Migratory birds modulate niche tradeoffs in rhythm with seasons and life history
Yanco S.W. Oliver R.Y. Iannarilli F. Carlson B.S. Heine G. Mueller U. Richter N. Vorneweg B. Andryushchenko Y. Batbayar N. Dagys M. Desholm M. Galtbalt B. Gavrilov A.E. Goroshko O.A. Ilyashenko E.I. Ilyashenko V.Y. Månsson J. Mudrik E.A. Natsagdorj T. Nilsson L. Sherub S. Skov H. Sukhbaatar T. Zydelis R. Wikelski M. Jetz W. Pokrovsky I.
8 October 2024National Academy of Sciences
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
2024#121Issue 41
Movement is a key means by which animals cope with variable environments. As they move, animals construct individual niches composed of the environmental conditions they experience. Niche axes may vary over time and covary with one another as animals make tradeoffs between competing needs. Seasonal migration is expected to produce substantial niche variation as animals move to keep pace with major life history phases and fluctuations in environmental conditions. Here, we apply a time-ordered principal component analysis to examine dynamic niche variance and covariance across the annual cycle for four species of migratory crane: common crane (Grus grus, n = 20), demoiselle crane (Anthropoides virgo, n = 66), black-necked crane (Grus nigricollis, n = 9), and white-naped crane (Grus vipio, n = 9). We consider four key niche components known to be important to aspects of crane natural history: enhanced vegetation index (resources availability), temperature (thermoregulation), crop proportion (preferred foraging habitat), and proximity to water (predator avoidance). All species showed a primary seasonal niche “rhythm” that dominated variance in niche components across the annual cycle. Secondary rhythms were linked to major species-specific life history phases (migration, breeding, and nonbreeding) as well as seasonal environmental patterns. Furthermore, we found that cranes’ experiences of the environment emerge from time-dynamic tradeoffs among niche components. We suggest that our approach to estimating the environmental niche as a multidimensional and time-dynamical system of tradeoffs improves mechanistic understanding of organism–environment interactions.
animal movement , ecological niche , life history , migration
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Center for Biodiversity and Global Change, Yale University, New Haven, 06511, CT, United States
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, New Haven, 06511, CT, United States
Bren School of Environmental Science and Management, University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, 93117, CA, United States
Department of Migration, Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, Radolfzell, 78315, Germany
Schmalhausen Institute of Zoology, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Laboratory of Ornithology, the South of Ukraine, Kyiv, 01054, Ukraine
Wildlife Science and Conservation Center of Mongolia, Ulaanbaatar, 14210, Mongolia
Nature Research Centre, Vilnius, 08412, Lithuania
BirdLife Denmark, Copenhagen, 1620, Denmark
Institute of Zoology, Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Almaty, 050060, Kazakhstan
Daurskii State Nature Biosphere Reserve, Transbaikalia Nizhny Tsasuchei, 674495, Russian Federation
Institute of Natural Resources, Ecology, and Cryology, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Transbaikalia, Chita, 672014, Russian Federation
Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, 119071, Russian Federation
Grimsö Wildlife Research Station, Department of Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Riddarhyttan, Riddarhyttan, S-730 91, Sweden
Vavilov Institute of General Genetics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, 117971, Russian Federation
Ugyen Wangchuck Institute for Forestry Research and Training, Bhutan, Bumthang, 32001, Bhutan
Ecology and Environment Department, DHI, Hørsholm, 2970, Denmark
Ornitela, Vilnius, 03228, Lithuania
Department of Biology, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, 78315, Germany
Center for Biodiversity and Global Change
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Bren School of Environmental Science and Management
Department of Migration
Schmalhausen Institute of Zoology
Wildlife Science and Conservation Center of Mongolia
Nature Research Centre
BirdLife Denmark
Institute of Zoology
Daurskii State Nature Biosphere Reserve
Institute of Natural Resources
Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution
Grimsö Wildlife Research Station
Vavilov Institute of General Genetics
Ugyen Wangchuck Institute for Forestry Research and Training
Ecology and Environment Department
Ornitela
Department of Biology
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