Migration Strategy and Diet Affect the Metabolism of Passerine Birds During Endurance Flight.

ABSTRACT: Bird migration varies greatly in overall distance and length of single flight bouts. Therefore, we expect that metabolic adaptations may also differ widely among migrants. Endurance flight is mainly fuelled by fat and complemented by protein. The proportions of lipids and protein accumulated before flights, and spent during flight, depend on food type. A fruit diet facilitates fattening more than a proteinous arthropod or seed diet. Adaptations to maximize lipid use during flight vary with the length of flight bouts. We expect that the type of diet and migration strategy (length of flight bouts, overall migration distance) affects flight metabolism. On a Swiss Alpine pass, we caught 30 species of nocturnal and diurnal migrant passerines out of natural migratory flight and compared them wit

SUBMITTER: Jenni-Eiermann S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12000537 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature