STABLE ISOTOPE EVIDENCE LINKS BREEDING GEOGRAPHY AND MIGRATION TIMING IN WOOD WARBLERS (PARULIDAE)

Tracking seasonal movements of songbirds is a key step in understanding the annual cycle of migrants. To better understand autumn migration of wood warblers, I analyzed stable-hydrogen isotope ratios of feathers collected from three species captured during stopover at the Bosque del Apache National...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Auk 2006-04, Vol.123 (2), p.431-437
Main Author: Kelly, Jeffrey F
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal migration behavior
Animal reproduction
Autumn
Aviculture
Bird migration
Birds
Bosque del Apache
Breeding
Breeding sites
Conspecifics
Dendroica petechia
Feathers
Food supply
Geography
Geothlypis trichas
Isotopes
Mass spectrometry
Methods
Migrants
migration
Mortality
Parulidae
Ratios
Research s
Seasonal migration
Songbirds
Stable isotopes
stable-hydrogen isotope ratio
Vermivora celata
Warblers
Wildlife
Wildlife refuges
Wilsonia pusilla
wood warbler
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Tracking seasonal movements of songbirds is a key step in understanding the annual cycle of migrants. To better understand autumn migration of wood warblers, I analyzed stable-hydrogen isotope ratios of feathers collected from three species captured during stopover at the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, New Mexico. To assess the form and strength of the relationship between timing of migration and breeding origins, I regressed stable-hydrogen isotope ratios of feathers against date of capture. These analyses indicated that Orange-crowned Warblers (Vermivora celata) and Common Yellowthroats (Geothlypis trichas) breeding in the southern portion of these species' ranges precede their northern conspecifics in autumn migration. By contrast, Yellow Warblers (Dendroica petechia) from northern breeding sites arrived before more southerly breeding conspecifics. This pattern is similar to that reported previously in Wilson's Warbler (Wilsonia pusilla). These findings suggest that, among wood warblers, (1) timing of autumn migration is often strongly related to breeding location and (2) interspecific variation in the direction of this relationship is large. The direction and strength of these patterns have implications for our understanding of inter- and intraspecific geographic variation in the life histories of migrants. Evidencia de Isótopos Estables Conecta la Geografía de Nidificación con el Momento de la Migración en Especies de Parulidae
ISSN:0004-8038
1938-4254
2732-4613
DOI:10.1642/0004-8038(2006)123[431:SIELBG]2.0.CO;2