Migratory herbivorous waterfowl track multiple resource waves during spring migration

bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)

Abstract

Abstract East Asian herbivorous waterfowl intensively use farmland in spring, next to their natural habitat. Accordingly, they might have expanded their migration strategy from merely tracking the green wave of newly emerging vegetation to also incorporating the availability of post-harvest agricultural seeds (here dubbed the seed wave). However, if and how waterfowl use multiple food resources to time their seasonal migration is still unknown. We test this migration strategy using 167 spring migration tracks of five East Asian herbivorous waterfowl species and mixed-effect resource selection function models. We find all study species arrive at their core stopover sites in the Northeast China Plain after agricultural seeds become available, extend their stay after spring vegetation emerges, and arrive at breeding sites around the emergence of vegetation. Moreover, the cue used in exploiting the availability of both food resources varies in different regions and among species. At the core stopover sites, larger-bodied species use the seed wave and smaller-bodied ones adopt the green wave. At the breeding sites, the former follow the green wave, and the latter track the snow-free time. Our findings suggest that waterfowl track multiple resource waves to finetune their migration, highlighting new opportunities for conservation.

Authors 14

1. Fei Xu corresponding

   Chongqing University · Tsinghua University

   Affiliation as printed

   Key Laboratory of the Three Gorges Reservoir Region’s Eco-Environment, Ministry of Education, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400045, China

   Ministry of Education Field Research Station for East Asian Migratory Birds, Department of Earth System Science, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100086, China

   Key Laboratory of the Three Gorges Reservoir Region's Eco-Environment, Ministry of Education, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400045, China

2. Wei Wu

   Sun Yat-sen University · Tsinghua University

   Affiliation as printed

   Ministry of Education Field Research Station for East Asian Migratory Birds, Department of Earth System Science, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100086, China

   School of Geography and Planning, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China

3. Jie Wei corresponding

   Tsinghua University

   Affiliation as printed

   Ministry of Education Field Research Station for East Asian Migratory Birds, Department of Earth System Science, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100086, China

4. Qinchuan Xin

   Sun Yat-sen University

   Affiliation as printed

   School of Geography and Planning, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China

5. Ben Wielstra Aachen Institute of Biology Leiden Naturalis Biodiversity Center

   Leiden University · Naturalis Biodiversity Center

   Affiliation as printed

   Institute of Biology Leiden, Leiden University, Leiden, the Netherlands

   Naturalis Biodiversity Center, Leiden, the Netherlands

6. Frank A. La Sorte

   Cornell University · Cornell Lab of Ornithology

   Affiliation as printed

   Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA

7. Zhijun Ma

   Fudan University

   Affiliation as printed

   Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Biodiversity Science and Ecological Engineering, Coastal Ecosystems Research Station of the Yangtze River Estuary, and Shanghai Institute of Eco-Chongming (SIEC), Fudan University, Shanghai, 200433, China

8. Guangchun Lei

   Beijing Forestry University

   Affiliation as printed

   School of Ecology and Nature Conservation, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China

   School of Ecology and Nature Conservation, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 10003, China

9. Jialin Lei

   Beijing Forestry University

   Affiliation as printed

   School of Ecology and Nature Conservation, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China

   School of Ecology and Nature Conservation, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 10003, China

10. Wenzhao Wu

    Sun Yat-sen University · Tsinghua University

    Affiliation as printed

    Ministry of Education Field Research Station for East Asian Migratory Birds, Department of Earth System Science, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100086, China

    School of Geography and Planning, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China

11. Yongchuan Yang

    Chongqing University

    Affiliation as printed

    Key Laboratory of the Three Gorges Reservoir Region’s Eco-Environment, Ministry of Education, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400045, China

    Key Laboratory of the Three Gorges Reservoir Region's Eco-Environment, Ministry of Education, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400045, China

12. Peng Gong

    University of Hong Kong · Tsinghua University

    Affiliation as printed

    Department of Geography, Department of Earth Sciences, Institute for Climate and Carbon Neutrality, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China

    Ministry of Education Field Research Station for East Asian Migratory Birds, Department of Earth System Science, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100086, China

13. Bing Xu

    Tsinghua University

    Affiliation as printed

    Ministry of Education Field Research Station for East Asian Migratory Birds, Department of Earth System Science, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100086, China

14. Yali Si corresponding Aachen Institute of Environmental Sciences (CML)

    Leiden University · Tsinghua University

    Affiliation as printed

    Institute of Environmental Sciences, Leiden University, 2333 CC, Leiden, Netherlands

    Ministry of Education Field Research Station for East Asian Migratory Birds, Department of Earth System Science, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100086, China