Early‐life development of contrasting outbound and return migration routes in a long‐lived seabird

Oliver Padget,Neville Mckee,Joe Wynn,Chris Tyson,Ben Dean,Annette L Fayet,Tim Guilford,Natasha Gillies,Chris M Perrins,Holly Kirk

doi:10.1111/ibi.13030

Oliver Padget, Neville Mckee + Show 8 more

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https://doi.org/10.1111/ibi.13030

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Abstract

Although mechanisms of genetic and social inheritance have been implicated in determining the migratory routes of birds, it is unclear what their relative contributions are in species where outbound and return migration routes differ (‘loop migrants’). Here, we used biologging devices to follow Manx Shearwaters Puffinus puffinus, a long‐lived seabird with a trans‐Atlantic loop migration, from before their first migration until their 3rd calendar year. We found that Shearwaters undertake first migration without their parents, setting off almost immediately upon fledging and moving along a more direct trajectory than adults, before wintering in the same part of the South Atlantic as adult conspecifics and subsequently iteratively developing their return migration route over the next 3 years, each time returning – unlike adults – via a Western Atlantic route. We propose that the first outbound migration in Manx Shearwaters is broadly consistent with a genetically inherited vector, that both the outbound and the return migration trajectories are unlikely to be learnt from experienced conspecifics, and that return migration in Manx Shearwaters (and perhaps loop migrants more generally) may be informed by genetically inherited information and/or local environmental conditions.

Highlights

Avenue, Davis, California, 95616, USA 5Interdisciplinary Conservation Science Group, RMIT University, La Trobe Street, Melbourne, VIC, 3000, Australia
Mechanisms of genetic and social inheritance have been implicated in determining the migratory routes of birds, it is unclear what their relative contributions are in species where outbound and return migration routes differ (‘loop migrants’)
We found that Shearwaters undertake first migration without their parents, setting off almost immediately upon fledging and moving along a more direct trajectory than adults, before wintering in the same part of the South Atlantic as adult conspecifics and subsequently iteratively developing their return migration route over the 3 years, each time returning – unlike adults – via a Western Atlantic route

Summary

Introduction

Davis, California, 95616, USA 5Interdisciplinary Conservation Science Group, RMIT University, La Trobe Street, Melbourne, VIC, 3000, Australia. Mechanisms of genetic and social inheritance have been implicated in determining the migratory routes of birds, it is unclear what their relative contributions are in species where outbound and return migration routes differ (‘loop migrants’). Mellone et al 2013, Willemoes et al 2014, Katzner et al 2016) One such loop-migrant, the burrow-nesting, pelagic Manx Shearwater Puffinus puffinus, migrates from Western Europe to the Patagonian Shelf in the South Atlantic, with adults known to migrate south via the East Atlantic and return north via the West Atlantic (Guilford et al 2009). Scant ringing recoveries in the South Atlantic imply that juvenile Shearwaters migrate south almost immediately upon fledging (Brooke 1990), with colony-based ringing recoveries suggesting that the majority of Shearwaters return to the natal colony around their 3rd year post-fledging (Harris 1966, Perrins et al 1973)

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