Avian Migration Phenology and Global Climate Change

There is mounting evidence that global climate change has extended growing seasons, changed distribution patterns, and altered the phenology of flowering, breeding, and migration. For migratory birds, the timing of arrival on breeding territories and over-wintering grounds is a key determinant of re...

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Published inProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS Vol. 100; no. 21; pp. 12219 - 12222
Main Author Cotton, Peter A.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States National Academy of Sciences 14.10.2003
National Acad Sciences
Subjects
Africa South of the Sahara
Animal migration
Animal Migration - physiology
Animal migration behavior
Animals
Aviculture
Biological Sciences
Birds
Birds - physiology
Climate change
Climate models
Ecosystem
Greenhouse Effect
Linear Models
Phenology
Seasonal migration
Seasons
Species Specificity
Summer
T tests
Temperature
United Kingdom
Winter
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Summary:There is mounting evidence that global climate change has extended growing seasons, changed distribution patterns, and altered the phenology of flowering, breeding, and migration. For migratory birds, the timing of arrival on breeding territories and over-wintering grounds is a key determinant of reproductive success, survivorship, and fitness. But we know little of the factors controlling earlier passage in long-distance migrants. Over the past 30 years in Oxfordshire, U.K., the average arrival and departure dates of 20 migrant bird species have both advanced by 8 days; consequently, the overall residence time in Oxfordshire has remained unchanged. The timing of arrival has advanced in relation to increasing winter temperatures in sub-Saharan Africa, whereas the timing of departure has advanced after elevated summer temperatures in Oxfordshire. This finding demonstrates that migratory phenology is quite likely to be affected by global climate change and links events in tropical winter quarters with those in temperate breeding areas.
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content type line 23
Edited by Stephen H. Schneider, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, and approved July 24, 2003
This paper was submitted directly (Track II) to the PNAS office.
Abbreviations: SOI, southern oscillation index; NAOI, North Atlantic oscillation index.
E-mail: p.cotton@plymouth.ac.uk.
ISSN:0027-8424
1091-6490
DOI:10.1073/pnas.1930548100