Migration phenology and behaviour of songbirds

迁徙使生物体的活动与有利的环境条件同步，从而提高它们的生存和繁殖成功。气候变化和日益增加的人为光污染可能会扰乱这种时间同步。我的长期研究目标是确定管理迁徙时机的内在和外在机制，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测试这一假设，即雏鸟经历的光周期变化是一种携带迁徙计时程序(个体发生效应)的机制。我还将调查人为光污染是否会影响迁徙时间表的制定和维持。通过使用新的跟踪系统，将调查在途中的外部因素对迁徙时间的暗示或约束的程度。这将使我能够2)确定迁徙过程中经历的环境因素如何影响迁徙的时间，并测试迁徙过程中的光周期是否作为外部线索，鸟类可以根据这些外部线索调整迁徙时间，以匹配它们与生俱来的物候。我还将确定哪些生活史因素会影响迁徙时机，包括诸如换羽等耗费精力的事件。最后，迁徙时机可能会做出反应，并根据食物供应的外部线索进行微调。因此，我将调查时间是否与我所研究的生物体的一种主要猎物(丽贝科)的迁徙时间同步。我使用温带繁殖的候鸟物种(Progne Subis)作为研究系统，因为它的丰富性，易于在实验研究群体中访问，以及我现有的长期迁徙数据集的可用性。通过整合现场实验和鸟载跟踪系统来测量实际迁徙过程中的行为，我的学生和我将建立在以前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措施。拟议的研究将支持对16名HQP的培训。总体而言，我将推进形成移民项目开发和维护机制的基础知识，并提供关于移民行为在多大程度上灵活地适应不断变化的环境条件的新见解。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。我的研究将能够预测候鸟将如何受到环境变化的影响，加强对濒危种群的识别，并有助于为受关注物种制定更有效的保护管理和政策。

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.