Research topics

The ecology of Alpine migrant bird species: Linking breeding phenology and long-distance migration.

The project is planned for three years. Most of the field work was carried out from May to August in 2019, 2020 and 2021 in Italy, Piedmont, in Parco Val Troncea.

The study sites are characterised by their mountainous structure with an elevational gradient from 1.600-2.700 m.a.s.l.. Our focal species is the migratory Northern Wheatear Oenanthe oenanthe, inhabiting alpine grasslands, below and above the treeline.

The temporal and spatial organisation of the annual cycle of an Alpine population of the Northern Wheatear will be discovered through capture, observations and habitat measurements during the arrival, breeding and migration periods.

Background:

The Northern Wheatear is migrating to sub-Saharan Africa, and its South European populations breed in open habitats at high elevations. Mountainous open habitats are threatened due to climate change (Chamberlain et al., 2013), and the consequent upward treeline shift is likely to impact negatively on the distribution and total area of suitable habitat for species living above the treeline in the Italian Alps (Ferrarini et al., 2017). Indeed, evidence already exists that Alpine breeding Wheatears have undergone a range shift towards higher elevations (Bani et al., 2019). Climate change will also affect the demography and phenology of upland and mountain bird species (Scridel et al., 2018). An additional potential threat to this species is its seasonal migration, as especially long-distance migrants tend to have negative population trends (Kirby et al., 2008).

Aims and scopes:

Our study will link information on breeding demography and phenology, and nesting habitat to migration timing and wintering locations of a population breeding in the Piedmontese Alps.

Methods:

geolocation, trapping of adults (spring traps, nest traps), colour-ringing, chick ringing, nest searching (watching back), territory mapping, nest monitoring, resighting of colour-ringed individuals (survival)

In three breeding seasons (2019-2021) we collected on demography (population size, nest productivity, breeding phenology and survival) through territory mapping, nest monitoring and resighting of colour-ringed individuals.

To describe details of migration, such as dates of departure, stop-over sites, location of the wintering range and arrival dates at high elevation breeding grounds, we use for the first time light-level geolocators to breeding Wheatears in this region.

Selected publications:

Sander, M.M., Chamberlain, D., Mermillon, C., Alba, R., Jähnig, S., Rosselli, D., Meier, C.M., and Lisovski, S. (2021). Early Breeding Conditions Followed by Reduced Breeding Success Despite Timely Arrival in an Alpine Migratory Songbird. Front. Ecol. Evol. 9, 676506. https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2021.676506

Mermillon C. , Jähnig S., Sander M.M., Alba R., Rosselli D., Chamberlain D. (2021). Variations in Niche Breadth and Position of Alpine Birds along Elevation Gradients in the European Alps. Arla 69, 41–58. https://doi.org/10.13157/arla.69.1.2022.ra3.

Sander, M.M., and Chamberlain, D. (2020). Evidence for intraspecific phenotypic variation in songbirds along elevation gradients in central Europe. Ibis 162, 1355–1362. https://doi.org/10.1111/ibi.12843

Heim, W., Heim, R.J., Beermann, I., Burkovskiy, O.A., Gerasimov, Y., Ktitorov, P., Ozaki, K., Panov, I., Sander, M.M., Sjöberg, S., et al. (2020). Using geolocator tracking data and ringing archives to validate citizen-science based seasonal predictions of bird distribution in a data-poor region. Global Ecology and Conservation 24, e01215. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gecco.2020.e01215

Jähnig, S., Sander, M.M., Caprio, E., Rosselli, D., Rolando, A., and Chamberlain, D. (2020). Microclimate affects the distribution of grassland birds, but not forest birds, in an Alpine environment. J Ornithol 161, 677–689. DOI: 10.1007/s10336-020-01778-5

Sander, M.M., Heim, W., and Schmaljohann, H. (2020). Seasonal and diurnal increases in energy stores in migratory warblers at an autumn stopover site along the Asian–Australasian flyway. J Ornithol. 161, 73–87. DOI:10.1007/s10336-019-01701-7

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