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Seasonal effects of wind conditions on migration patterns of soaring American white pelican

Energy and time expenditures are determinants of bird migration strategies. Soaring birds have developed migration strategies to minimize these costs, optimizing the use of all the available resources to facilitate their displacement. We analysed the effects of different wind factors (tailwind, turb...

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Autores principales: Gutierrez Illan, Javier, Wang, Guiming, Cunningham, Fred L., King, D. Tommy
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2017
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5655449/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29065188
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0186948
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author Gutierrez Illan, Javier
Wang, Guiming
Cunningham, Fred L.
King, D. Tommy
author_facet Gutierrez Illan, Javier
Wang, Guiming
Cunningham, Fred L.
King, D. Tommy
author_sort Gutierrez Illan, Javier
collection PubMed
description Energy and time expenditures are determinants of bird migration strategies. Soaring birds have developed migration strategies to minimize these costs, optimizing the use of all the available resources to facilitate their displacement. We analysed the effects of different wind factors (tailwind, turbulence, vertical updrafts) on the migratory flying strategies adopted by 24 satellite-tracked American white pelicans (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos) throughout spring and autumn in North America. We hypothesize that different wind conditions encountered along migration routes between spring and autumn induce pelicans to adopt different flying strategies and use of these wind resources. Using quantile regression and fine-scale atmospheric data, we found that the pelicans optimized the use of available wind resources, flying faster and more direct routes in spring than in autumn. They actively selected tailwinds in both spring and autumn displacements but relied on available updrafts predominantly in their spring migration, when they needed to arrive at the breeding regions. These effects varied depending on the flying speed of the pelicans. We found significant directional correlations between the pelican migration flights and wind direction. In light of our results, we suggest plasticity of migratory flight strategies by pelicans is likely to enhance their ability to cope with the effects of ongoing climate change and the alteration of wind regimes. Here, we also demonstrate the usefulness and applicability of quantile regression techniques to investigate complex ecological processes such as variable effects of atmospheric conditions on soaring migration.
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spelling pubmed-56554492017-11-09 Seasonal effects of wind conditions on migration patterns of soaring American white pelican Gutierrez Illan, Javier Wang, Guiming Cunningham, Fred L. King, D. Tommy PLoS One Research Article Energy and time expenditures are determinants of bird migration strategies. Soaring birds have developed migration strategies to minimize these costs, optimizing the use of all the available resources to facilitate their displacement. We analysed the effects of different wind factors (tailwind, turbulence, vertical updrafts) on the migratory flying strategies adopted by 24 satellite-tracked American white pelicans (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos) throughout spring and autumn in North America. We hypothesize that different wind conditions encountered along migration routes between spring and autumn induce pelicans to adopt different flying strategies and use of these wind resources. Using quantile regression and fine-scale atmospheric data, we found that the pelicans optimized the use of available wind resources, flying faster and more direct routes in spring than in autumn. They actively selected tailwinds in both spring and autumn displacements but relied on available updrafts predominantly in their spring migration, when they needed to arrive at the breeding regions. These effects varied depending on the flying speed of the pelicans. We found significant directional correlations between the pelican migration flights and wind direction. In light of our results, we suggest plasticity of migratory flight strategies by pelicans is likely to enhance their ability to cope with the effects of ongoing climate change and the alteration of wind regimes. Here, we also demonstrate the usefulness and applicability of quantile regression techniques to investigate complex ecological processes such as variable effects of atmospheric conditions on soaring migration. Public Library of Science 2017-10-24 /pmc/articles/PMC5655449/ /pubmed/29065188 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0186948 Text en https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/ This is an open access article, free of all copyright, and may be freely reproduced, distributed, transmitted, modified, built upon, or otherwise used by anyone for any lawful purpose. The work is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 (https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) public domain dedication.
spellingShingle Research Article
Gutierrez Illan, Javier
Wang, Guiming
Cunningham, Fred L.
King, D. Tommy
Seasonal effects of wind conditions on migration patterns of soaring American white pelican
title Seasonal effects of wind conditions on migration patterns of soaring American white pelican
title_full Seasonal effects of wind conditions on migration patterns of soaring American white pelican
title_fullStr Seasonal effects of wind conditions on migration patterns of soaring American white pelican
title_full_unstemmed Seasonal effects of wind conditions on migration patterns of soaring American white pelican
title_short Seasonal effects of wind conditions on migration patterns of soaring American white pelican
title_sort seasonal effects of wind conditions on migration patterns of soaring american white pelican
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5655449/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29065188
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0186948
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