Abstract
White-crowned Sparrow (Zonotrichia leucophrys) populations of western North America exhibit dramatic differences in life history strategies including migration behavior. However, individual migration strategies and population-level migratory patterns remain largely unknown for this species. Here, we focused on the long-distance migratory subspecies, Gambel’s White-crowned Sparrow (Zonotrichia leucophrys gambelii). We used ringing, tracking and stable hydrogen isotope (δ2H) analysis of individuals migrating along the Pacific Flyway to assess individual phenology and routes as well as the pattern of connectivity between breeding and non-breeding sites. Results from all three methods, consisting of 79 ring recoveries, four light level geolocator tracks and 388 feather δ2H values, indicate low degrees of migratory connectivity. The isotope data provide evidence for leapfrog migration with the more southerly populations traveling greater distances to the breeding grounds than more centrally wintering individuals. Location estimates of four annual journeys revealed individually consistent migration strategies with relatively short flight bouts separated by two to three and two to six stopover sites during spring and autumn migration, respectively. However, combined results from all methods indicate high variability in migration distance among individuals. These findings confirm the phenotypic flexibility observed within this species and highlight the potential of White-crowned Sparrows for further investigations of evolutionary adaptations to ongoing changes in the environment.
Zusammenfassung
Zugmuster der Gambel’s Dachsammer entlang der Pazifischen Flugroute
Grundlegende biologische Unterschiede, wie das Zugverhalten, zeichnen die Unterarten der Dachsammer (Zonotrichia leucophrys) im westlichen Nord Amerika aus. Dennoch ist bis heute wenig über individuelle Zugstrategien und populationsspezifische Zugmuster bekannt. Die Gambel`s Dachsammer (Z. leucophrys gambelii) ist die Unterart mit den längsten Zugrouten und steht im Fokus dieser Studie. Unser Ziel war es anhand von Beringungsdaten, Geolokation und der Analyse von Stabiler (δ2H) Isotope, individuelle Zugrouten, das zeitliche Zugverhalten sowie die räumliche Konnektivität zwischen Brut- und Wintergebiet zu charakterisieren. Die Ergebnisse aller drei Methoden, basierend auf 79 Ringfunde, 4 individuellen Zugrouten und 388 δ2H werten, deuten auf eine niedrige räumliche Konnektivität (migratory connectivity) hin. Die stabile isotope analyse liefert erste Beweise für ein «leapfrog» Zugroutensystem in welchem Individuen aus dem südlicheren Wintergebiet weiter in den Norden ziehen und damit längere Zugrouten haben als Individuen aus dem nördlichen Wintergebiet. Die geschätzten Positionen während des Zuges deuten auf eine hohe Konsistenz innerhalb der vier Individuen, mit relativ kurzen Distanzen zwischen den 2–3 Stopps im Frühjahr und den 2–6 Stopps im Herbst. Alle drei Methoden verdeutlichen jedoch eine hohe inter-individuelle Variation im Zugverhalten. Unsere Ergebnisse bestätigen damit die bekannte phänotypische Flexibilität dieser Art und verdeutlicht das Potential der Dachsammer für weiterführende Untersuchungen zu evolutionären Anpassungen in einer sich verändernden Umgebung.
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Acknowledgments
We thank Shallin Busch, Emilie Graves, Eunice Jiang, Samarah Raouf and Jake Schas for support in the field and Phil Mattocks for information on the wintering populations of White-crowned Sparrows in Washington State. Angelina Nefedova’s precise measurements of feather samples were critical for the preparation of the isotope measurements. We thank Joy Matthews and Irene Yen at the UC Davis Stable Isotope Facility for their kind assistance during the stable isotope analysis. We are grateful to Michael Hallworth for exploring different stable isotope assignment approaches. Two anonymous reviewers provided comments on an earlier draft of the manuscript. Support for the project was provided by the National Science Foundation IOS no. 0920791 and ARC no. 1147289 to M. R. and A. R. C. (no. 0909133) and the Endowed Chair in Physiology from the UC Davis to J. C. W. Both M. R. and J. C. W. were supported by the Thinker-in-Residence Program, Deakin University, Waurn Ponds, Australia. Z. N. was supported by the National Research, Development and Innovation Office of Hungary (NKFIH PD 121013, FK 124414) during the preparation of the manuscript.
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Z. N., M. R. and J. C. W. initiated the research; Z. N., M. R., J. G., J. S. K. and K. A. H. collected data and performed lab analysis; S. L. analyzed the data with support from N. E. S.; S. L. and M. R. wrote the manuscript with contributions from all authors.
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All procedures and animal handling were done in accordance with the regulations of the University of Washington and UC Davis Institutional Animal Care and Use Committees (protocols nos. 2644 and 17144, respectively) and conducted under the scientific collecting permits issued by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (no. 11024) and US Fish and Wildlife Department (no. MB11826A).
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Lisovski, S., Németh, Z., Wingfield, J.C. et al. Migration pattern of Gambel’s White-crowned Sparrow along the Pacific Flyway. J Ornithol 160, 1097–1107 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-019-01685-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-019-01685-4