Life Sciences Commons^™

Timing Of Breeding Site Availability Across The North-American Arctic Partly Determines Spring Migration Schedule In A Long-Distance Neotropical Migrant, Jean François Lamarre, Gilles Gauthier, Richard B. Lanctot, Sarah T. Saalfeld, Oliver P. Love, Eric Reed, Oscar W. Johnson, Joe Liebezeit, Rebecca Mcguire, Mike Russell, Erica Nol, Laura Koloski, Felicia Sanders, Laura Mckinnon, Paul A. Smith, Scott A. Flemming, Nicolas Lecomte, Marie Andrée Giroux

Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research Publications

Long-distance migrants are under strong selection to arrive on their breeding grounds at a time that maximizes fitness. Many arctic birds start nesting shortly after snow recedes from their breeding sites and timing of snowmelt can vary substantially over the breeding range of widespread species. We tested the hypothesis that migration schedules of individuals co-occurring at the same non-breeding areas are adapted to average local environmental conditions encountered at their specific and distant Arctic breeding locations. We predicted that timing of breeding site availability (measured here as the average snow-free date) should explain individual variation in departure time from shared …