the genetic basis of many natural behaviours and how they contribute to speciation. Here the authors address this by identifying genes linked to migration of a songbird, investigating how these gene are regulated, and connecting them to potential barriers between species.
- Matthew I. M. Louder
- , Hannah Justen
- & Kira E. Delmore
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Article
| Open AccessArtificial light at night is a top predictor of bird migration stopover density
Twice a year, billions of nocturnal avian migrants traverse landscapes that are changing through natural and anthropogenic forces. Here, the authors identify light pollution as an influential predictor of bird migration stopover density across the USA.
- Kyle G. Horton
- , Jeffrey J. Buler
- & Geoffrey M. Henebry
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Article
| Open AccessNorth African humid periods over the past 800,000 years
A climate model identifies that periodic wet phases in the Sahara, termed North African Humid Periods, were driven by Earths orbital variations and were suppressed during glacial periods due to the influence of extensive ice sheets.
- Edward Armstrong
- , Miikka Tallavaara
- & Paul J. Valdes
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Article
| Open AccessImpacts of marine heatwaves on top predator distributions are variable but predictable
This study examines the effect of four marine heatwaves in the Northeast Pacific on the distributions of 14 top predators, revealing a wide-array of predator responses both among and within heatwaves. Predator responses were highly predictable, demonstrating capacity for early warning systems of heatwave impacts, similar to weather forecasts.
- Heather Welch
- , Matthew S. Savoca
- & Elliott L. Hazen
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Article
| Open AccessGlobal assessment of marine plastic exposure risk for oceanic birds
Petrels are wide-ranging, highly threatened seabirds that often ingest plastic. This study used tracking data for 7,137 petrels of 77 species to map global exposure risk and compare regions, species, and populations. The results show higher exposure risk for threatened species and stress the need for international cooperation to tackle marine litter.
- Bethany L. Clark
- , Ana P. B. Carneiro
- & Maria P. Dias
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Article
| Open AccessDeep learning enables satellite-based monitoring of large populations of terrestrial mammals across heterogeneous landscape
This study presents a deep learning pipeline to automatically locate and count large herds of migratory ungulates (wildebeest and zebra) in the Serengeti-Mara ecosystem using fine resolution satellite imagery. The results achieve accurate detection of nearly 500,000 individuals across thousands of square kilometers and multiple habitat types.
- Zijing Wu
- , Ce Zhang
- & Tiejun Wang
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Article
| Open AccessMigrating mule deer compensate en route for phenological mismatches
This study examined the movements of mule deer in western Wyoming, which began their spring migration considerably mismatched from the wave of green-up that propagates from low-elevation winter ranges to high-elevation summer ranges. They show that individual deer compensated for phenological mismatches with the green wave en route by accelerating or decelerating their movement.
- Anna C. Ortega
- , Ellen O. Aikens
- & Matthew J. Kauffman
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Article
| Open AccessInversions maintain differences between migratory phenotypes of a songbird
Rearrangements in the genome are important for local adaptation and speciation but are often difficult to identify reliably. Here the authors show that rearrangements underlie large chromosome regions that separate differentially migratory willow warblers.
- Max Lundberg
- , Alexander Mackintosh
- & Staffan Bensch
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Article
| Open AccessMigration direction in a songbird explained by two loci
The genetic determinants of long-distance migration in birds are largely unknown. Sokolovskis et al. tracked genotyped hybrid willow warblers from a migratory divide in Sweden and find that autumn migration direction is consistent with a dominant inheritance pattern of two large effect loci that interact through epistasis.
- Kristaps Sokolovskis
- , Max Lundberg
- & Staffan Bensch
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Article
| Open AccessPaternal transmission of migration knowledge in a long-distance bird migrant
Animals often migrate in social groups, but little is known about the social learning of migration behaviours. Here, Byholm et al. analyse high-resolution tracking data from Caspian Terns and reveal that juveniles’ survival and learning of migration routes depend critically on following a parent.
- Patrik Byholm
- , Martin Beal
- & Susanne Ă…kesson
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Article
| Open AccessHysteresis stabilizes dynamic control of self-assembled army ant constructions
Army ant bridges are a remarkable example of self-assembled living structures. Here, the authors investigate experimentally how army ant bridges respond to unstable ground, revealing how responses emerge from the decentralized actions of individuals.
