Influence of photoperiod on food intake, body mass and activity of the common redstart during spring migration
(2024) BION02 20231Degree Projects in Biology
- Abstract
- Climate change is affecting all regions of the globe, causing a shift of temperature distributions. As species try to track their optimal thermal conditions, they are also potentially met with new photic environments. Photoperiod is the main cue for synchronizing migratory birds' circannual rhythms, affecting both their physiology and migration. Thus, their ability to incorporate and adjust to photic cues may affect their ability to adapt to ongoing climate change by limiting the adaptive shift in their species distribution. The aim of this study was to investigate how a shift of photoperiod affects traits linked with the migratory phenotype. A long-distance songbird migrant, the common redstart, was used as the study species. The study... (More)
- Climate change is affecting all regions of the globe, causing a shift of temperature distributions. As species try to track their optimal thermal conditions, they are also potentially met with new photic environments. Photoperiod is the main cue for synchronizing migratory birds' circannual rhythms, affecting both their physiology and migration. Thus, their ability to incorporate and adjust to photic cues may affect their ability to adapt to ongoing climate change by limiting the adaptive shift in their species distribution. The aim of this study was to investigate how a shift of photoperiod affects traits linked with the migratory phenotype. A long-distance songbird migrant, the common redstart, was used as the study species. The study was conducted at Stensoffa Ecological Field Station in southern Sweden, and 26 redstarts were assigned to either a control group (local photoperiod) or an experimental group (24-hour continuous photoperiod). Measurements of food intake, body mass and activity were recorded over a period of 14 days for individual birds. No differences were found between treatments regarding food intake, body mass or migratory activity. The birds experiencing 24 hours of continuous photoperiod did, however, display increased levels of daily activity, and were more active during standardized day. In summary, the results suggest that the shift of photoperiod did not influence the migratory phenotype of redstarts during spring migration. Even though this is contradictory to previous research, and the effect of other environmental factors should be considered, these results imply that redstarts might be able to adjust to new photic environments if they try to adapt to climate change by shifting their distribution towards northern latitudes. (Less)
- Popular Abstract
- The influence of daylength on the common redstart during spring migration
Climate change is affecting regions all across the globe, forcing animals and plants to adapt to changing environments. Migratory birds are especially vulnerable to this, as they have to adapt to changes in both their breeding and wintering habitat. Migratory birds have been observed to adapt to climate change by changing their existing ranges. However, as they change their ranges, they are also predicted to be exposed to environments with new daylengths. Daylength is the main environmental cue that birds use to time their migration and breeding with the different seasons of the environment. If they are exposed to daylengths they have not experienced before, it... (More) - The influence of daylength on the common redstart during spring migration
Climate change is affecting regions all across the globe, forcing animals and plants to adapt to changing environments. Migratory birds are especially vulnerable to this, as they have to adapt to changes in both their breeding and wintering habitat. Migratory birds have been observed to adapt to climate change by changing their existing ranges. However, as they change their ranges, they are also predicted to be exposed to environments with new daylengths. Daylength is the main environmental cue that birds use to time their migration and breeding with the different seasons of the environment. If they are exposed to daylengths they have not experienced before, it might affect their ability to adapt to climate change by affecting whether they can change their ranges or not.
I studied how a long-distance migratory bird species, the common redstart (Phoenicurus phoenicurus), would respond to a changed daylength, and if it would affect traits that are important for migration. In total, 26 redstarts were captured during their spring migration and moved to Stensoffa Ecological Field Station, where they were divided into two groups: experimental and control. The experimental group was exposed to a continuous daylength of 24 hours, while the control group was exposed to the local daylength. Measurements of food intake, body mass and activity were taken every day for the duration of the experiment, which lasted a total of 14 days. I found that the changed daylength did not affect the birds’ food intake or body mass, and that it might not affect their migratory activity either. However, the changed daylength did affect the birds’ total daily activity, and when the experimental groups continuous day was split up to represent day and night of the local time, the results showed that they were more active during the set daytime.
The results from the experiment with redstarts suggest that a changed daylength would not affect traits associated with migration during spring migration, but that it affects their daily activity pattern. These findings are different to what similar studies have found about the influence of daylength on bird migration during autumn, which suggests that the responses of migratory birds to daylength might be different depending on the season. Migratory birds also use several other environmental cues to properly time and navigate during their migrations. For example, many birds use the geomagnetic field as a cue when they migrate, and it is possible that the geomagnetic field, or other cues not investigated here influences the redstarts spring migration to a greater extent than daylength.
In summary, the results from this study suggest that the common redstart does not respond to a changed daylength during their spring migration. This implies that they might be able to adapt to climate change by changing their ranges, even if they are met with daylengths they have not experienced before. If anything, the results from this study shows that the topic of how climate change may affect bird migration and changing daylengths is complex, and that not all migratory bird species may be able to adapt to climate change in the same ways. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9185001
- author
- Eberhagen, Melina
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- BION02 20231
- year
- 2024
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- language
- English
- id
- 9185001
- date added to LUP
- 2025-02-12 15:42:23
- date last changed
- 2025-02-12 15:42:23
@misc{9185001,
abstract = {{Climate change is affecting all regions of the globe, causing a shift of temperature distributions. As species try to track their optimal thermal conditions, they are also potentially met with new photic environments. Photoperiod is the main cue for synchronizing migratory birds' circannual rhythms, affecting both their physiology and migration. Thus, their ability to incorporate and adjust to photic cues may affect their ability to adapt to ongoing climate change by limiting the adaptive shift in their species distribution. The aim of this study was to investigate how a shift of photoperiod affects traits linked with the migratory phenotype. A long-distance songbird migrant, the common redstart, was used as the study species. The study was conducted at Stensoffa Ecological Field Station in southern Sweden, and 26 redstarts were assigned to either a control group (local photoperiod) or an experimental group (24-hour continuous photoperiod). Measurements of food intake, body mass and activity were recorded over a period of 14 days for individual birds. No differences were found between treatments regarding food intake, body mass or migratory activity. The birds experiencing 24 hours of continuous photoperiod did, however, display increased levels of daily activity, and were more active during standardized day. In summary, the results suggest that the shift of photoperiod did not influence the migratory phenotype of redstarts during spring migration. Even though this is contradictory to previous research, and the effect of other environmental factors should be considered, these results imply that redstarts might be able to adjust to new photic environments if they try to adapt to climate change by shifting their distribution towards northern latitudes.}},
author = {{Eberhagen, Melina}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Influence of photoperiod on food intake, body mass and activity of the common redstart during spring migration}},
year = {{2024}},
}