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Arrival fat and reproductive performance in a long-distance passerine migrant

  • Ecophysiology
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Abstract

Long-distance passerine migrants deposit substantial fat stores to fuel their migratory journey. Many of those migratory birds arrive at their northerly breeding grounds with larger fat stores than were necessary to reach their breeding area. Both male and female American Redstarts (Setophaga ruticilla) arrived to breed in Michigan's Upper Peninsula with fat, and females arrived with more fat than males in 2 out of 3 years. We test the hypothesis that migrants arriving at the breeding grounds with more body fat have higher reproductive success than birds arriving with little or no fat. Females, and to a lesser extent males, that arrive with fat experience gains in reproductive performance as evidenced by increased clutch size, egg volume, and nestling mass. The results have implications for understanding how events occurring during one phase of the annual cycle influence survival and/or reproductive performance in subsequent phases.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Roland Sandberg, Jeff Buler, David Cimprich, Jeff Clark, Colleen Dwyer, Jeff Farrington, Sarah Mabey, Jeff Mollenhauer, Jen Owen, Chris Szell, Stefan Woltman, and Mark Woodrey. Mark Chappell and two anonymous reviewers significantly improved the manuscript. The research was supported by the National Science Foundation (DEB-0073190), the Animal Behavior Society, Eastern Bird Banding Association, Sigma Xi, the Frank M. Chapman Memorial Student Research Fund, the Kalamazoo Audubon Society, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and Barbara and Gerald Meyers. We thank Hiawatha National Forest for permission to perform this research on Forest Service property, and we are grateful to The Nature Conservancy, MI Chapter (notably Dr. David Ewert) and Dr. Mic Hamas of Central Michigan University for logistical help. Finally, we thank our field crews for their dedicated efforts.

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  1. Department of Biological Sciences, University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg, MS 39406-5018, USA

    Robert J. Smith & Frank R. Moore

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  1. Robert J. Smith
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Correspondence to Frank R. Moore.

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Smith, R.J., Moore, F.R. Arrival fat and reproductive performance in a long-distance passerine migrant. Oecologia 134, 325–331 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-002-1152-9

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