- Helen F. McCreery
- , Georgina Gemayel
- & Radhika Nagpal
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Article
| Open AccessOntogenetic shifts from social to experiential learning drive avian migration timing
Learning from one’s own experience, and/or social learning from older individuals, could influence decision-making in migrating birds. Here the authors analyse 16 years of tracking data on whooping cranes to show that whether social or experiential learning is the dominant process in migration timing depends on life stage.
- Briana Abrahms
- , Claire S. Teitelbaum
- & Sarah J. Converse
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Article
| Open AccessAdvancement in long-distance bird migration through individual plasticity in departure
Long-distance bird migration timing is thought to be relatively inflexible despite climate change. Here, based on 13 years of mark-resight and geolocator-tracking data on bar-tailed godwits, the authors report a 6-day advance of departure time which is explained by an unexpected degree of individual plasticity.
- Jesse R. Conklin
- , Simeon Lisovski
- & Phil F. Battley
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Article
| Open AccessMigrant birds and mammals live faster than residents
Migration is costly. In the first global analysis of migratory vertebrates, authors report that migratory birds and mammals have faster paces of life than their non-migratory relatives, and that among swimming and walking species, migrants tend to be larger, while among flying species, migrants are smaller.
- Andrea Soriano-Redondo
- , Jorge S. Gutiérrez
- & Stuart Bearhop
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Article
| Open AccessDeep learning-assisted comparative analysis of animal trajectories with DeepHL
Comparative analysis of animal behaviour using locomotion data such as GPS data is difficult because the large amount of data makes it difficult to contrast group differences. Here the authors apply deep learning to detect and highlight trajectories characteristic of a group across scales of millimetres to hundreds of kilometres.
- Takuya Maekawa
- , Kazuya Ohara
- & Ken Yoda
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Article
| Open AccessSimulation-based reconstruction of global bird migration over the past 50,000 years
It is unclear whether bird migration patterns are restricted to interglacial periods or are maintained during glacial maxima. Somveille et al. apply a global migration simulation model to climate reconstruction to show that the prevalence of this phenomenon has likely been largely maintained up to 50,000 years ago.
- Marius Somveille
- , Martin Wikelski
- & Walter Jetz
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Article
| Open AccessStochastic simulations reveal few green wave surfing populations among spring migrating herbivorous waterfowl
The green wave hypothesis is often considered a key driver of spring migration in avian herbivores. Here the authors employ a multispecies comparison and find that migration did not track the green wave better than simulated stochastic migrations.
- Xin Wang
- , Lei Cao
- & Ran Nathan
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Article
| Open AccessOptimizing the conservation of migratory species over their full annual cycle
Conservation decisions to protect land used by migratory birds rely on understanding species’ dynamic habitat associations. Here the authors identify conservation scenarios needed to maintain >30% of the abundances of 117 migratory birds across the Americas, considering spatial and temporal patterns of species abundance.
- Richard Schuster
- , Scott Wilson
- & Joseph. R. Bennett
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Article
| Open AccessFuelling conditions at staging sites can mitigate Arctic warming effects in a migratory bird
Advancing phenological timing is a risk for migratory birds, particularly in the Arctic where change is most rapid. Here, the authors show that bar-tailed godwits can adjust for phenological shifts by fuelling faster at staging areas to arrive at breeding sites in time.
- Eldar Rakhimberdiev
- , Sjoerd Duijns
- & Theunis Piersma
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Correspondence
| Open AccessInconclusive evidence for rapid adaptive evolution
- JĂşlio Manuel Neto
- , Staffan Bensch
- & Bengt Hansson
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Article
| Open AccessWinter temperatures limit population growth rate of a migratory songbird
Population dynamics of migratory animals can be driven by direct, indirect, and potentially opposing effects at wintering and breeding grounds. Here, Woodworthet al. show that migratory sparrow population growth rate is balanced by temperature at wintering grounds and density-dependence at breeding grounds.
