Individual consistency of long-distance migration in a songbird: significant repeatability of autumn route, stopovers and wintering sites but not in timing of migration

Through new tracking techniques, data on timing and routes of migration in long-distance migrant birds are accumulating. However, studies of the consistency of migration of the same individuals between years are still rare in small-sized passerine birds. This type of information is important to understand decisions and migration abilities at the individual level, but also for life history theory, for understanding carry over effects between different annual cycle stages and for conservation. We analysed individual repeatability of migration between years in great reed warblers Acrocephalus arundinaceus; a medium-sized European songbird migrating to sub-Saharan Africa. In seven males, with geolocator data from 2–4 yr per bird, we found low to moderate (non significant) repeatability in timing of migration parameters (R ≤ 0.41), but high (and significant) repeatability for most spatial parameters, i.e. autumn route (R = 0.64) and stopover sites (R = 0.59–0.87) in Europe, and wintering sit...

通过新型追踪技术，长途迁徙鸟类的迁徙时间与路线数据正日益积累。然而，针对小型雀形目鸟类同个体跨年度迁徙一致性的研究仍相对匮乏。这类信息不仅对于理解个体层面的迁徙决策与能力至关重要，还可为生活史理论研究、解析年度周期不同阶段间的跨期效应（carry-over effects）以及物种保护提供关键依据。我们分析了大苇莺（Acrocephalus arundinaceus）的个体跨年度迁徙重复性；该物种为中型欧洲鸣禽，迁徙至撒哈拉以南非洲。在7只雄性个体中（每只鸟拥有2-4年的地理定位器数据），我们发现其迁徙时间参数的重复性较低至中等（无显著差异，R ≤ 0.41），但多数空间参数的重复性较高（且差异显著），例如秋季迁徙路线（R = 0.64）、欧洲境内的中途停歇位点（R = 0.59–0.87）以及越冬地...