Migration efficiency sustains connectivity across agroecological networks supporting sandhill crane migration
Title: Migration efficiency sustains connectivity across agroecological networks supporting sandhill crane migration
Category: Academic Article
File: Donnelly_et_al_2021_0539_Migration-efficiency-sustains-connectivity.pdf
Updated Date: 27.07.2021
Author(s)/Source(s): Donnelly J. P., S. L. King, J. Knetter, J. H. Gammonley, V. J. Dreitz, B. A. Grisham, M. C. Nowak, and D. P. Collins
Publication Date: 2021-Jun
Focal Topic: Miscellaneous
Location: United States
Watershed Code: 180102
Preserving avian flyway connectivity has long been challenged by our capacity to meaningfully quantify continental habitat dynamics and bird movements at temporal and spatial scales underlying long-distance migrations. Waterbirds migrating hundreds or thousands of kilometers depend on networks
of wetland stopover sites to rest and refuel. Entire populations may rely on discrete wetland habitats, particularly in arid landscapes where the loss of limited stopover options can have disproportionately high impacts on migratory cost. Here, we examine flyway connectivity in water-limited ecosystems of western
North America using 108 GPS tagged greater sandhill cranes. Bird movements were used to reconstruct wetland stopover networks across three geographically unique sub-populations spanning 12 U.S.–Mexican states and Canadian provinces. Networks were monitored with remote sensing to identify long-term (1988–2019) trends in wetland and agricultural resources supporting migration and evaluated using network theory and centrality metrics as a measure of stopover site importance to flyway connectivity. Sandhill crane space use was analyzed in stopover locations to identify important ownership and landscape factors structuring bird distributions. Migratory efficiency was the primary mechanism underpinning network function. A small number of key stopover sites important to minimizing movement cost between summering and wintering locations were essential to preserving flyway connectivity. Localized efficiencies were apparent in stopover landscapes given prioritization of space use by birds where the proximity of agricultural food resources and flooded wetlands minimized daily movements. Model depictions showing wetland declines from 16% to 18% likely reflect a new normal in landscape drying that could decouple agriculture–waterbird relationships as water scarcity intensifies.
agricultural irrigation, agroecology, flyway connectivity, migratory networks, network analysis, North America, sandhill crane; water scarcity, waterbirds; wetlands