Adverse wind conditions during northward Sahara crossings increase the in-flight mortality of Black-tailed Godwits.

Autor: Loonstra AHJ; Conservation Ecology Group, Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences (GELIFES), University of Groningen, P.O. Box 11103, 9700 CC, Groningen, The Netherlands., Verhoeven MA; Conservation Ecology Group, Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences (GELIFES), University of Groningen, P.O. Box 11103, 9700 CC, Groningen, The Netherlands., Senner NR; Department of Biological Sciences, University of South Carolina, 715 Sumter Street, Columbia, SC, 29208, USA., Both C; Conservation Ecology Group, Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences (GELIFES), University of Groningen, P.O. Box 11103, 9700 CC, Groningen, The Netherlands., Piersma T; Conservation Ecology Group, Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences (GELIFES), University of Groningen, P.O. Box 11103, 9700 CC, Groningen, The Netherlands.; NIOZ Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, Department of Coastal Systems and Utrecht University, P.O. Box 59, 1790 AB, Den Burg, Texel, The Netherlands.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Ecology letters [Ecol Lett] 2019 Dec; Vol. 22 (12), pp. 2060-2066. Date of Electronic Publication: 2019 Sep 17.
DOI: 10.1111/ele.13387
Abstrakt: Long-distance migratory flights are predicted to be associated with higher mortality rates when individuals encounter adverse weather conditions. However, directly connecting environmental conditions experienced in-flight with the survival of migrants has proven difficult. We studied how the in-flight mortality of 53 satellite-tagged Black-tailed Godwits (Limosa limosa limosa) during 132 crossings of the Sahara Desert, a major geographical barrier along their migration route between The Netherlands and sub-Saharan Africa, is correlated with the experienced wind conditions and departure date during both southward and northward migration. We show that godwits experienced higher wind assistance during southward crossings, which seems to reflect local prevailing trade winds. Critically, we found that fatal northward crossings (15 deaths during 61 crossings) were associated with adverse wind conditions. Wind conditions during migration can thus directly influence vital rates. Changing wind conditions associated with global change may thus profoundly influence the costs of long-distance migration in the future.
(© 2019 The Authors. Ecology Letters published by CNRS and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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