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Revealing patterns of nocturnal migration using the European weather radar network

Nilsson, Cecilia LU orcid ; Dokter, Adriaan M. ; Verlinden, Liesbeth ; Shamoun-Baranes, Judy ; Schmid, Baptiste ; Desmet, Peter ; Bauer, Silke ; Chapman, Jason ; Alves, Jose A. and Stepanian, Phillip M. , et al. (2019) In Ecography 42(5). p.876-886
Abstract

Nocturnal avian migration flyways remain an elusive concept, as we have largely lacked methods to map their full extent. We used the network of European weather radars to investigate nocturnal bird movements at the scale of the European flyway. We mapped the main migration directions and showed the intensity of movement across part of Europe by extracting biological information from 70 weather radar stations from northern Scandinavia to Portugal, during the autumn migration season of 2016. On average, over the 20 nights and all sites, 389 birds passed per 1 km transect per hour. The night with highest migration intensity showed an average of 1621 birds km–1 h–1 passing the radar stations, but there was considerable... (More)

Nocturnal avian migration flyways remain an elusive concept, as we have largely lacked methods to map their full extent. We used the network of European weather radars to investigate nocturnal bird movements at the scale of the European flyway. We mapped the main migration directions and showed the intensity of movement across part of Europe by extracting biological information from 70 weather radar stations from northern Scandinavia to Portugal, during the autumn migration season of 2016. On average, over the 20 nights and all sites, 389 birds passed per 1 km transect per hour. The night with highest migration intensity showed an average of 1621 birds km–1 h–1 passing the radar stations, but there was considerable geographical and temporal variation in migration intensity. The highest intensity of migration was seen in central France. The overall migration directions showed strong southwest components. Migration dynamics were strongly related to synoptic wind conditions. A wind-related mass migration event occurred immediately after a change in wind conditions, but quickly diminished even when supporting winds continued to prevail. This first continental-scale study using the European network of weather radars demonstrates the wealth of information available and its potential for investigating large-scale bird movements, with consequences for ecosystem function, nutrient transfer, human and livestock health, and civil and military aviation.

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publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
keywords
avian migration, migration flyways, weather radar
in
Ecography
volume
42
issue
5
pages
11 pages
publisher
Wiley-Blackwell
external identifiers
  • scopus:85055053379
ISSN
0906-7590
DOI
10.1111/ecog.04003
language
English
LU publication?
no
additional info
Publisher Copyright: © 2018 The Authors
id
8f57a3e3-e944-44d1-89b8-9c4aeb3f2949
date added to LUP
2023-08-30 11:49:25
date last changed
2023-12-21 16:51:15
@article{8f57a3e3-e944-44d1-89b8-9c4aeb3f2949,
  abstract     = {{<p>Nocturnal avian migration flyways remain an elusive concept, as we have largely lacked methods to map their full extent. We used the network of European weather radars to investigate nocturnal bird movements at the scale of the European flyway. We mapped the main migration directions and showed the intensity of movement across part of Europe by extracting biological information from 70 weather radar stations from northern Scandinavia to Portugal, during the autumn migration season of 2016. On average, over the 20 nights and all sites, 389 birds passed per 1 km transect per hour. The night with highest migration intensity showed an average of 1621 birds km<sup>–1</sup> h<sup>–1</sup> passing the radar stations, but there was considerable geographical and temporal variation in migration intensity. The highest intensity of migration was seen in central France. The overall migration directions showed strong southwest components. Migration dynamics were strongly related to synoptic wind conditions. A wind-related mass migration event occurred immediately after a change in wind conditions, but quickly diminished even when supporting winds continued to prevail. This first continental-scale study using the European network of weather radars demonstrates the wealth of information available and its potential for investigating large-scale bird movements, with consequences for ecosystem function, nutrient transfer, human and livestock health, and civil and military aviation.</p>}},
  author       = {{Nilsson, Cecilia and Dokter, Adriaan M. and Verlinden, Liesbeth and Shamoun-Baranes, Judy and Schmid, Baptiste and Desmet, Peter and Bauer, Silke and Chapman, Jason and Alves, Jose A. and Stepanian, Phillip M. and Sapir, Nir and Wainwright, Charlotte and Boos, Mathieu and Górska, Anna and Menz, Myles H.M. and Rodrigues, Pedro and Leijnse, Hidde and Zehtindjiev, Pavel and Brabant, Robin and Haase, Günther and Weisshaupt, Nadja and Ciach, Michał and Liechti, Felix}},
  issn         = {{0906-7590}},
  keywords     = {{avian migration; migration flyways; weather radar}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{5}},
  pages        = {{876--886}},
  publisher    = {{Wiley-Blackwell}},
  series       = {{Ecography}},
  title        = {{Revealing patterns of nocturnal migration using the European weather radar network}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/ecog.04003}},
  doi          = {{10.1111/ecog.04003}},
  volume       = {{42}},
  year         = {{2019}},
}