6/13/2023 0 Comments Atlantic puffin size![]() ![]() The overwintering destinations of Puffins (in common with many pelagic seabirds) have never been pin-pointed clearly from recoveries of ringed birds that have died, suggesting that they spend most of the time in the open ocean (recently confirmed by Harris et al. Puffins breed on relatively isolated cliff slopes and islands around the North Atlantic in the northern summer, pursuit diving for pelagic fish in local waters, then leave their dense colonies in late summer on migration. The latter problem is especially acute for seabirds, such as Atlantic Puffins, Fratercula arctica, that migrate over open ocean, where available cues may differ from those over land. Whilst the navigational capacities of terrestrial birds have been more intensely studied than those of any other animal group, following the behaviour of individuals during natural migrations has always proved difficult, leaving unanswered important questions about how individuals actually control navigation over very long distances. Masters of migration, birds have formed the core model for our understanding of animal migration for decades, leading to an orthodoxy that migratory patterns are dominated either by genetically inherited compass information, or culturally inherited routes. The funders had no role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.Ĭompeting interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist. ![]() This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.įunding: This work was funded with the help of Microsoft Research Cambridge, Oxford University, and a Natural Environment Research Council studentship (Ben Dean). Received: ApAccepted: Published: July 20, 2011Ĭopyright: © 2011 Guilford et al. ![]() PLoS ONE 6(7):Įditor: Yan Ropert-Coudert, Institut Pluridisciplinaire Hubert Curien, France (2011) A Dispersive Migration in the Atlantic Puffin and Its Implications for Migratory Navigation. We suggest that a mechanism of individual exploration and acquired navigational memory may provide the dominant control over Puffin migration, and potentially some other pelagic seabirds, despite the apparently featureless nature of the ocean.Ĭitation: Guilford T, Freeman R, Boyle D, Dean B, Kirk H, Phillips R, et al. This combination of complex population dispersion and individual route fidelity cannot easily be accounted for in terms of genetic inheritance of compass instructions, or cultural inheritance of traditional routes. Despite this within-population variability, individuals show remarkable consistency in their own migratory routes among years. Puffins do not migrate to a single overwintering area, but follow a dispersive pattern of movements changing through the non-breeding period, showing great variability in travel distances and directions. By tracking the individual migrations of Atlantic Puffins, Fratercula arctica, in successive years using geolocators, we describe migratory behaviour in a pelagic seabird that is apparently incompatible with this view. Navigational control of avian migration is understood, largely from the study of terrestrial birds, to depend on either genetically or culturally inherited information. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |