Abstract
This paper is concerned mainly with the differences between obligate and facultative migration in birds. Obligate migration is considered “hard-wired”, in that the bird seems pre-programmed to leave its breeding area at a certain time each year, and to return at another time. Timing, directions and distances are relatively constant from year to year. This type of migration is thus characterised by its regularity, consistency and predictability. It is found in both short-distance and long-distance migrants, but mainly in the latter. In contrast, facultative migration is considered optional, occurring in response to conditions at the time. Individuals may migrate in some years but not in others, depending on the prevailing food supplies or weather conditions. The timing of autumn migration, and the distance travelled, can be highly variable between individuals and, at the population level, between years. Facultative migration is typical of many partial migrants, but is found in its most extreme form in so-called irruptive migrants. While individual obligate migrants typically return to the same breeding localities year after year, and sometimes also to the same wintering localities, individual irruptive migrants typically breed or winter in widely separated areas in different years, wherever conditions are favourable. It is suggested that these two types of migration are best considered not as distinct, but as lying at opposite ends of a continuum of variation in bird migratory behaviour. Both systems are adaptive; one to conditions in which resource levels vary regularly and predictably in space and time, and the other to conditions in which resource levels vary unpredictably. Suggestions are made for experimental work on captive irruptive species.
Zusammenfassung
Obligater und fakultativer Vogelzug: ökologische Aspekte
Dieser Artikel befasst sich hauptsächlich mit den Unterschieden zwischen obligatem und fakultativem Vogelzug. Obligater Zug wird als “festverankert” erachtet, da Vögel in diesem Fall ihr Brutgebiet jedes Jahr zu einer bestimmten, offensichtlich vorprogrammierten Zeit verlassen und wiederbesiedeln. Zeitablauf, Zugrichtungen und Zugstrecken sind relativ konstant zwischen verschiedenen Jahren. Diese Art von Zug zeichnet sich demnach aus durch Regelmäßigkeit, Konsistenz und Vorhersagbarkeit und kommt bei Kurzstreckenziehern, vor allem aber bei Langstreckenziehern vor. Im Gegensatz dazu wird fakultativer Vogelzug als optional und als Reaktion auf aktuelle Bedingungen betrachtet. So können Individuen in einigen Jahren ziehen, in anderen aber nicht, je nach Nahrungssituation und Wetter. Der Zeitablauf des Herbstzuges und seine Streckenlänge kann zwischen Individuen und auf Populationsebene von Jahr zu Jahr stark variieren. Fakultativer Zug ist für viele Teilzieher typisch und findet seine extremste Form bei sogenannten irruptiven Arten. Während individuelle obligate Zieher typischerweise alljährlich zu denselben Brutgebieten und manchmal auch zu den selben Wintergebieten zurückkehren, brüten oder überwintern individuelle fakultative Zieher in verschiedenen Jahren je nach günstigen Bedingungen häufig in weit voneinander entfernten Gebieten. Jedoch sollten diese beiden Typen von Vogelzug am besten nicht als grundsätzlich verschieden erachtet werden, sondern als Extreme entlang eines Kontinuums von Zugverhalten. Beide Zugtypen sind adaptiv, der eine unter Bedingungen, in denen Ressourcen regelmäßig und vorhersagbar über Raum und Zeit variieren, und der andere unter Bedingungen, in denen Ressourcen unvorhersagbar variieren. Der Artikel schließt mit Vorschlägen zu experimentellen Laborstudien an irruptiven Arten.
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Notes
The total minutes of migratory restlessness is a function of the number of nights with activity and the mean number of minutes per night.
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Acknowledgments
I am grateful to Barbara Helm, Francisco Pulido, Marilyn Ramenofsky and an anonymous referee for helpful comments on this paper.
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Communicated by Cristina Yumi Miyaki.
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Newton, I. Obligate and facultative migration in birds: ecological aspects. J Ornithol 153 (Suppl 1), 171–180 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-011-0765-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-011-0765-3