Increasing phenological asynchrony between spring green-up and arrival of migratory birds

S.J. Mayor; R.P. Guralnick; M.W. Tingley; J. Otegui; J.C. Withey; S.C. Elmendorf; M.E. Andrew; S. Leyk; I.S. Pearse; D.C. Schneider

doi:10.1038/s41598-017-02045-z

Back

Increasing phenological asynchrony between spring green-up and arrival of migratory birds

Journal article

Open access

Peer reviewed

Increasing phenological asynchrony between spring green-up and arrival of migratory birds

S.J. Mayor, R.P. Guralnick, M.W. Tingley, J. Otegui, J.C. Withey, S.C. Elmendorf, M.E. Andrew, S. Leyk, I.S. Pearse and D.C. Schneider

Scientific Reports, Vol.7(1)

2017

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-02045-z

Files and links (2)

pdf

spring-green-up-and-arrival-of-migratory-birds.pdfDownload View

Published (Version of Record) Open Access

url

Free to Read *No subscription requiredView

Abstract

Consistent with a warming climate, birds are shifting the timing of their migrations, but it remains unclear to what extent these shifts have kept pace with the changing environment. Because bird migration is primarily cued by annually consistent physiological responses to photoperiod, but conditions at their breeding grounds depend on annually variable climate, bird arrival and climate-driven spring events would diverge. We combined satellite and citizen science data to estimate rates of change in phenological interval between spring green-up and migratory arrival for 48 breeding passerine species across North America. Both arrival and green-up changed over time, usually in the same direction (earlier or later). Although birds adjusted their arrival dates, 9 of 48 species did not keep pace with rapidly changing green-up and across all species the interval between arrival and green-up increased by over half a day per year. As green-up became earlier in the east, arrival of eastern breeding species increasingly lagged behind green-up, whereas in the west—where green-up typically became later—birds arrived increasingly earlier relative to green-up. Our results highlight that phenologies of species and trophic levels can shift at different rates, potentially leading to phenological mismatches with negative fitness consequences.

Details

Title: Increasing phenological asynchrony between spring green-up and arrival of migratory birds
Authors/Creators: S.J. Mayor (Author/Creator) - Memorial University of Newfoundland
R.P. Guralnick (Author/Creator) - Florida Museum of Natural History
M.W. Tingley (Author/Creator) - University of Connecticut
J. Otegui (Author/Creator) - University of Colorado Boulder
J.C. Withey (Author/Creator) - Florida International University
S.C. Elmendorf (Author/Creator) - National Ecological Observatory Network
M.E. Andrew (Author/Creator) - Murdoch University
S. Leyk (Author/Creator) - University of Colorado Boulder
I.S. Pearse (Author/Creator) - Illinois Natural History Survey
D.C. Schneider (Author/Creator) - Memorial University of Newfoundland
Publication Details: Scientific Reports, Vol.7(1)
Publisher: Nature
Identifiers: 991005540593207891
Murdoch Affiliation: School of Veterinary and Life Sciences
Language: English
Resource Type: Journal article

UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

This output has contributed to the advancement of the following goals:

Metrics

148 File views/ downloads

98 Record Views

176 Times Cited - Web of Science

InCites Highlights

These are selected metrics from InCites Benchmarking & Analytics tool, related to this output

Collaboration types: Domestic collaboration; International collaboration
Citation topics: 3 Agriculture, Environment & Ecology; 3.35 Zoology & Animal Ecology; 3.35.33 Avian Ecology
Web Of Science research areas: Ecology
ESI research areas: Environment/Ecology