Among 544 species of helminths recorded in birds on the territory of Poland, probably some (17 species of Digenea, 21 Cestoda, 13 Nematoda and 5 Acanthocephala) do not belong to the native fauna. These are helminths obtained in mature stage from birds shortly after their arrival from wintering grounds, or from foreign populations wintering with us, or being in the course of spring or autumn mig...

Several bird species have advanced the timing of their spring migration in response to recent climate change. European short-distance migrants, wintering in temperate areas, have been assumed to be more affected by change in the European climate than long-distance migrants wintering in the tropics. However, we show that long-distance migrants have advanced their spring arrival in Scandinavia mo...

We mapped migration routes of migratory songbirds to the Neotropics by using light-level geolocators mounted on breeding purple martins (Progne subis) and wood thrushes (Hylocichla mustelina). Wood thrushes from the same breeding population occupied winter territories within a narrow east-west band in Central America, suggesting high connectivity of breeding and wintering populations. Pace of s...

Mid-winter movements of up to several hundreds of kilometres are typical for many migratory bird species wintering in Africa. Unpredictable temporary food concentrations are thought to result in random movements of such birds, whereas resightings and recoveries of marked birds suggest some degree of site fidelity. Only detailed (e.g. satellite) tracking of individual migrants can reveal the rel...

team looked at satellite measures of sea surface temperatures for the wintering grounds of 24 humpback whale populations around the world. In all cases, the animals were opting for waters between 24 and 25oC. The whales in this study would have had to continue north of the Equator to find water this warm. Rasmussen believes that a high enough water temperature is crucial for them to breed. “It’...

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The tracking of small avian migrants has only recently become possible by the use of small light-level geolocators, allowing the reconstruction of whole migration routes, as well as timing and speed of migration and identification of wintering areas. Such information is crucial for evaluating theories about migration strategies and pinpointing critical areas for migrants of potential conservati...

abstract the objective of this paper was to determine species diversity of wintering waterbirds from a ten-year (2002-2011) monitoring in meyghan wetland. data for calculating the estimates of biodiversity come from the midwinter census by using a total count from the department of the markazi province's environment. data analysis for determine species diversity carried out by using ecolog...

The size of digestive organs can be rapidly and reversibly adjusted to ecological circumstances, but such phenotypic flexibility comes at a cost. Here, we test how the gizzard mass of a long-distance migrant, the red knot (Calidris canutus), is adjusted to (i) local climate, (ii) prey quality and (iii) migratory fuelling demands. For eight sites around the world (both wintering and stopover sit...

Demographic links among fragmented populations are commonly studied as source-sink dynamics, whereby source populations exhibit net recruitment and net emigration, while sinks suffer net mortality but enjoy net immigration. It is commonly assumed that large, persistent aggregations of individuals must be sources, but this ignores the possibility that they are sinks instead, buoyed demographical...