Migration phenology and behaviour of songbirds

迁移使生物体能够使其活动与有利的环境条件同步，从而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管理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。这就需要研究内源性和环境因素之间的相互作用是如何控制迁徙生物的物候的。** 光周期被假设为鸟类迁徙时间表最重要的外部线索。我的第一个短期目标1）是检验这一假设，即雏鸟经历的光周期变化是一种机制，它导致了迁移时间程序（个体发育效应）。我还将调查人为光污染是否会影响迁徙时间表的发展和维持。在何种程度上外在因素的路线线索或限制迁移时间将通过使用新的跟踪系统进行调查。这将使我能够确定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外部线索，使鸟类能够调整迁徙时间以匹配其先天的物候。我还将确定哪些生活史因素会影响迁移时间，包括能量消耗事件，如换羽。最后，迁徙的时间可能会受到食物供应的外部线索的影响。因此，我将调查时间是否与我的研究生物的主要猎物（天蛾科）的迁移时间同步。** 我使用温带繁殖，迁徙鸣禽物种（Progne subis）作为研究系统，因为它丰富，易于在实验研究殖民地访问，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传跟踪系统来测量实际迁移过程中的行为，我和我的学生将建立在以前的实验室研究基础上，这些研究主要限于使用非特定的迁移活动措施。拟议的研究将支持16名HQP的培训。总的来说，我将推进机制的基本知识塑造的发展和维护的移民计划，并提供新的洞察到迁移行为的灵活程度，不断变化的环境条件。加拿大的大多数鸟类都是候鸟，许多物种正在经历人口急剧下降。我的研究将能够预测候鸟将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，并为制定更有效的保护管理和政策做出贡献。

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.