Dataset Information

A trans-hemispheric migratory songbird does not advance spring schedules or increase migration rate in response to record-setting temperatures at breeding sites.

ABSTRACT: The decline of long distance migratory songbirds has been linked to an increasing mismatch between spring arrival date and timing of food availability caused by climate change. It is unclear to what extent individuals can adjust migration timing or en route rate in response to annual variation in temperature at breeding sites. We tracked the ca. 7300 km spring migration of 52 purple martins Progne subis from the Amazon basin to two breeding sites in eastern North America. Spring 2012 was the warmest on record in eastern North America, but contrary to predictions, this did not result in earlier departure, faster migration, or earlier arrival at breeding areas compared with earlier years. Temperatures and rainfall in the Amazon basin at the time of departure were not higher in 2012, and conditions along migration routes did not give consistent signals of a warmer spring at the breeding site. Once in North America, individuals likely had limited opportunity to speed up their migration because this final portion of the journey was already very rapid (570 km/d; 4-5 d in duration). Migration timing over the entire journey was best predicted by breeding latitude and sex and was not sensitive to ecological cues (temperature and rainfall amount) at departure from South American overwintering sites or en route, in contrast to recent studies of other songbirds. Our results provide the first direct evidence for a mismatch between higher spring temperatures at breeding sites and departure schedules of individual songbirds, and suggest phenotypic responses to short-term climatic warming may be limited for some species. Further direct-tracking data with greater geographic and temporal scope is needed to test for individual plasticity in response to temperature and rainfall along migratory routes for this, and other, species.

SUBMITTER: Fraser KC

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3669305 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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A trans-hemispheric migratory songbird does not advance spring schedules or increase migration rate in response to record-setting temperatures at breeding sites.

Fraser Kevin C KC Silverio Cassandra C Kramer Patrick P Mickle Nanette N Aeppli Robert R Stutchbury Bridget J M BJ

PloS one 20130531 5

The decline of long distance migratory songbirds has been linked to an increasing mismatch between spring arrival date and timing of food availability caused by climate change. It is unclear to what extent individuals can adjust migration timing or en route rate in response to annual variation in temperature at breeding sites. We tracked the ca. 7300 km spring migration of 52 purple martins Progne subis from the Amazon basin to two breeding sites in eastern North America. Spring 2012 was the war ...[more]

PMID: 23741345

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Project description:BackgroundWe still have limited knowledge about the underlying genetic mechanisms that enable migrating species of birds to navigate the globe. Here we make an attempt to get insight into the genetic architecture controlling this complex innate behaviour. We contrast the gene expression profiles of two closely related songbird subspecies with divergent migratory phenotypes. In addition to comparing differences in migratory strategy we include a temporal component and contrast patterns between breeding adults and autumn migrating juvenile birds of both subspecies. The two willow warbler subspecies, Phylloscopus trochilus trochilus and P. t. acredula, are remarkably similar both in phenotype and genotype and have a narrow contact zone in central Scandinavia. Here we used a microarray gene chip representing 23,136 expressed sequence tags (ESTs) from the zebra finch Taeniopygia guttata to identify mRNA level differences in willow warbler brain tissue in relation to subspecies and season.ResultsOut of the 22,109 EST probe sets that remained after filtering poorly binding probes, we found 11,898 (51.8 %) probe sets that could be reliably and uniquely matched to a total of 6,758 orthologous zebra finch genes. The two subspecies showed very similar levels of gene expression with less than 0.1 % of the probe sets being significantly differentially expressed. In contrast, 3,045 (13.8 %) probe sets were found to be differently regulated between samples collected from breeding adults and autumn migrating juvenile birds. The genes found to be differentially expressed between seasons appeared to be enriched for functional roles in neuronal firing and neuronal synapse formation.ConclusionsOur results show that only few genes are differentially expressed between the subspecies. This suggests that the different migration strategies of the subspecies might be governed by few genes, or that the expression patterns of those genes are time-structured or tissue-specific in ways, which our approach fails to uncover. Our findings will be useful in the planning of new experiments designed to unravel the genes involved in the migratory program of birds.

Project description:Understanding the genetic background of complex behavioral traits, showing multigenic control and extensive environmental effects, is a challenging task. Among such traits, migration is known to show a large additive genetic component. Yet, the identification of specific genes or gene regions explaining phenotypic variance in migratory behavior has received less attention. Migration ultimately depends on seasonal cycles, and polymorphism at phenological candidate genes may underlie variation in timing of migration or other aspects of migratory behavior. In this study of a Nearctic-Neotropical migratory songbird, the Wilson's warbler (Cardellina pusilla), we investigated the association between polymorphism at two phenological candidate genes, Clock and Adcyap1, and two aspects of the migratory phenotype, timing of spring migration through a stopover site and inferred latitude of the breeding destination. The breeding destination of migrating individuals was identified using feather deuterium ratio (? (2)H), which reliably reflects breeding latitude throughout the species' western breeding range. Ninety-eight percent of the individuals were homozygous at Clock, and the rare heterozygotes did not deviate from homozygous migration phenology. Adcyap1 was highly polymorphic, and allele size was not significantly associated with migration date. However, Adcyap1 allele size significantly positively predicted the inferred breeding latitude of males but not of females. Moreover, we found a strong positive association between inferred breeding latitude and Adcyap1 allele size in long-distance migrating birds from the northern sector of the breeding range (western Canada), while this was not the case in short-distance migrating birds from the southern sector of the breeding range (coastal California). Our findings support previous evidence for a role of Adcyap1 in shaping the avian migratory phenotype, while highlighting that patterns of phenological candidate gene-phenotype associations may be complex, significantly varying between geographically distinct populations and even between the sexes.

Dataset Information

A trans-hemispheric migratory songbird does not advance spring schedules or increase migration rate in response to record-setting temperatures at breeding sites.

Publications

A trans-hemispheric migratory songbird does not advance spring schedules or increase migration rate in response to record-setting temperatures at breeding sites.

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