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Phenology of the avian spring migratory passage in Europe and North America : Asymmetric advancement in time and increase in duration

Lehikoinen, Aleksi LU ; Lindén, Andreas ; Karlsson, Måns ; Andersson, Arne LU orcid ; Crewe, Tara L. ; Dunn, Erica H. ; Gregory, George ; Karlsson, Lennart ; Kristiansen, Vidar and Mackenzie, Stuart , et al. (2019) In Ecological Indicators 101. p.985-991
Abstract

Climate change has been shown to shift the seasonal timing (i.e. phenology) and distribution of species. The phenological effects of climate change on living organisms have often been tested using first occurrence dates, which may be uninformative and biased. More rarely investigated is how different phases of a phenological sequence (e.g. beginning, central tendency and end) or its duration have changed over time. This type of analysis requires continuous observation throughout the phenological event over multiple years, and such data sets are rare. In this study we examined the impact of temperature on long-term change of passage timing and duration of the spring migration period in birds, and which species’ traits explain... (More)

Climate change has been shown to shift the seasonal timing (i.e. phenology) and distribution of species. The phenological effects of climate change on living organisms have often been tested using first occurrence dates, which may be uninformative and biased. More rarely investigated is how different phases of a phenological sequence (e.g. beginning, central tendency and end) or its duration have changed over time. This type of analysis requires continuous observation throughout the phenological event over multiple years, and such data sets are rare. In this study we examined the impact of temperature on long-term change of passage timing and duration of the spring migration period in birds, and which species’ traits explain species-specific variation. Data used covered 195 species from 21 European and Canadian bird observatories from which systematic daily sampling protocols were available. Migration dates were negatively associated with early spring temperature and timings had in general advanced in 57 years. Short-distance migrants advanced the beginning of their migration more than long-distance migrants when corrected for phylogenic relatedness, but such a difference was not found in other phases of migration. The advancement of migration has generally been greater for the beginning and median phases of migration relative to the end, leading to extended spring migration seasons. Duration of the migration season increased with increasing temperature. Phenological changes have also been less noticeable in Canada even when corrected for rate of change in temperature. To visualize long-term changes in phenology, we constructed the first multi-species spring migration phenology indicator to describe general changes in median migration dates in the northern hemisphere. The indicator showed an average advancement of one week during five decades across the continents (period 1959–2015). The indicator is easy to update with new data and we therefore encourage future research to investigate whether the trend towards longer periods of occurrence or emergence in spring is also evident in other migratory populations. Such phenological changes may influence detectability in monitoring schemes, and may have broader implications on population and community dynamics.

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organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Avian movement, Environmental change, Global warming, Long-term monitoring
in
Ecological Indicators
volume
101
pages
7 pages
publisher
Elsevier
external identifiers
  • scopus:85061451636
ISSN
1470-160X
DOI
10.1016/j.ecolind.2019.01.083
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
342ecbed-8d7c-4a14-8bb3-0d3d7ba4560e
date added to LUP
2019-02-21 07:56:35
date last changed
2022-04-25 21:15:57
@article{342ecbed-8d7c-4a14-8bb3-0d3d7ba4560e,
  abstract     = {{<p>Climate change has been shown to shift the seasonal timing (i.e. phenology) and distribution of species. The phenological effects of climate change on living organisms have often been tested using first occurrence dates, which may be uninformative and biased. More rarely investigated is how different phases of a phenological sequence (e.g. beginning, central tendency and end) or its duration have changed over time. This type of analysis requires continuous observation throughout the phenological event over multiple years, and such data sets are rare. In this study we examined the impact of temperature on long-term change of passage timing and duration of the spring migration period in birds, and which species’ traits explain species-specific variation. Data used covered 195 species from 21 European and Canadian bird observatories from which systematic daily sampling protocols were available. Migration dates were negatively associated with early spring temperature and timings had in general advanced in 57 years. Short-distance migrants advanced the beginning of their migration more than long-distance migrants when corrected for phylogenic relatedness, but such a difference was not found in other phases of migration. The advancement of migration has generally been greater for the beginning and median phases of migration relative to the end, leading to extended spring migration seasons. Duration of the migration season increased with increasing temperature. Phenological changes have also been less noticeable in Canada even when corrected for rate of change in temperature. To visualize long-term changes in phenology, we constructed the first multi-species spring migration phenology indicator to describe general changes in median migration dates in the northern hemisphere. The indicator showed an average advancement of one week during five decades across the continents (period 1959–2015). The indicator is easy to update with new data and we therefore encourage future research to investigate whether the trend towards longer periods of occurrence or emergence in spring is also evident in other migratory populations. Such phenological changes may influence detectability in monitoring schemes, and may have broader implications on population and community dynamics.</p>}},
  author       = {{Lehikoinen, Aleksi and Lindén, Andreas and Karlsson, Måns and Andersson, Arne and Crewe, Tara L. and Dunn, Erica H. and Gregory, George and Karlsson, Lennart and Kristiansen, Vidar and Mackenzie, Stuart and Newman, Steve and Røer, Jan Erik and Sharpe, Chris and Sokolov, Leonid V. and Steinholtz, Åsa and Stervander, Martin and Tirri, Ina Sabrina and Tjørnløv, Rune Skjold}},
  issn         = {{1470-160X}},
  keywords     = {{Avian movement; Environmental change; Global warming; Long-term monitoring}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  pages        = {{985--991}},
  publisher    = {{Elsevier}},
  series       = {{Ecological Indicators}},
  title        = {{Phenology of the avian spring migratory passage in Europe and North America : Asymmetric advancement in time and increase in duration}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2019.01.083}},
  doi          = {{10.1016/j.ecolind.2019.01.083}},
  volume       = {{101}},
  year         = {{2019}},
}