Evolution Of Bird Migration Research Articles

Genetics and Evolution of Bird Migration.

Bird migration has long been a subject of fascination for humankind and is a behavior that is both intricate and multifaceted. In recent years, advances in technology, particularly in the fields of genomics and animal tracking, have enabled significant progress in our understanding of this phenomenon. In this review, we provide an overview of the latest advancements in the genetics of bird migration, with a particular focus on genomics, and examine various factors that contribute to the evolution of this behavior, including climate change. Integration of research from the fields of genomics, ecology, and evolution can enhance our comprehension of the complex mechanisms involved in bird migration and inform conservation efforts in a rapidly changing world.

Speciation Associated with Shifts in Migratory Behavior in an Avian Radiation.

Migratory animals move up to thousands of kilometers every year [1]. Losses of migration (i.e., migratory drop-offs) occur when individuals of a migratory species stop migrating and establish founder sedentary populations, a phenomenon documented in birds [2-5] and butterflies [6]. In theory, losses-and also gains-of migration might promote speciation if sedentary and migratory populations become reproductively isolated [7-9]. Because migratory and sedentary strategies involve alternative physiological, behavioral, and morphological traits [10-13], divergence along multiple axes of organismal function is expected to accompany switches in migratory behavior, potentially accelerating speciation. We present evidence of speciation driven by a migratory drop-off in the fork-tailed flycatcher (Tyrannus savana) resulting in reproductive isolation likely driven by changes in breeding schedules (allochronic speciation [13-15]) and geographic isolation of breeding grounds (allopatric speciation [16]). Phylogenetic analyses across New World flycatchers (Tyrannidae) showed that an association between speciation and drop-offs is also observable at a macroevolutionary scale. Loss of migration was significantly more frequent than its gain, and speciation rates of migratory and partially migratory lineages (i.e., species having both migratory and sedentary populations) exceeded those of sedentary lineages. Models of trait evolution indicated that partial migration is an intermediate step between migratory and sedentary states in this family. Given that partial migration is widespread across migratory animals (e.g., of all migratory birds, ca. 51% are partially migratory [5]), speciation via switches in migratory behavior might be an important yet overlooked mechanism of animal diversification.

Productivity as the main factor correlating with migratory behaviour in the evolutionary history of warblers

AbstractThe evolution of migration in birds and its causes are still subject of debate. Recent studies tracking current bird migration have identified peaks in net primary productivity (NPP) as a main driver of bird migratory behaviour. However, it is unclear which variables may have played a major role in the evolution of bird migration at deeper phylogenetic levels. Here, we used phylogenetic comparative methods to assess whether the evolutionary patterns of migratory distances, as a proxy for migratory behaviour, are correlated with several biometric, climatic and productivity variables in a phylogenetic context, using Sylvia warblers as a case study. Our results recover NPP in the breeding range and during the breeding season as the variable with stronger positive correlation with migratory distances, being always included in the best models considering all potential variables. Several climatic variables show a correlation with the evolution of migration, but those are also tightly correlated with NPP. Among morphological variables, migratory lineages tend to have longer wings than sedentary ones. Although NPP has been identified as a driver of migratory behaviour in current species, in a phylogenetic scale it is not possible to disentangle if it was a main driver in the evolution of bird migratory behaviour or a consequence of it, yet migration and NPP seem to be tightly related today and along the long evolutionary history of these passerines.

Gene trees, species trees and Earth history combine to shed light on the evolution of migration in a model avian system

The evolution of migration in birds has fascinated biologists for centuries. In this study, we performed phylogenetic-based analyses of Catharus thrushes, a model genus in the study of avian migration, and their close relatives. For these analyses, we used both mitochondrial and nuclear genes, and the resulting phylogenies were used to trace migratory traits and biogeographic patterns. Our results provide the first robust assessment of relationships within Catharus and relatives and indicate that both mitochondrial and autosomal genes contribute to overall support of the phylogeny. Measures of phylogenetic informativeness indicated that mitochondrial genes provided more signal within Catharus than did nuclear genes, whereas nuclear loci provided more signal for relationships between Catharus and close relatives than did mitochondrial genes. Insertion and deletion events also contributed important support across the phylogeny. Across all taxa included in the study, and for Catharus, possession of long-distance migration is reconstructed as the ancestral condition, and a North American (north of Mexico) ancestral area is inferred. Within Catharus, sedentary behaviour evolved after the first speciation event in the genus and is geographically and temporally correlated with Central American distributions and the final closure of the Central American Seaway. Migratory behaviour subsequently evolved twice in Catharus and is geographically and temporally correlated with a recolonization of North America in the late Pleistocene. By temporally linking speciation events with changes in migratory condition and events in Earth history, we are able to show support for several competing hypotheses relating to the geographic origin of migration.

Maternal effects and changing phenology of bird migration

CR Climate Research Contact the journal Facebook Twitter RSS Mailing List Subscribe to our mailing list via Mailchimp HomeLatest VolumeAbout the JournalEditorsSpecials CR 49:201-210 (2011) - DOI: https://doi.org/10.3354/cr01030 Maternal effects and changing phenology of bird migration Anders Pape Møller1,*, Clotilde Biard2, Filiz Karadas3, Diego Rubolini4, Nicola Saino4, Peter F. Surai5 1Laboratoire d’Ecologie, Systématique et Evolution, CNRS UMR 8079, Université Paris-Sud, Bâtiment 362, 91405 Orsay Cedex, France 2UPMC Paris 06, CNRS UMR 7625, Laboratoire Ecologie-Evolution, 75252 Paris Cedex 05, France 3University of Yuzuncu Yil, Department of Animal Science, 65980 Van, Turkey 4Dipartimento di Biologia, Università degli Studi di Milano,Via Celoria 26, 20133 Milano, Italy 5Department of Biochemistry and Nutrition, Avian Science Research Centre, Scottish Agricultural College, Ayr KA6 5HW, UK *Email: anders.moller@u-psud.fr ABSTRACT: Recent changes in migration distances and propensity for migration associated with climate change have suggested that these traits can evolve rapidly. Part of this rapid response to selection may be due to maternal effects that facilitate changes in the underlying physiology of migration. We hypothesize that exposure to large amounts of antioxidants in the egg will facilitate assimilation and metabolism of dietary antioxidants later in life, thereby allowing offspring to better cope with extreme strenuous exercise such as the bursts of rapid migration shown during spring migration. We tested the relationship between temporal change in mean arrival date of migratory birds since 1960 and concentrations of 2 antioxidants in the eggs of 14 species of birds. Only egg concentration of vitamin E was a significant predictor of advancement in spring arrival date. Furthermore, we experimentally manipulated egg content of vitamin E in barn swallows Hirundo rustica and subsequently recorded arrival date of yearling male recruits. Arrival date advanced significantly by >1 standard deviation due to treatment, providing experimental evidence for a relationship between egg concentration of vitamin E and subsequent migration behavior. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that maternal effects have played an important role in the evolution of bird migration. KEY WORDS: Maternal effects · Phenology · Phenotypic plasticity · Vitamin A · Vitamin E Full text in pdf format PreviousNextCite this article as: Møller AP, Biard C, Karadas F, Rubolini D, Saino N, Surai PF (2011) Maternal effects and changing phenology of bird migration. Clim Res 49:201-210. https://doi.org/10.3354/cr01030 Export citation RSS - Facebook - Tweet - linkedIn Cited by Published in CR Vol. 49, No. 3. Online publication date: November 09, 2011 Print ISSN: 0936-577X; Online ISSN: 1616-1572 Copyright © 2011 Inter-Research.

Partial migration in tropical birds: the frontier of movement ecology

Partial migration, in which only some individuals of a species migrate, might be central to the evolution of migratory behaviour and is likely to represent an evolutionary transition between sedentariness and complete migration. In one of the few detailed, individual-based migration studies of tropical birds, Jahn et al. study the partial migration system of a South American bird species for the first time. Food limitation forces the large adult males and small, young females to migrate, contrary to the expectations of the body size and dominance hypotheses. This study confirms the importance of food variability as the primary driver of migratory behaviour. There is urgent need for similar studies on the movement ecology of understudied tropical bird species, whose diversity of migratory behaviour can shed light on the evolution of bird migration.

Resource buffering and the evolution of bird migration

Variation in migratory behaviour among birds is thought to reflect the relative variability in abundance of resources used by different species. Here I present evidence that increased migrancy among North American passerines is associated with greater reliance on food resources that vary in abundance because they occur in microhabitats that are exposed both to consumers and environmental fluctuation, and that residency is associated with use of food resources that occur in more ‘buffered’ microhabitats, and so are relatively invariant in abundance. Evidence from a variety of sources suggests that migrants and residents also differ in their use of foraging actions and methods of exploring the environment, with migrants using a rapid, extensive method of exploration, and a plastic, opportunistic foraging mode, while residents explore more methodically and use more stereotyped foraging actions. This suggests that the degree of migrancy exhibited by a species may be part of a suite of coadaptations for exploitation of foraging microhabitats at a particular position on the buffering scale, and I propose a selective typology involving feedback loops that could generate such coevolution. I also explain established patterns of difference between migrants and residents in morphology, and in resource use and distribution, as outcomes of the evolutionary scenario described.

Evidence for Repeated Independent Evolution of Migration in the Largest Family of Bats

BackgroundHow migration evolved represents one of the most poignant questions in evolutionary biology. While studies on the evolution of migration in birds are well represented in the literature, migration in bats has received relatively little attention. Yet, more than 30 species of bats are known to migrate annually from breeding to non-breeding locations. Our study is the first to test hypotheses on the evolutionary history of migration in bats using a phylogenetic framework.Methods and Principal FindingsIn addition to providing a review of bat migration in relation to existing hypotheses on the evolution of migration in birds, we use a previously published supertree to formulate and test hypotheses on the evolutionary history of migration in bats. Our results suggest that migration in bats has evolved independently in several lineages potentially as the need arises to track resources (food, roosting site) but not through a series of steps from short- to long-distance migrants, as has been suggested for birds. Moreover, our analyses do not indicate that migration is an ancestral state but has relatively recently evolved in bats. Our results also show that migration is significantly less likely to evolve in cave roosting bats than in tree roosting species.Conclusions and SignificanceThis is the first study to provide evidence that migration has evolved independently in bat lineages that are not closely related. If migration evolved as a need to track seasonal resources or seek adequate roosting sites, climate change may have a pivotal impact on bat migratory habits. Our study provides a strong framework for future research on the evolution of migration in chiropterans.

Evolution of bird migration in a biogeographical context

AbstractWe infer from the literature that migratory habits of birds evolved in various phylogenetic lineages and biogeographical contexts, either after gradual range expansion into seasonal habitats, or due to environmental changes within established breeding ranges. Shifts of breeding ranges are the results of interactions between colonization due to dispersal and extinction due to deteriorating conditions. Range expansions provide a platform for the evolution of migration from the newly colonized areas towards seasonally favourable non‐breeding areas. A comparison of palaeoclimatic changes with concurrent evolution and distribution of passerine birds suggests that at least some of the basic genera of the Passerida radiated on the northern continents when quasi‐tropical or subtropical climates prevailed. The Passerida may be a special case, but they suggest that ‘tropical origin’ does not necessarily imply a ‘southern origin’ of migratory species. Climate deterioration required adaptations either towards on‐site survival under harsh conditions or towards escape movements allowing improved non‐breeding survival in less seasonal climates or with reversed seasonality. Taxon‐specific life‐history traits and environmental conditions favoured either sedentary or migratory lines of adaptation. Repeated climate variation induced range shifts and concurrent increases or decreases in the expression of migratory behaviour. Two examples of waders suggest that the principle of range shift, followed by the development of migratory habits, is also applicable for other taxonomic groups.

