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A pan-European, multipopulation assessment of migratory connectivity in a near-threatened migrant bird

Finch, Tom ; Saunders, Philip ; Avilés, Jesús Miguel ; Bermejo, Ana ; Catry, Inês ; de la Puente, Javier ; Emmenegger, Tamara LU orcid ; Mardega, Ieva ; Mayet, Patrick and Parejo, Deseada , et al. (2015) In Diversity and Distributions 21(9). p.1051-1062
Abstract

Aim: The extent to which individuals from different breeding populations mix throughout the non-breeding season (i.e. 'migratory connectivity') has important consequences for population dynamics and conservation. Given recent declines of long-distance migrant birds, multipopulation tracking studies are crucial in order to assess the strength of migratory connectivity and to identify key sites en route. Here, we present the first large-scale analysis of migration patterns and migratory connectivity in the globally near-threatened European roller Coracias garrulus. Location: Breeding area: Europe; passage area: Mediterranean, sub-Saharan Africa, Arabian Peninsula; wintering area: southern Africa. Methods: We synthesize new geolocator data... (More)

Aim: The extent to which individuals from different breeding populations mix throughout the non-breeding season (i.e. 'migratory connectivity') has important consequences for population dynamics and conservation. Given recent declines of long-distance migrant birds, multipopulation tracking studies are crucial in order to assess the strength of migratory connectivity and to identify key sites en route. Here, we present the first large-scale analysis of migration patterns and migratory connectivity in the globally near-threatened European roller Coracias garrulus. Location: Breeding area: Europe; passage area: Mediterranean, sub-Saharan Africa, Arabian Peninsula; wintering area: southern Africa. Methods: We synthesize new geolocator data with existing geolocator, satellite tag and ring recovery data from eight countries across Europe. We describe routes and stopover sites, analyse the spatial pattern of winter sites with respect to breeding origin and quantify the strength of connectivity between breeding and winter sites. Results: We demonstrate the importance of the northern savanna zone as a stopover region and reveal the easterly spring loop (via Arabia) and leapfrog migration of rollers from eastern populations. Whilst there was some overlap between individuals from different populations over winter, their distribution was non-random, with positive correlations between breeding and autumn/winter longitude as well as between pairwise distance matrices of breeding and winter sites. Connectivity was stronger for eastern populations than western ones. Main conclusions: The moderate levels of connectivity detected here may increase the resilience of breeding populations to localized habitat loss on the winter quarters. We also highlight the passage regions crucial for the successful conservation of roller populations, including the Sahel/Sudan savanna for all populations, and the Horn of Africa/Arabian Peninsula for north-eastern rollers.

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publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
keywords
Bird migration, Conservation, Coracias garrulus, Migratory connectivity, Roller
in
Diversity and Distributions
volume
21
issue
9
pages
1051 - 1062
publisher
Wiley-Blackwell
external identifiers
  • scopus:84939777909
ISSN
1366-9516
DOI
10.1111/ddi.12345
language
English
LU publication?
no
additional info
Publisher Copyright: © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
id
54796563-3e65-41d2-a770-8e7716e6219e
date added to LUP
2021-10-29 11:06:56
date last changed
2023-08-30 05:21:12
@article{54796563-3e65-41d2-a770-8e7716e6219e,
  abstract     = {{<p>Aim: The extent to which individuals from different breeding populations mix throughout the non-breeding season (i.e. 'migratory connectivity') has important consequences for population dynamics and conservation. Given recent declines of long-distance migrant birds, multipopulation tracking studies are crucial in order to assess the strength of migratory connectivity and to identify key sites en route. Here, we present the first large-scale analysis of migration patterns and migratory connectivity in the globally near-threatened European roller Coracias garrulus. Location: Breeding area: Europe; passage area: Mediterranean, sub-Saharan Africa, Arabian Peninsula; wintering area: southern Africa. Methods: We synthesize new geolocator data with existing geolocator, satellite tag and ring recovery data from eight countries across Europe. We describe routes and stopover sites, analyse the spatial pattern of winter sites with respect to breeding origin and quantify the strength of connectivity between breeding and winter sites. Results: We demonstrate the importance of the northern savanna zone as a stopover region and reveal the easterly spring loop (via Arabia) and leapfrog migration of rollers from eastern populations. Whilst there was some overlap between individuals from different populations over winter, their distribution was non-random, with positive correlations between breeding and autumn/winter longitude as well as between pairwise distance matrices of breeding and winter sites. Connectivity was stronger for eastern populations than western ones. Main conclusions: The moderate levels of connectivity detected here may increase the resilience of breeding populations to localized habitat loss on the winter quarters. We also highlight the passage regions crucial for the successful conservation of roller populations, including the Sahel/Sudan savanna for all populations, and the Horn of Africa/Arabian Peninsula for north-eastern rollers.</p>}},
  author       = {{Finch, Tom and Saunders, Philip and Avilés, Jesús Miguel and Bermejo, Ana and Catry, Inês and de la Puente, Javier and Emmenegger, Tamara and Mardega, Ieva and Mayet, Patrick and Parejo, Deseada and Račinskis, Edmunds and Rodríguez-Ruiz, Juan and Sackl, Peter and Schwartz, Timothée and Tiefenbach, Michael and Valera, Francisco and Hewson, Chris and Franco, Aldina and Butler, Simon James}},
  issn         = {{1366-9516}},
  keywords     = {{Bird migration; Conservation; Coracias garrulus; Migratory connectivity; Roller}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{09}},
  number       = {{9}},
  pages        = {{1051--1062}},
  publisher    = {{Wiley-Blackwell}},
  series       = {{Diversity and Distributions}},
  title        = {{A pan-European, multipopulation assessment of migratory connectivity in a near-threatened migrant bird}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/ddi.12345}},
  doi          = {{10.1111/ddi.12345}},
  volume       = {{21}},
  year         = {{2015}},
}