- Bradley K. Woodworth
- , Nathaniel T. Wheelwright
- & D. Ryan Norris
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Article
| Open AccessEnvironmental variation and the evolution of large brains in birds
Environmental variation has been hypothesized to favour the evolution of large brains capable of adjusting behaviour to changing circumstances. Here, Sayolet al. find that across more than 1200 bird species, species with relatively large brains are indeed associated with more variable habitats.
- Ferran Sayol
- , Joan Maspons
- & Daniel Sol
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Article
| Open AccessGABAergic anxiolytic drug in water increases migration behaviour in salmon
Fish migration is influenced by various environmental factors such as chemicals in water. Here, Hellstrom et al. show that an anxiolytic drug in the benzodiazepine family, oxazepam, can promote migratory behaviour of Atlantic salmon smolts in both laboratory setting and river tributary in Sweden.
- Gustav Hellström
- , Jonatan Klaminder
- & Tomas Brodin
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Article
| Open AccessExperience drives innovation of new migration patterns of whooping cranes in response to global change
Birds' migration pattern can shift due to changes in climate and habitat. Here, Teitelbaum and colleagues show that the experiences of older whooping cranes are important for generating new population-level migration behaviours in response to changes in the environment.
- Claire S. Teitelbaum
- , Sarah J. Converse
- & Thomas Mueller
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Article
| Open AccessEvidence that birds sleep in mid-flight
Whether and how birds sleep during long-distance flights has remained a mystery. Here, Rattenborg and colleagues show for the first time that frigatebirds can sleep during flight, but do so in remarkably small amounts.
- Niels C Rattenborg
- , Bryson Voirin
- & Alexei L. Vyssotski
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Article
| Open AccessFull circumpolar migration ensures evolutionary unity in the Emperor penguin
Delimiting populations is crucial for conserving threatened species. Using genome-wide data from the whole of Antarctica, Cristofari et al.show that Emperor penguins are organised into a single global population that have shared demography since the late Quarternary.
- Robin Cristofari
- , Giorgio Bertorelle
- & Emiliano Trucchi
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Article
| Open AccessDirect observations of American eels migrating across the continental shelf to the Sargasso Sea
Migration of adult American eels from the coast to their spawning area in the Sargasso Sea have previously only been inferred from larval distributions. Here, BĂ©guer-Pon et al. track adult eels from the continental shelf into the open ocean, with one individual migrating to the northern limit of the spawning site.
- MĂ©lanie BĂ©guer-Pon
- , Martin Castonguay
- & Julian J. Dodson
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Article
| Open AccessSwarming bacteria migrate by LĂ©vy Walk
LĂ©vy walks have been found in the motion of large animals such as birds and fish in search of sparsely and randomly distributed food. Here, Arielet al. observe, by tracking long-duration trajectories of fluorescently labelled bacteria, similar walks in bacterial swarms for the first time.
- Gil Ariel
- , Amit Rabani
- & Avraham Be'er
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Article
| Open AccessA magnetic compass aids monarch butterfly migration
Monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus) migrate from North America to central Mexico during the fall. Here, Guerra et al. show that, in addition to a sun compass orientation, monarch butterflies use a magnetic compass to help direct their flight towards the equator.
- Patrick A Guerra
- , Robert J Gegear
- & Steven M Reppert
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Article |
Contemporary and historical separation of transequatorial migration between genetically distinct seabird populations
Migratory segregation presents a hypothesized barrier to gene flow among seabirds, but its mechanisms are unclear. Rayneret al. find that migratory habitat specialization, associated with breeding asynchrony and philopatry, restricts gene flow between two seabird populations migrating across the Pacific Ocean.
- Matt J. Rayner
- , Mark E. Hauber
- & Scott A. Shaffer
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Article |
Breeding latitude drives individual schedules in a trans-hemispheric migrant bird
The bar-tailed godwit departs from New Zealand for breeding sites in Alaska. Here, using geolocators, godwits are shown to time their migration depending on the latitude of their breeding site in Alaska; early migrators locate in the south of Alaska, whereas later birds breed in the North.
- Jesse R. Conklin
- , Phil F. Battley
- & James W. Fox