17. 11.

2016

Doc. dr. Vladimir

Ivović
Oddelek za biodiverziteto
FAMNIT
Univerza na Primorskem

Parent
population

1
 17. 11. 2016

Migration

• locust swarms &

• bird migrations

Dispersal

• movement of plant seeds

• movement of mammals away from their social group.

To the moving individual organism, there is no distinction between

migration and dispersal. Both are movements from an unfavourable
situation towards the potentially favourable.

 Mammals
 Birds
 Amphibians
 Reptiles
 Fish
 Insects
 Plankton

2
 17. 11. 2016

Why do animals migrate?

Migration is a behavioral adaptation that helps animals survive!!!

 to find food and water

 to breed

 to find more favorable living habitat

 to find essential minerals

 to find shelter or avoid harsh winter weather
 to search for a mate
 to give birth, lay eggs or raise young
 to flee overcrowded conditions (lemmings)

To find food and water

Serengeti wildebeest (gnu) migration

Connochaetes tuarinus mearnsi

• seeking fresh grazing (food) and water

• migration is entirely dependent upon the
rainfall patterns

3
 17. 11. 2016

More then 2 millions animals migrate from July to October

1.5 million gnus

350,000 Thomson’s gazelles
200,000 zebras
12,000 elands

4
 17. 11. 2016

Migrating to breed

Emperor penguin
Aptenodytes forsteri

To find shelter or avoid harsh winter weather

Monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus)

4750 km (in autumn)

Over-wintering site Michoacan, Mexico

Discovered 1975
World Heritage site form 2008

5
 17. 11. 2016

Seasonal - primary pattern

 Daily movements
 Seasonal movements

Latitudinal (north-south)

 Short distance (within a

continent) Some birds, bats, and
whales
 Long distance (between continents)
Many species of songbirds, shorebirds, waterfowl, hawks
Some bats and whales
Altitudinal (Elevational)

 Movement up and down mountain slopes

Related to weather (especially snow depth) and food conditions
deer, elk, Mountain Goats, Spotted Owls, some songbirds
 Diurnal vertical
migration Plankton

Seasonal, daily movements

• snails - hiding in humid microhabitats during the day, then migrate into
foraging areas at night
• planktonic algae - sink to deep water in the night (where they accumulate
nutrients like P) and then rise to surface in the day (where they photosynthesise)

• Plankton animals (zooplankton)

6
 17. 11. 2016

Latitudinal migrations
Humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae)
Longest mammal migration
Up to 8,500 km each way

Artic tern (Sterna paradisaea)

Longest recorded round-trip

breeding sites in
Greenland and Iceland

1 month
fuel stop
 Body mass 100gr

 Life span 34 years

 80,000 km round trip

 Distance
each bird flew during
its lifetime more than
2 million km
Antarctica
winter grounds

7
 17. 11. 2016

Altitudinal (Elevational) migrations

*seasonal movement of animals up and down major land features

Birds
Bears
Wolves
Alpine ibex-Kozorog

Guinness records held by animal migrants

Smallest migrant

Largest migrant

Longest mammal migration

Longest insect migration

Longest recorded round-trip

Highest migration altitude

Source: Hoare 2009, Egevang et al. 2010

8
 17. 11. 2016

 Path integration (dead reckoning)

 Piloting, Landmarks
 Magnetic field
 Alignment of sun and stars in night sky
 Olfactory cues
 Combination

Path integration (dead reckoning)

Sahara desert ant (Cataglyphis bicolor)

9
 17. 11. 2016

Piloting, Landmarks

 The ability to find a goal by referring to familiar landmarks

 Animal is moving from one familiar landmark to another until it
reaches its destination
Pigeons

Predatory wasps

10
 17. 11. 2016

Magnetic field
Used by long distance migrators (birds, whales and turtles)

2 possible mechanisms of action

21

Located in beaks of birds

22

11
 17. 11. 2016

Alignment of sun and stars in night sky

Sunlight

Sunlight

European starling-Sturnus vulgaris

12
 17. 11. 2016

Olfactory cues

Cory’s Sheawaters
and other tubenoses

* Pipeline engineers have used

this ability as well, injecting ethyl
mercaptan (an odorant found in
carrion) into pipes and following
vultures to the leak.

