Avian Migration

The reader of this comprehensive presentation benefits from an outstanding overview of all aspects of the fascinating phenomenon of bird migration. The book is written by leading experts from around the world. The text summarizes reviews and discussions of the most recent hypotheses. In doing so, it covers the entire research field from phenomenology through to ecology, physiology, control mechanisms, orientation, evolutionary aspects and conservation measures. It also examines the most modern methodological approaches including, satellite trakcking, molecular techniques or stable isotope investigations and envisages forthcoming developments in the course of global warming. Front Matter....Pages I-XVI Front Matter....Pages 1-1 Evolution of Bird Migration: A Phylogenetic and Biogeographic Perspective....Pages 3-20 Recent Changes in Migratory Behaviour of Birds: A Compilation of Field Observations and Ringing Data....Pages 21-38 Ecology and Evolution of Hummingbird Population Movements and Migration....Pages 39-51 Quantitative Genetic Analysis of Migratory Behaviour....Pages 53-77 Front Matter....Pages 79-79 Circannual and Circadian Contributions to the Timing of Avian Migration....Pages 81-95 Migratory Behavior: New Insights from Captive Studies....Pages 97-111 Avian Migration: Regulation of Facultative-Type Movements....Pages 113-125 Behavioural and Hormonal Dynamics in a Partial Migrant — the Willow Tit....Pages 127-140 Life-History and Ecophysiological Adaptations to Migration in Australian Birds....Pages 141-154 Behavioural and Physiological Reactions to Environmental Variation in Bird Migration: a Review....Pages 155-171 Front Matter....Pages 173-173 Morphological Consequences of Migration in Passerines....Pages 175-186 Within Ten Feathers: Primary Moult Strategies of Migratory Waders (Charadrii)....Pages 187-197 Optimizing Migration in a Reluctant and Inefficient Flier: The Eared Grebe....Pages 199-209 Geographical Patterns in Bird Migration....Pages 211-224 Nocturnal Migration of Passerines in the Desert-Highland Zone of Western Central Asia: Selected Aspects....Pages 225-236 Relationships Between Migration and Breeding Strategies in Arctic Breeding Birds....Pages 237-249 Front Matter....Pages 251-251 Bird Migration Speed....Pages 253-267 Energetic Savings by Organ Adjustment During Long Migratory Flights in Garden Warblers ( Sylvia borin )....Pages 269-280 Priority Access to Food in Migratory Birds: Age, Sex and Motivational Asymmetries....Pages 281-292 Interdependence of Flight and Stopover in Migrating Birds: Possible Effects of Metabolic Constraints During Refuelling on Flight Metabolism....Pages 293-306 Front Matter....Pages 251-251 Fuel Deposition Rates in Migrating Birds: Causes, Constraints and Consequences....Pages 307-320 Nutritional Strategies in Migratory Birds....Pages 321-332 Front Matter....Pages 333-333 Using a Network of WSR-88D Weather Surveillance Radars to Define Patterns of Bird Migration at Large Spatial Scales....Pages 335-346 The Radar Window to Bird Migration....Pages 347-358 Snowy Owl Movements: Variation on the Migration Theme....Pages 359-366 Orientation in “Featureless” Environments: The Extreme Case of Pelagic Birds....Pages 367-377 Making Migratory Connections with Stable Isotopes....Pages 379-391 Individual Variability in Experiments with Emlen Funnels....Pages 393-405 Conservation of Migratory Birds....Pages 407-420 Front Matter....Pages 421-421 Magnetic Navigation by an Avian Migrant?....Pages 423-432 Mechanisms of Orientation and Navigation in Migratory Birds....Pages 433-456 Migratory Systems as Adaptive Responses to Spatial and Temporal Variability in Orientation Stimuli....Pages 457-469 Avian Long-Distance Navigation: Experiments with Migratory Birds....Pages 471-492 Spatiotemporal Orientation Strategies of Long-Distance Migrants....Pages 493-513 Stored Fat and the Migratory Orientation of Birds....Pages 515-525 The Drag Paradox: Measurements of Flight Performance and Body Drag in Flying Birds....Pages 527-541 Twenty-Three Testable Predictions About Bird Flight....Pages 543-562 Front Matter....Pages 563-582 Bird Migration as an Interdisciplinary Tool for Global Cooperation....Pages 583-583 Back Matter....Pages 585-599 ....Pages 601-610 P. Berthold and E. Gwinnd Bird migration is an intriguing aspect of the living world - so much so that it has been investigated for as long, and as thoroughly, as almost any other natural phenomenon. Aristotle, who can count as the founder of scientific ornithology, paid very close attention to the migrations of the birds he ob­ served, but it was not until the reign of Friedrich II, in the first half of the 13th century, that reliable data began to be obtained. From then on, the data­ base grew rapidly. Systematic studies of bird migration were introduced when the Vogelwarte Rossitten was founded, as the first ornithological­ biological observation station in the world (see first chapter "In Memory of Vogelwarte Rossitten"). This area later received enormous impetus when ex­ perimental research on the subject was begun: the large-scale bird-ringing experiment initiated in Rossitten in 1903 by Johannes Thienemann (who was inspired by the pioneering studies of C. C. M. Mortensen), the experiments on photoperiodicity carried out by William Rowan in the 1920s in Canada and retention and release experiments performed by Thienemann in the 1930s in Rossitten, the first experimental study on the orientation of migratory birds. After the Second World War, migration research, while continuing in the previous areas, also expanded into new directions such as radar ornithology, ecophysiology and hormonal control mechanisms, studies of evolution, ge­ netics, telemetry and others.