Abstract
AbstractMigrating animals may benefit from social or experiential learning, yet whether and how these learning processes interact or change over time to produce observed migration patterns remains unexplored. Using 16 years of satellite-tracking data from 105 reintroduced whooping cranes, we reveal an interplay between social and experiential learning in migration timing. Both processes dramatically improved individuals’ abilities to dynamically adjust their timing to track environmental conditions along the migration path. However, results revealed an ontogenetic shift in the dominant learning process, whereby subadult birds relied on social information, while mature birds primarily relied on experiential information. These results indicate that the adjustment of migration phenology in response to the environment is a learned skill that depends on both social context and individual age. Assessing how animals successfully learn to time migrations as environmental conditions change is critical for understanding intraspecific differences in migration patterns and for anticipating responses to global change.
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Subject
General Physics and Astronomy,General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology,General Chemistry
Reference51 articles.
1. Bauer, S. & Hoye, B. J. Migratory animals couple biodiversity and ecosystem functioning worldwide. Science 344, 1242552–1242552 (2014).
2. Abrahms, B. et al. Emerging perspectives on resource tracking and animal movement ecology. Trends Ecol. Evol. 36, 308–320 (2021).
3. Armstrong, J. B., Takimoto, G., Schindler, D. E., Hayes, M. M. & Kauffman, M. J. Resource waves: phenological diversity enhances foraging opportunities for mobile consumers. Ecology 97, 1099–1112 (2016).
4. Middleton, A. D. et al. Green-wave surfing increases fat gain in a migratory ungulate. Oikos 20, 741–749 (2018).
5. Fryxell, J. M., Greever, J. & Sinclair, A. Why are migratory ungulates so abundant. Am. Nat. 131, 781–798 (1988).
Cited by
32 articles.
订阅此论文施引文献
订阅此论文施引文献,注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献,订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献