Birds use individually consistent temperature cues to time their migration departure.

ABSTRACT: A fundamental issue in migration biology is how birds decide when to start their journey, given that arriving too early or too late in a variable environment reduces individual fitness. Internal circannual regulation and predictable cues such as photoperiod prepare birds for migration, while variable external cues such as temperature and wind are thought to fine-tune departure times; however, this has not been demonstrated at the key point at which an individual animal decides to start migrating. In theory, environmental cues correlated between departure and arrival sites allow informed departure decisions. For 48 satellite-tracked Asian houbara Chlamydotis macqueenii, a medium-distance migrant with climatic connectivity between wintering and breeding areas, each tracked across mult

SUBMITTER: Burnside RJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8285904 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature