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- Title
Arctic avian predators synchronise their spring migration with the northern progression of snowmelt.
- Authors
Curk, Teja; Pokrovsky, Ivan; Lecomte, Nicolas; Aarvak, Tomas; Burnham, Kurt; Dietz, Andreas; Franke, Alastair; Gauthier, Gilles; Jacobsen, Karl-Otto; Kidd, Jeff; Lewis, Stephen B.; Øien, Ingar J.; Solheim, Roar; Wiebe, Karen; Wikelski, Martin; Therrien, Jean-François; Safi, Kamran
- Abstract
Migratory species display a range of migration patterns between irruptive (facultative) to regular (obligate), as a response to different predictability of resources. In the Arctic, snow directly influences resource availability. The causes and consequences of different migration patterns of migratory species as a response to the snow conditions remains however unexplored. Birds migrating to the Arctic are expected to follow the spring snowmelt to optimise their arrival time and select for snow-free areas to maximise prey encounter en-route. Based on large-scale movement data, we compared the migration patterns of three top predator species of the tundra in relation to the spatio-temporal dynamics of snow cover. The snowy owl, an irruptive migrant, the rough-legged buzzard, with an intermediary migration pattern, and the peregrine falcon as a regular migrant, all followed, as expected, the spring snowmelt during their migrations. However, the owl stayed ahead, the buzzard stayed on, and the falcon stayed behind the spatio-temporal peak in snowmelt. Although none of the species avoided snow-covered areas, they presumably used snow presence as a cue to time their arrival at their breeding grounds. We show the importance of environmental cues for species with different migration patterns.
- Subjects
SNOWMELT; PREDATORY animals; MIGRATORY animals; SNOW cover; RESOURCE availability (Ecology)
- Publication
Scientific Reports, 2020, Vol 10, Issue 1, p1
- ISSN
2045-2322
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1038/s41598-020-63312-0