Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Pablo Salmon, Arne Jacobs, Dag Ahren, Clotilde Biard, Niels J. Dingemanse, Davide M. Dominoni, Barbara Helm, Max Lundberg, Juan Carlos Senar, Philipp Sprau, Marcel E. Visser, Caroline Isaksson
Summary: The study reveals that urban adaptation in great tits is driven by a combination of polygenic allele frequency shifts and recurrent selective sweeps, mostly within genes related to neural function and development. Selective sweeps in a core-set of behaviour-linked genes contribute to the adaptation of great tits to urban environments, with unique and shared sweeps occurring in different populations.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2021)
Article
Ecology
Michael E. Akresh, David I. King, Peter P. Marra
Summary: Research shows that the hatching date of birds can affect their lifetime winter habitat occupancy, while reproductive success of adult males does not impact winter habitat occupancy. This finding contributes to our understanding of seasonal interactions in migratory birds.
ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2021)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Elly C. Knight, Autumn-Lynn Harrison, Amy L. Scarpignato, Steven L. Van Wilgenburg, Erin M. Bayne, Janet W. Ng, Emily Angell, R. Bowman, R. Mark Brigham, Bruno Drolet, Wendy E. Easton, Timothy R. Forrester, Jeffrey T. Foster, Samuel Hache, Kevin C. Hannah, Kristina G. Hick, Jacques Ibarzabal, Tara L. Imlay, Stuart A. Mackenzie, Alan Marsh, Liam P. McGuire, Gretchen N. Newberry, David Newstead, Andrea Sidler, Pam H. Sinclair, Jaime L. Stephens, David L. Swanson, Junior A. Tremblay, Peter P. Marra
Summary: Migratory connectivity refers to the degree of linkages between populations in space and time across the annual cycle. High migratory connectivity was observed during migration through North America for common nighthawks, while lower connectivity was found in Central and South America. Simulation estimations demonstrated the reliability of the tracking method even with sparse location data.
Article
Ecology
Pablo Macias-Torres, Thomas Alerstam, Arne Andersson, Johan Backman, Kasper Thorup, Anders P. Tottrup, Sissel Sjoberg
Summary: This study evaluated the patterns of activity throughout the complete annual cycle of the red-backed shrike, a long-distance migratory bird, using multisensor data loggers. The results showed that daytime activity varied throughout the annual cycle, while night-time activity was mostly limited to migratory flights. The highest daytime activity levels were observed during the breeding season, and activity remained low during autumn migration and the winter period. Both sexes exhibited higher daytime activity during spring migration than autumn migration, particularly during the final migratory leg towards the breeding ground. The birds showed lower daytime activity on migratory days than on non-migratory days during both migratory seasons.
Article
Ecology
Rachael A. Bay, Daniel S. Karp, James F. Saracco, William R. L. Anderegg, Luke O. Frishkoff, David Wiedenfeld, Thomas B. Smith, Kristen Ruegg
Summary: For migratory songbird yellow warblers, individual-level wintering and breeding precipitation show correlation, while birds from drier regions exhibit distinct morphologies and responses to varying rainfall. Bill size is positively associated with breeding season precipitation, indicating potential adaptation to local precipitation regimes. Relative abundance in the breeding range is linked to interannual precipitation fluctuations, with differing responses observed across geography.
Article
Ecology
Calandra Q. Stanley, Michele R. Dudash, Thomas B. Ryder, W. Gregory Shriver, Kimberly Serno, Solny Adalsteinsson, Peter P. Marra
Summary: The study found that wood thrush exhibit different habitat selection patterns during the breeding and migration seasons, with factors driving habitat selection at multiple spatial scales aligning with life-history stage and potentially dependent on regional differences in landscape composition.
Article
Ecology
Michiel P. P. Boom, Thomas K. K. Lameris, Kees H. T. Schreven, Nelleke H. H. Buitendijk, Sander Moonen, Peter P. de Vries, Elmira Zaynagutdinova, Bart A. A. Nolet, Henk P. van der Jeugd, Goetz Eichhorn
Summary: Performing migratory journeys comes with energetic costs and requires compensation within the annual cycle. A study on barnacle geese showed that migratory individuals were more active than residents throughout most of the year, with the largest differences observed during the periods of spring and autumn migration. Migratory geese also exhibited longer night-time activity, indicating the need for extended foraging during migration.
