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Causes and consequences of facultative sea crossing in a soaring migrant

View ORCID ProfilePaolo Becciu, View ORCID ProfileShay Rotics, View ORCID ProfileNir Horvitz, Michael Kaatz, View ORCID ProfileWolfgang Fiedler, View ORCID ProfileDamaris Zurell, View ORCID ProfileAndrea Flack, View ORCID ProfileFlorian Jeltsch, View ORCID ProfileMartin Wikelski, View ORCID ProfileRan Nathan, View ORCID ProfileNir Sapir
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/758102
Paolo Becciu
1Animal Flight Laboratory, Department of Evolutionary and Environmental Biology, and Institute of Evolution, University of Haifa, 199 Aba Khoushy Ave. Mount Carmel, 3498838 Haifa, Israel
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  • For correspondence: pbecciu89@gmail.com
Shay Rotics
2Movement Ecology Laboratory, Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior, Alexander Silberman Institute of Life Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 91904 Jerusalem, Israel
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Nir Horvitz
2Movement Ecology Laboratory, Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior, Alexander Silberman Institute of Life Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 91904 Jerusalem, Israel
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Michael Kaatz
3Vogelschutzwarte Storchenhof Loburg e.V., Chausseestr. 18, D-39279 Loburg, Germany
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Wolfgang Fiedler
4Department of Migration, Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, Radolfzell, Germany
5Centre for the Advanced Study of Collective Behaviour, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany
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Damaris Zurell
6Geography Department, Humboldt-Universität Berlin, D-10099 Berlin, Germany
7Land Change Science, Swiss Federal Research Institute WSl, CH-8903 Birmensdorf, Switzerland
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Andrea Flack
4Department of Migration, Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, Radolfzell, Germany
5Centre for the Advanced Study of Collective Behaviour, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany
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Florian Jeltsch
8Plant Ecology and Conservation Biology, Institute for Biochemistry and Biology, University of Potsdam, Am Mühlenberg 3, 14476 Potsdam, Germany
9Berlin-Brandenburg Institute of Advanced Biodiversity Research (BBIB), D-14195 Berlin, Germany
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Martin Wikelski
4Department of Migration, Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, Radolfzell, Germany
5Centre for the Advanced Study of Collective Behaviour, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany
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Ran Nathan
2Movement Ecology Laboratory, Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior, Alexander Silberman Institute of Life Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 91904 Jerusalem, Israel
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Nir Sapir
1Animal Flight Laboratory, Department of Evolutionary and Environmental Biology, and Institute of Evolution, University of Haifa, 199 Aba Khoushy Ave. Mount Carmel, 3498838 Haifa, Israel
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Abstract

  1. Studying the causes and consequences of route selection in animal migration is important for understanding the evolution of migratory systems and how they may be affected by environmental factors at various spatial and temporal scales. One key decision during migration is whether to cross “high transport cost” areas, or to circumvent them. Soaring birds may face this choice when encountering waterbodies where convective updrafts are weak or scarce. Crossing these waterbodies requires flying using energetically costly flapping flight, while circumventing them over land permits energetically cheap soaring.

  2. We tested how several atmospheric factors (e.g., wind, thermal uplift) and geographic, seasonal and state-related factors (sex and age) affected route selection in migrating white storks (Ciconia ciconia). We used 196 GPS tracks of 70 individuals either crossing or circumventing the north-easternmost section of the Mediterranean Sea, over Iskenderun Bay in southern Turkey.

  3. We found that westward and southward winds promoted a cross-bay journey in spring and autumn, respectively, acting as tailwinds. Also, overall weaker winds promoted a sea crossing in spring. Sea crossing was associated with flapping flight and higher values of Overall Dynamic Body Acceleration (ODBA) and resulted in higher ground speed than travel over land.

  4. The combined environmental conditions and the effects of route selection on movement-related energy costs and speed were likely responsible for an increase in the time spent flying and distance travelled of migrating storks that decided to cross the bay during spring. Notably, daily travel distances of spring migrants crossing the bay were 60 kilometres longer than those of land-detouring birds, allowing them to reach their destination faster but likely incurring a higher energetic flight cost. No such benefit was found during autumn.

  5. Our findings confirm that atmospheric conditions can strongly affect bird route selection. Consequently, migration timing, speed and movement-related energy expenditure differed considerably between the two migratory seasons and the two route choices, highlighting a time-energy trade-off in the migration of white storks.

Footnotes

  • Predictions revised; Figure 2 revised; Figure 3 is new; Supplemental materials updated.

Copyright 
The copyright holder for this preprint is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under a CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license.
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Posted December 27, 2019.
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Causes and consequences of facultative sea crossing in a soaring migrant
Paolo Becciu, Shay Rotics, Nir Horvitz, Michael Kaatz, Wolfgang Fiedler, Damaris Zurell, Andrea Flack, Florian Jeltsch, Martin Wikelski, Ran Nathan, Nir Sapir
bioRxiv 758102; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/758102
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Causes and consequences of facultative sea crossing in a soaring migrant
Paolo Becciu, Shay Rotics, Nir Horvitz, Michael Kaatz, Wolfgang Fiedler, Damaris Zurell, Andrea Flack, Florian Jeltsch, Martin Wikelski, Ran Nathan, Nir Sapir
bioRxiv 758102; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/758102

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