A flyway perspective on food resource abundance in a long-distance migrant, the Eurasian teal (Anas crecca)

Two frequent assumptions about the evolution of long-distance migration in birds are that they travel long distances annually to reach food-rich areas for breeding, and that they time their migratory journey to be at staging sites when the latter provide the best feeding conditions. These assumptions have rarely been properly tested, and there is no study in which a species’ major food types have been measured by standardized methods throughout a flyway and over a large part of the year. We here present such data for Eurasian teal (Anas crecca), converted to a common energetic currency, and collected at wintering, spring staging and breeding sites. Teal did not time migration to maximize local food abundance; most birds left wintering and spring staging sites before a sharp increase in invertebrate food abundance occurred. On the other hand, hatching of ducklings coincided with a peak in invertebrate food abundance on boreal breeding lakes. Mean overall food abundance (invertebrates and seeds combined) did not differ between wintering sites in southern France and breeding sites in northern Sweden at the time of breeding. Our results are inconsistent with the hypothesis that long-distance migration in dabbling ducks has evolved because adult birds gain an immediate pay-off in increased food abundance by flying north in spring. However, our data confirm a selective advantage for breeding at higher latitudes, because hatching of ducklings may coincide with a peak in invertebrate emergence and because longer days may increase the duration of efficient foraging.

The evolution of bird migration—a synthesis

We approach the problem of the evolution of bird migration by asking whether migration evolves towards new breeding areas or towards survival areas in the non-breeding season. Thus, we avoid the ambiguity of the usually discussed "southern-home-theory" or "northern-home-theory". We argue that migration evolved in birds that spread to seasonal habitats through gradual dispersal to enhance survival during the non-breeding season; this in contrast to the alternative idea suggesting that migration evolved towards new breeding areas to increase reproductive success. Our synthesis is based on the threshold model explaining how migratory traits can change rapidly through microevolutionary processes. Our model brings former theories together and explains how bird migration, with the appropriate direction and time program, evolves through selection after genetically non-directed events such as dispersal and colonization. The model does not need the former untested assumptions such as competition as a reason for migration and for the disappearance of sedentary populations or higher reproductive success in temperate breeding areas. Our theory offers answers to questions such as how birds with a southern origin may gradually reach northern latitudes, why migration routes may follow historical expansion routes and why birds leave an area for the non-breeding season and move back instead of breeding on their wintering grounds. The theory proposes gradual change through selection and not sudden changes such as long distance dispersal or mutations and can be applied to migration at all latitudes and in all directions. The scenario provides a reasonable concept to understand most of the existing migratory phenomena on the basis of the ecology and genetics of migratory behaviour.

Brain size, innovative propensity and migratory behaviour in temperate Palaearctic birds

The evolution of migration in birds remains an outstanding, unresolved question in evolutionary ecology. A particularly intriguing question is why individuals in some species have been selected to migrate, whereas in other species they have been selected to be sedentary. In this paper, we suggest that this diverging selection might partially result from differences among species in the behavioural flexibility of their responses to seasonal changes in the environment. This hypothesis is supported in a comparative analysis of Palaearctic passerines. First, resident species tend to rely more on innovative feeding behaviours in winter, when food is harder to find, than in other seasons. Second, species with larger brains, relative to their body size, and a higher propensity for innovative behaviours tend to be resident, while less flexible species tend to be migratory. Residence also appears to be less likely in species that occur in more northerly regions, exploit temporally available food sources, inhabit non-buffered habitats and have smaller bodies. Yet, the role of behavioural flexibility as a response to seasonal environments is largely independent of these other factors. Therefore, species with greater foraging flexibility seem to be able to cope with seasonal environments better, while less flexible species are forced to become migratory.

