Abstract
Sexual selection theory suggests that the degree of protandry in spring migration should increase when earlier males benefit from better mating opportunities. Western European studies failed to show differences in sex-specific arrival dates for the Pied Flycatcher. However, different climatic conditions and other constraints may affect its phenology in continental Europe. Here, we present evidence that sex-related phenological changes have occurred over the past 25 years (between 1989 and 2013) in Central Europe (Ócsa Bird Ringing Station, Hungary). The spring arrival of male flycatchers shifted to earlier dates whereas female arrival showed no change, implying an increasing degree of protandry.
Zusammenfassung
Zunehmende Protandrie beim Frühjahrszug des Trauerschnäppers (Ficedula hypoleuca) in Mitteleuropa
Der sexuellen Selektionstheorie zufolge sollte das Ausmaß der Protandrie beim Frühjahrszug zunehmen, wenn früher eintreffende Männchen von besseren Paarungsgelegenheiten profitieren. Studien in Westeuropa konnten keine Unterschiede in den geschlechtsspezifischen Ankunftsdaten bei Trauerschnäppern zeigen. Unterschiedliche klimatische Bedingungen und andere Zwänge könnten jedoch die Phänologie in Kontinentaleuropa beeinflussen. Hier liefern wir Hinweise darauf, dass in Mitteleuropa (Ungarn, Ócsa-Vogelberingungsstation) im Verlauf der letzten 25 Jahre (zwischen 1989 und 2013) mit dem Geschlecht verbundene phänologische Veränderungen aufgetreten sind. Die Ankunft männlicher Trauerschnäpper im Brutgebiet verfrühte sich, während sich die Ankunft der Weibchen nicht veränderte, was auf zunehmende Protandrie schließen lässt.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
References
Ahola M, Laaksonen T, Sippola K, Eeva T, Rainio K, Lehikoinen E (2004) Variation in climate warming along the migration route uncouples arrival and breeding dates. Glob Chang Biol 10:1610–1617
Bauböck L, Miller-Rushing AJ, Primack RB, Evans TJ, Wasserman FE (2012) Climate change does not affect protandry in seven passerines in North America. Wilson J Ornithol 124(2):208–216
Both C, Visser ME (2001) Adjustment of climate change is constrained by arrival date in a long-distance migrant bird. Nature 411:296–298
Both C, Bijlsma RG, Visser ME (2005) Climatic effects on timing of spring migration and breeding in a long-distance migrant, the pied flycatcher Ficedula hypoleuca. J Avian Biol 36:368–373
Cramp P, Simmons KEL (1983) The birds of Western Palearctic, vol 3 (CD-ROM, disc 01). Oxford University Press, Oxford
Csörgő T, Harnos A (2011) Change of migration timing of Chiffchaff (Phylloscopus collybita) during 23 years. Orn Hung 19(1–2):53–63 (in Hungarian with English summary)
Fischer S (2002) Frühjahrsankunft ziehender Singvogelarten in Berlin über 26 Jahre. Berl Ornithol Berl 12:145–166
Hüppop O, Hüppop K (2002) North Atlantic Oscillation and timing of spring migration in birds. Proc R Soc Lond B Biol 270:233–240
Hüppop O, Winkel W (2006) 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
Møller AP (2004) Protandry, sexual selection and climate change. Glob Chang Biol 10:2028–2035
Morbey YE, Ydenberg RC (2001) Protandrous arrival timing to breeding areas: a review. Ecol Lett 4:663–673
Pinheiro J, Bates D, DebRoy S, Sarkar D, R Core Team (2014) nlme: linear and nonlinear mixed effects models. R package version 3.1-117. http://CRAN.R-project.org/package=nlme
R Core Team (2013) R: a language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna. http://www.R-project.org/
Raino K, Tøttrup AP, Lehikoinen E, Coppack T (2007) Effects of climate change on the degree of protandry in migratory songbirds. Clim Res 35:107–114
Rubolini D, Møller AP, Rainio K, Lehikoinen E (2007) Assessing intraspecific consistency and geographic variability in temporal trends of spring migration phenology among European bird species. Clim Res 35:135–146
Sokolov LV, Markovets MY, Shapoval AP, Morozov YG (1998) Long-term trends in the timing of spring migration of passerines on the Courish Spit of the Baltic Sea. Avian Ecol Behav 1:1–21
Spottiswoode CN, Saino N (2010) Sexual selection and climate change. In: Møller AP, Fiedler W, Berthold P (eds) Effects of climate change on birds. Oxford Biology. Oxford University Press, Oxford
Török J (2009) Pied flycatcher. In: Csörgő et al. (ed) Hungarian bird migration atlas. Kossuth Kiadó Zrt., Budapest, pp. 537–538 (in Hungarian with English summary)
Acknowledgments
The authors are grateful for the work of the volunteers at the Ócsa Bird Ringing Station. This work was supported by OTKA under grant no. 108571, and by a Research Faculty Grant 2014 of the Faculty of Veterinary Science at Szent István University. The study conforms to the legal requirements of Hungary.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Communicated by N. Chernetsov.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Harnos, A., Nóra, Á., Kovács, S. et al. Increasing protandry in the spring migration of the Pied Flycatcher (Ficedula hypoleuca) in Central Europe. J Ornithol 156, 543–546 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-014-1148-3
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-014-1148-3