Revisiting Perdeck's massive avian migration experiments debunks alternative social interpretations.
Biol Lett
; 20(7): 20240217, 2024 Jun.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-38955225
ABSTRACT
Whether avian migrants can adapt to their changing world depends on the relative importance of genetic and environmental variation for the timing and direction of migration. In the classic series of field experiments on avian migration, A. C. Perdeck discovered that translocated juveniles failed to reach goal areas, whereas translocated adults performed 'true-goal navigation'. His translocations of > 14 000 common starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) suggested that genetic mechanisms guide juveniles into a population-specific direction, i.e. 'vector navigation'. However, alternative explanations involving social learning after release in juveniles could not be excluded. By adding historical data from translocation sites, data that was unavailable in Perdeck's days, and by integrated analyses including the original data, we could not explain juvenile migrations from possible social information upon release. Despite their highly social behaviour, our findings are consistent with the idea that juvenile starlings follow inherited information and independently reach their winter quarters. Similar to more solitarily migrating songbirds, starlings would require genetic change to adjust the migration route in response to global change.
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Texto completo:
1
Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Comportamento Social
/
Migração Animal
/
Estorninhos
Limite:
Animals
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Biol Lett
Assunto da revista:
BIOLOGIA
Ano de publicação:
2024
Tipo de documento:
Article
País de afiliação:
Holanda