Comparative Study of Winter Body Composition of Resident and Migrant Grey-Breasted Silvereyes

A comparative study of the winter body composition between resident and migrant birds was made on the partially migratory Tasmanian race of the Grey-breasted Silvereye (Zosterops I. lateralis). Each year some members migrate from Tasmania to winter on mainland sites, while other members remain in Tasmania year-round. Resident birds were those captured at Mt. Nelson, Tasmania, during midwinter; migrant birds were those captured during midwinter at Armidale, New South Wales, 1,500 km to the north. Nighttime winter temperatures at the two locations are very similar. Both residents and migrants showed diurnal increases in lipid content, but not in other major body components. Despite differences in photoperiod and feeding conditions at the winter grounds, lipid content accumulated in the late afternoon was similar (8% of live body mass) for residents and migrants. Fractional differences in major body components between residents and migrants were negligible, being less than 0.01 in all cases. Therefore, body composition is not related to whether an individual bird is a resident or a migrant. Low night temperatures alone do not explain why the species migrate from Tasmania to places like Armidale in New South Wales. The birds could migrate for reasons such as better food conditions, higher daytime temperatures, and longer daylength for foraging on the mainland. Received 14 January 1994, accepted 27 May 1994. INCLEMENT WEATHER and low food availability during winter are often implicated as the main forces in the evolution of bird migration (Co- hen 1967, Berthold 1975, Gauthreaux 1982). Small passetines breeding in temperate lati- tudes are of special interest because they have high metabolic rates and substantial increases in rates of energy expenditure when confronted with winter cold and diminishing food supplies (Dawson et al. 1983). In order to reduce ther- moregulatory costs in winter, many species have evolved adaptations that enable them to mi- grate to warmer regions. These include enlarge- ment of the pectoralis muscle (Lundgren and Kiessling 1988), flying at night (Moore and Ker- linger 1991), and substantial changes in body composition leading to massive fat accumula- tion (Ramenofsky 1990). The latter is known as migratory fattening, which normally develops in the premigratory period in which fat stores can more than double compared with the non- migratory period (e.g. Odum 1960, Berthold 1975, Dawson et al. 1983, Bairlein 1991). Birds that remain in their temperate breeding area in winter may reduce energy expenditure by

Seasonal Changes in Fatty Acid Composition of the Wood Thrush

Lipid storage is important for avian reproduction (Drobney 1980, Krapu 1981, Walsberg 1983), migration (Blem 1980, Biebach et al. 1986), and survival (Lima 1986, Blem 1990; but see Krementz et al. 1989). In addition to total lipid content, lipid composition is important because the melting points of fatty acids differ, thereby influencing ease of mobilization, use at low temperatures, and net energy produced (Blem 1990). Indeed, lipid composition is essential to an accurate evaluation ofavian bioenergetics (Johnston 1970). Lipid composition is particularly important for long-distance migratory birds because small migrants increase reliance on fatty acids during migration (Marsh 1981) and individuals that store fats that have higher energy and are more easily mobilized will be able to travel farther between stopovers during their long migration (Johnston 1970, Yom-Tov and Tietz 1978). Food sources high in unsaturated, high-energy fats may be important to birds preparing for autumn migration. After the onset of migration, individuals with larger lipid stores and storing lipids high in easily mobilized fats should be better able to survive unpredictable weather and food availability encountered during migration. Clearly, we need to examine the types of lipids important for migrating birds and identify the food items which supply migratory birds with essential fatty acids. Lipid composition and the factors affecting it have been evaluated infrequently in birds. Examination of seasonal changes in lipid composition and identification of important food sources high in essential fatty acids is an important component for improving our understanding of the ecology and evolution of migration in birds. Consequently, we examined lipid composition of breeding and autumn-migrating Wood Thrush. We also examined lipid composition of spicebush (Lindera benzoin) fruits and seeds because they are commonly eaten by Wood Thrush preparing for autumn migration.