Cargando…

Do Arctic breeding geese track or overtake a green wave during spring migration?

Geese breeding in the Arctic have to do so in a short time-window while having sufficient body reserves. Hence, arrival time and body condition upon arrival largely influence breeding success. The green wave hypothesis posits that geese track a successively delayed spring flush of plant development...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Si, Yali, Xin, Qinchuan, de Boer, Willem F., Gong, Peng, Ydenberg, Ronald C., Prins, Herbert H. T.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Nature Publishing Group 2015
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4348666/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25735996
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep08749
_version_ 1782359964739698688
author Si, Yali
Xin, Qinchuan
de Boer, Willem F.
Gong, Peng
Ydenberg, Ronald C.
Prins, Herbert H. T.
author_facet Si, Yali
Xin, Qinchuan
de Boer, Willem F.
Gong, Peng
Ydenberg, Ronald C.
Prins, Herbert H. T.
author_sort Si, Yali
collection PubMed
description Geese breeding in the Arctic have to do so in a short time-window while having sufficient body reserves. Hence, arrival time and body condition upon arrival largely influence breeding success. The green wave hypothesis posits that geese track a successively delayed spring flush of plant development on the way to their breeding sites. The green wave has been interpreted as representing either the onset of spring or the peak in nutrient biomass. However, geese tend to adopt a partial capital breeding strategy and might overtake the green wave to accomplish a timely arrival on the breeding site. To test the green wave hypothesis, we link the satellite-derived onset of spring and peak in nutrient biomass with the stopover schedule of individual Barnacle Geese. We find that geese track neither the onset of spring nor the peak in nutrient biomass. Rather, they arrive at the southernmost stopover site around the peak in nutrient biomass, and gradually overtake the green wave to match their arrival at the breeding site with the local onset of spring, thereby ensuring gosling benefit from the peak in nutrient biomass. Our approach for estimating plant development stages is critical in testing the migration strategies of migratory herbivores.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-4348666
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2015
publisher Nature Publishing Group
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-43486662015-03-10 Do Arctic breeding geese track or overtake a green wave during spring migration? Si, Yali Xin, Qinchuan de Boer, Willem F. Gong, Peng Ydenberg, Ronald C. Prins, Herbert H. T. Sci Rep Article Geese breeding in the Arctic have to do so in a short time-window while having sufficient body reserves. Hence, arrival time and body condition upon arrival largely influence breeding success. The green wave hypothesis posits that geese track a successively delayed spring flush of plant development on the way to their breeding sites. The green wave has been interpreted as representing either the onset of spring or the peak in nutrient biomass. However, geese tend to adopt a partial capital breeding strategy and might overtake the green wave to accomplish a timely arrival on the breeding site. To test the green wave hypothesis, we link the satellite-derived onset of spring and peak in nutrient biomass with the stopover schedule of individual Barnacle Geese. We find that geese track neither the onset of spring nor the peak in nutrient biomass. Rather, they arrive at the southernmost stopover site around the peak in nutrient biomass, and gradually overtake the green wave to match their arrival at the breeding site with the local onset of spring, thereby ensuring gosling benefit from the peak in nutrient biomass. Our approach for estimating plant development stages is critical in testing the migration strategies of migratory herbivores. Nature Publishing Group 2015-03-04 /pmc/articles/PMC4348666/ /pubmed/25735996 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep08749 Text en Copyright © 2015, Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder in order to reproduce the material. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
spellingShingle Article
Si, Yali
Xin, Qinchuan
de Boer, Willem F.
Gong, Peng
Ydenberg, Ronald C.
Prins, Herbert H. T.
Do Arctic breeding geese track or overtake a green wave during spring migration?
title Do Arctic breeding geese track or overtake a green wave during spring migration?
title_full Do Arctic breeding geese track or overtake a green wave during spring migration?
title_fullStr Do Arctic breeding geese track or overtake a green wave during spring migration?
title_full_unstemmed Do Arctic breeding geese track or overtake a green wave during spring migration?
title_short Do Arctic breeding geese track or overtake a green wave during spring migration?
title_sort do arctic breeding geese track or overtake a green wave during spring migration?
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4348666/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25735996
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep08749
work_keys_str_mv AT siyali doarcticbreedinggeesetrackorovertakeagreenwaveduringspringmigration
AT xinqinchuan doarcticbreedinggeesetrackorovertakeagreenwaveduringspringmigration
AT deboerwillemf doarcticbreedinggeesetrackorovertakeagreenwaveduringspringmigration
AT gongpeng doarcticbreedinggeesetrackorovertakeagreenwaveduringspringmigration
AT ydenbergronaldc doarcticbreedinggeesetrackorovertakeagreenwaveduringspringmigration
AT prinsherbertht doarcticbreedinggeesetrackorovertakeagreenwaveduringspringmigration