Article
Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences
Mingyi Xu, Xiushu Qie, Wenjing Pang, Guangyu Shi, Li Liang, Zhuling Sun, Shanfeng Yuan, Kexin Zhu, Peitao Zhao
Summary: This study utilized an 11-year ground-based cloud-to-cloud lightning dataset to investigate the lightning climatology over China's land area. The findings reveal that lightning activity decreases from south to north and from east to west, with peak activity in certain southern and eastern coastal provinces. Lightning in spring, summer, and autumn remains consistent throughout the day, while winter lightning is more active at night. Positive cloud-to-ground lightning flashes with higher peak currents are more than three times as common as negative flashes, and the mean peak current shows an inverse diurnal pattern to activity.
ATMOSPHERIC RESEARCH
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Amelia Chyb, Jan Jedlikowski, Radoslaw Wlodarczyk, Piotr Minias
Summary: Research on the Eurasian coot showed that urban breeding populations prefer habitats with more artificial areas during the non-breeding season. Compared to random sites, urban birds selected sites with higher levels of urbanization. As the non-breeding season progressed, individuals from all study populations chose more urbanized areas.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2021)
Article
Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences
A. Savarin, S. S. Chen
Summary: Large-scale convection associated with the Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO) initiates over the Indian Ocean and propagates eastward across the Maritime Continent (MC). The complex interactions between the MJO and the MC landmass weaken MJO events in the MC. The land-sea contrast and terrain of the MC affect MJO propagation over the region.
JOURNAL OF ADVANCES IN MODELING EARTH SYSTEMS
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Dongqin Yin, Qian Li, Xiang Li, Ruirui Zhu
Summary: This study comprehensively investigates the sensitivities of hydrological and agricultural water deficits to climate variability at a global scale. The findings show that streamflow and water storage deficits are more sensitive to rainfall variation, while plant water availability is more responsive to potential evapotranspiration variations. The sensitivities of the water deficit indices are influenced by the wetness index and catchment surface properties.
ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH LETTERS
(2022)
Article
Ecology
Camilo Carneiro, Tomas G. Gunnarsson, Jose A. Alves
Summary: Matching the timing of annual cycle events with the required resources is crucial for individual fitness. Delays at any point in the sequence may negatively affect individual performance. This study on Icelandic whimbrels reveals that individuals use wintering sites to compensate for delays caused by successful breeding, and a domino effect impacts the breeding output. However, saving time during stationary periods helps avoid interannual effects between breeding seasons.
AMERICAN NATURALIST
(2023)
Article
Environmental Studies
Laurence H. De Clippele, Laura Alonso Diaz, Dominic A. Andradi-Brown, Muhammad Erdi Lazuardi, Mohamad Iqbal, Imam Musthofa Zainudin, Derta Prabuning, Ruben van Hooidonk, Amehr Hakim, Firdaus Agung, Agus Dermawan, Sebastian J. Hennige
Summary: Coral reefs are facing an uncertain future due to global climate change, with increasing occurrences of thermal-induced bleaching. Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are becoming more important to protect the reefs. A study in Indonesia evaluated the spatial variation of severe bleaching, whether reefs with later bleaching onset are protected within MPAs, and the risk profiles for reefs related to MPAs receiving priority investments.
Article
Engineering, Industrial
Haiying Ren, Yuhui Zhao
Summary: This study proposes a new approach to technology opportunity discovery, using patents as data source and constructing domain knowledge networks (DKNs) based on syntactic dependencies. Regression analysis is used to obtain significant variables, forming an objective function for searching optimal opportunities. Ant colony optimization is applied for discovering the best set of technology opportunities.
Article
Ecology
Gabriel R. Zuckerman, Kristin J. Barker, Laura C. Gigliotti, Eric K. Cole, Justin A. Gude, Mark A. Hurley, Matthew J. Kauffman, Daryl Lutz, Daniel R. MacNulty, Eric J. Maichak, Doug McWhirter, Tony W. Mong, Kelly Proffitt, Brandon M. Scurlock, Daniel R. Stahler, Ben Wise, Arthur D. Middleton
Summary: A growing body of evidence suggests that short-term behavioral changes in ungulates, such as switching between migratory and nonmigratory behaviors, may enhance resiliency to changing environmental and anthropogenic conditions. This study analyzed 14 years of movement data from 361 elk in 20 herds to identify different behavioral tactics and understand the drivers of switching behavior. The results showed that elk exhibited four distinct behavioral tactics and frequently switched tactics, with herds with higher tactic diversity being more adaptable to adverse conditions.