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Using stable hydrogen isotopes (delta H-2) and ring recoveries to trace natal origins in a Eurasian passerine with a migratory divide

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Author

  • Petr Prochazka
  • Steven L. Van Wilgenburg
  • Julio Neto
  • Reuven Yosef
  • Keith A. Hobson

Summary, in English

Despite recent advances in technology, it remains difficult to connect breeding and non-breeding areas of populations of migratory organisms due to the challenges of year-round tracking. Here, we used the Eurasian reed warbler Acrocephalus scirpaceus, a passerine with a pronounced migratory divide to demonstrate the promise of integrating several sources of information within the Bayesian modelling framework for the study of migratory connectivity. To this end, we combined data from stable hydrogen isotope ratios (H-2) of feathers, ring recoveries, and the geographic delineation of sub-populations on either side of the migratory divide. Feather H-2 measurements from local juvenile birds sampled across the breeding range tightly correlated with amount-weighted mean annual precipitation H-2 values predicted for the natal sites. Predicted natal origins of birds intercepted en route in the Mediterranean region largely differed among the five stopover sites. Thanks to the different migratory pathways used by different breeding populations and the existence of a migratory divide, we were able to effectively narrow the assigned regions of origin. Our results show that spatial resolution of likelihood-based assignments of geographic origins based on H-2 measurements may improve significantly when prior probabilities derived from population-specific migratory directions are included. Integrating information from stable isotopes, ring recoveries, geolocators and other sources within the Bayesian modelling framework will provide an extremely useful toolbox for the study of animal movements in the future.

Publishing year

2013

Language

English

Pages

541-550

Publication/Series

Journal of Avian Biology

Volume

44

Issue

6

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

Wiley-Blackwell

Topic

  • Biological Sciences

Status

Published

Research group

  • Molecular Ecology and Evolution Lab

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 0908-8857