Migration phenology and behaviour of songbirds

迁徙使生物体能够通过使它们的活动与有利的环境条件同步来提高生存和繁殖的成功率。气候变化和人为光污染的增加可能会破坏这种时间同步性。我的长期研究目标是确定控制迁移时间的内在和外在机制，以及这些机制如何限制或促进对环境变化的适应性反应。这需要研究内源性和环境因素之间的相互作用如何控制迁徙生物的物候。光周期被认为是鸟类迁徙时间表最重要的外部线索。我的第一个短期目标是验证这样一个假设，即雏鸟经历的光周期变化是一种携带迁徙时序程序的机制（个体发生效应）。我还将研究人为光污染是否会影响迁徙时间表的发展和维持。通过使用新的跟踪系统，将研究航线上的外部因素提示或约束迁移时间的程度。这将使我能够2)确定在迁徙过程中所经历的环境因素如何影响其时间，并测试途中的光周期是否可以作为鸟类调整迁徙时间以匹配其先天物候的外部线索。我还将确定哪些生活史因素会影响迁徙时间，包括能量消耗大的事件，如换毛。最后，迁徙时间可能会根据食物供应的外部线索做出反应并进行微调。因此，我将调查我所研究的生物的时间是否与主要猎物（Libellulidae）的迁徙时间同步。我使用一种温带繁殖的候鸟（Progne subis）作为研究系统，因为它丰富，易于在实验研究殖民地获取，以及我现有的长期迁徙数据集的可用性。通过整合实地实验和鸟类追踪系统来测量实际迁徙过程中的行为，我和我的学生将建立在以前的实验室研究的基础上，这些研究大多局限于使用非特定的迁徙活动测量方法。拟议的研究将支持16名HQP的培训。总体而言，我将推进形成迁移计划发展和维护机制的基本知识，并提供对迁移行为对不断变化的环境条件的灵活程度的新见解。加拿大的大多数鸟类都是候鸟，许多物种的数量正在急剧下降。我的研究将有助于预测候鸟如何受到环境变化的影响，加强对处于危险中的种群的识别，并有助于制定更有效的保护管理和关注物种的政策。

Migration enables organisms to enhance survival and reproductive success by synchronizing their activities with favourable environmental conditions. Climate change and increasing anthropogenic light pollution may disrupt this temporal synchrony. My long-term research objective is to identify the intrinsic and extrinsic mechanisms governing migration timing and how these may limit, or promote, adaptive responses to environmental change. This requires investigating how interactions between endogenous and environmental factors govern the phenology of migratory organisms. Photoperiod is hypothesized to be the most important external cue for avian migration schedules. My first short-term objective 1) is to test the hypothesis that variation in photoperiod experienced by nestlings is a mechanism that entrains migration timing programs (ontogenetic effect). I will also investigate whether anthropogenic light pollution can influence the development and maintenance of migratory schedules. The degree to which extrinsic factors en route cue or constrain migratory timing will be investigated by using new tracking systems. These will allow me to 2) determine how environmental factors experienced during migration impact its timing, and test whether photoperiod en route serves as an external cue by which birds can adjust migration timing to match their innate phenology. I will also, 3) determine what life history factors can influence migration timing, including energetically costly events such as moult. Lastly, migration timing may respond and be fine-tuned by external cues of food availability. I will therefore 4) investigate whether timing is synchronized with the migration timing of a major prey (Libellulidae) for my study organism. I use a temperate breeding, migratory songbird species (Progne subis) as a study system due to its abundance, ease of access at experimental research colonies, and the availability of my existing long-term migration dataset. By integrating field experiments and bird-borne tracking systems to measure behaviour during actual migration, my students and I will build upon previous laboratory studies that were mostly limited to the use of non-specific measures of migratory activity.The proposed research will support training of 16 HQP. Overall, I will advance fundamental knowledge of mechanisms shaping the development and maintenance of migratory programs and provide novel insight into the degree to which migratory behaviour is flexible to changing environmental conditions. Most of Canada's birds are migratory, and many species are experiencing steep rates of population decline. My research will enable predictions for how migratory birds will be affected by environmental change, enhancing the identification of populations at risk, and contributing to the development of more effective conservation management and policy for species of concern.