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The Yellow-browed Warbler (Phylloscopus inornatus) as a model to understand vagrancy and its potential for the evolution of new migration routes

Dufour, Paul ; Åkesson, Susanne LU ; Hellström, Magnus ; Hewson, Chris ; Lagerveld, Sander ; Mitchell, Lucy ; Chernetsov, Nikita ; Schmaljohann, Heiko and Crochet, Pierre André (2022) In Movement Ecology 10(1).
Abstract

Why and how new migration routes emerge remain fundamental questions in ecology, particularly in the context of current global changes. In its early stages, when few individuals are involved, the evolution of new migration routes can be easily confused with vagrancy, i.e. the occurrence of individuals outside their regular breeding, non-breeding or migratory distribution ranges. Yet, vagrancy can in theory generate new migration routes if vagrants survive, return to their breeding grounds and transfer their new migration route to their offspring, thus increasing a new migratory phenotype in the population. Here, we review the conceptual framework and empirical challenges of distinguishing regular migration from vagrancy in small... (More)

Why and how new migration routes emerge remain fundamental questions in ecology, particularly in the context of current global changes. In its early stages, when few individuals are involved, the evolution of new migration routes can be easily confused with vagrancy, i.e. the occurrence of individuals outside their regular breeding, non-breeding or migratory distribution ranges. Yet, vagrancy can in theory generate new migration routes if vagrants survive, return to their breeding grounds and transfer their new migration route to their offspring, thus increasing a new migratory phenotype in the population. Here, we review the conceptual framework and empirical challenges of distinguishing regular migration from vagrancy in small obligate migratory passerines and explain how this can inform our understanding of migration evolution. For this purpose, we use the Yellow-browed Warbler (Phylloscopus inornatus) as a case study. This Siberian species normally winters in southern Asia and its recent increase in occurrence in Western Europe has become a prominent evolutionary puzzle. We first review and discuss available evidence suggesting that the species is still mostly a vagrant in Western Europe but might be establishing a new migration route initiated by vagrants. We then list possible empirical approaches to check if some individuals really undertake regular migratory movements between Western Europe and Siberia, which would make this species an ideal model for studying the links between vagrancy and the emergence of new migratory routes.

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author
; ; ; ; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Migration route, Orientation, Seasonal migration, Songbirds, Vagrancy, Yellow-browed Warbler
in
Movement Ecology
volume
10
issue
1
article number
59
publisher
BioMed Central (BMC)
external identifiers
  • scopus:85144236323
  • pmid:36517925
ISSN
2051-3933
DOI
10.1186/s40462-022-00345-2
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
591cd93b-1347-4d8b-9043-fbfec2b90c72
date added to LUP
2023-01-10 15:34:24
date last changed
2024-06-13 15:11:55
@article{591cd93b-1347-4d8b-9043-fbfec2b90c72,
  abstract     = {{<p>Why and how new migration routes emerge remain fundamental questions in ecology, particularly in the context of current global changes. In its early stages, when few individuals are involved, the evolution of new migration routes can be easily confused with vagrancy, i.e. the occurrence of individuals outside their regular breeding, non-breeding or migratory distribution ranges. Yet, vagrancy can in theory generate new migration routes if vagrants survive, return to their breeding grounds and transfer their new migration route to their offspring, thus increasing a new migratory phenotype in the population. Here, we review the conceptual framework and empirical challenges of distinguishing regular migration from vagrancy in small obligate migratory passerines and explain how this can inform our understanding of migration evolution. For this purpose, we use the Yellow-browed Warbler (Phylloscopus inornatus) as a case study. This Siberian species normally winters in southern Asia and its recent increase in occurrence in Western Europe has become a prominent evolutionary puzzle. We first review and discuss available evidence suggesting that the species is still mostly a vagrant in Western Europe but might be establishing a new migration route initiated by vagrants. We then list possible empirical approaches to check if some individuals really undertake regular migratory movements between Western Europe and Siberia, which would make this species an ideal model for studying the links between vagrancy and the emergence of new migratory routes.</p>}},
  author       = {{Dufour, Paul and Åkesson, Susanne and Hellström, Magnus and Hewson, Chris and Lagerveld, Sander and Mitchell, Lucy and Chernetsov, Nikita and Schmaljohann, Heiko and Crochet, Pierre André}},
  issn         = {{2051-3933}},
  keywords     = {{Migration route; Orientation; Seasonal migration; Songbirds; Vagrancy; Yellow-browed Warbler}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{1}},
  publisher    = {{BioMed Central (BMC)}},
  series       = {{Movement Ecology}},
  title        = {{The Yellow-browed Warbler (Phylloscopus inornatus) as a model to understand vagrancy and its potential for the evolution of new migration routes}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s40462-022-00345-2}},
  doi          = {{10.1186/s40462-022-00345-2}},
  volume       = {{10}},
  year         = {{2022}},
}