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Climate change and timing of spring migration in the long-distance migrant Ficedula hypoleuca in central Europe: the role of spatially different temperature changes along migration routes

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Abstract

Coinciding with increasing spring temperatures in Europe, many migrants have advanced their arrival or passage times over the last decades. However, some species, namely long-distance migrants, could be constrained in their arrival dates due to their largely inherited migratory behaviour and thus a likely inflexibility in their response to exogenous factors. To examine this hypothesis for pied flycatchers (Ficedula hypoleuca), we tested the effects of the temperature regimes along their migration routes north of the Sahara on their arrival times in central Europe. To do so, we developed a site-independent large-scale approach based on temperature data available on the Internet. Temperature regimes along the migration routes of pied flycatchers within Europe convincingly correlate with their first arrival times. It can be concluded that the progression of spring migration in this species is strongly influenced by temperature en route. Because of the recent inconsistent climatic changes in various parts of Europe, we hypothesize that individuals migrating along different routes will be unequally affected by further climatic changes.

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Acknowledgements

We are especially thankful to all persons collecting and providing field data, namely Ute Rahne (Braunschweig), Hans-Hermann Geißler (Hamburg), Stefan Fischer (Berlin) and the almost uncountable number of people working at the Helgoland station. Franz Bairlein, Timothy Coppack, Kathrin Hüppop, Esa Lehikoinen and an anonymous referee provided constructive comments on an earlier draft of our manuscript. Timothy Coppack further polished our English.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Avian Research "Vogelwarte Helgoland", Inselstation, P.O. Box 1220, 27494, Helgoland, Germany

    Ommo Hüppop

  2. Institute of Avian Research "Vogelwarte Helgoland", Working Group Population Ecology, Bauernstr. 14, 38162, Cremlingen-Weddel, Germany

    Wolfgang Winkel

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  1. Ommo Hüppop
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  2. Wolfgang Winkel
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Correspondence to Ommo Hüppop.

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Communicated by F. Bairlein

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Hüppop, O., Winkel, W. Climate change and timing of spring migration in the long-distance migrant Ficedula hypoleuca in central Europe: the role of spatially different temperature changes along migration routes. J Ornithol 147, 344–353 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-005-0049-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-005-0049-x

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