A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal

A gradual migratory divide determines not only the direction of migration but also migration strategy of a social migrant bird




AuthorsPiironen Antti, Laaksonen Toni

PublisherRoyal Society Publishing

Publication year2023

JournalProceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

Journal name in sourceProceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

Article number20231528

Volume290

Issue2005

eISSN1471-2954

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2023.1528

Web address https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2023.1528

Preprint addresshttps://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.02.24.529898v1


Abstract

Migratory divides separate populations of migratory animals, facilitating the evolution of intraspecific differences in migration strategies. Migration strategies are expected to be different for birds using different flyways and environments, but the knowledge regarding the impact of the flyway on individual migration strategies is scarce. By using satellite tracking and neckband resightings, we reveal the existence and structure of a gradual migratory divide between two European flyway populations of greylag geese Anser anser. Birds breeding at the far end of the Gulf of Bothnia in the Baltic Sea coast use the Western Flyway, those breeding in the Gulf of Finland the Central Flyway and those breeding between these extremes scatter to the two flyways. By using Gaussian process modelling, we show that migration strategies differed between the flyways. The birds using the Western Flyway migrated earlier in autumn, performed longer annual migration and made a clear stopover during migration, whereas the birds using the Central Flyway flew directly to their wintering sites. The gradual migratory divide that also divides migration strategies provides insights into migratory divides on birds with learned migration. Distinct migration strategies in different flyways provide exciting possibilities to further study the factors driving migration strategies.



Last updated on 2025-27-03 at 21:54