Gagliardo A et al. J Exp Biol 2013;216:2798-2805

13
 17. 11. 2016

 Over 5 billion land

birds of 187 species migrate
between Europe and Asia to
Africa
 Over 5 billion land birds
of over 200 species migrate
between North America and
the New World tropics
 75% of 650 bird
species that nest in N.
America migrate

Eleonora’s Falcon (Falco eleonorae)

breeds on Mediterranean areas in fall to take advantage of

migrants.

14
 17. 11. 2016

Migration Physiology

Carbohydrates, Protein, or Fat?

Fat Oxidation Carbohydrate Oxidation
Oxidation (% VO2max)

Birds are
different!!

Exercise Intensity
(%VO2 max)

Why use protein or glycogen at all?

Salmon use up non-essential organs:

Early in migration: use mostly fat

Later in migration: fat is depleted, use protein from catabolizing gut,
then white muscle. Protect red muscle and heart.

Birds may tailor their muscle size to their mass, which changes as
they fly

15
 17. 11. 2016

Gaining weight
In order to use lots of fat, a migrant needs to:
- store lots of fat!
- increase fat transporters

• Generally, longer distance migrants have higher % body fat.

• Monarchs can carry 60% of body mass as fat, Aphids
only about 30%.
• Birds up to 50% body mass
• Behavior changes, predation risk

Biological Clocks

 Circadian rhythms:
Birds generally migrate at night; coordinate daily pattern of
feeding and catabolism (feeding time vs. departure time).

 Circannual rhythms:
Most animals migrate at particular times of the year.

16
 17. 11. 2016

Seasonality
Seasonality – migration primary pattern, behavior
and physiology vary over the year.
• Reproduction, migration, hibernation, fat cycles,
molt.

• Photoperiod is a major cue

• Absolute Day Length (predominant cue)
• Changing Day Length

“Three fundamental processes of Biogeography"

Speciation

Extinction

Dispersal: movement beyond distribution limits

17
 17. 11. 2016

The early “dispersalists”

They argued that disjunctions (a

situation in which two closely
related populations are
separated by a wide geographic Alfred Wallace Darwin
distance) could be best
explained as the result of long
distance dispersal.

Asa Gray

The dispersalists
were opposed by
the “extensionist”

Disjunctions had
resulted from
movement along
ancient corridors that
had disappeared

Joseph Hooker

18
 17. 11. 2016

Gorilla (Gorilla) range map.

Western Gorilla (Gorilla gorilla)

Eastern Gorilla (Gorilla beringei)

Tapir distribution.
red box - Malayan tapir
green box - Baird's tapir
orange box - Andean tapir
black box - Lowland tapir

19
 17. 11. 2016

No evidence was ever discovered for the lost

corridors proposed by the extensionists.

Continental drift

The movement of continents could split

populations and separate them in vicariant
events such as plate tectonics, orogeny,
climate change, sea level rise or glacial
movement

dispersalists vs extensionists dispersalists vs

vicariance biogeographers

Ecological dispersal – movement of individuals

away from an existing population or parents

Reduce intra-specific competition

Habitat similarity decreases with distance!!!

Biogeographic dispersal – species shift their

ranges by moving over long distances across large
barriers (broader spatiotemporal scales)
Infrequent but very important
Mostly historic examples

20
 17. 11. 2016

Why disperse?

• Reduce intraspecific competition

• Find more suitable habitats

Successful range expansion - dispersal

“Long distance" travel to new area

Tolerate conditions of new habitat, withstanding
unfavorable conditions during travel and upon early
arrival
Establishing a viable population, reproduce in
new habitat

21
 17. 11. 2016

Mechanisms of dispersal

Active: movement of an organism from one

location to another by its own means

Passive: movement of an organism from one place to

another by means of a stronger force, such as water
flow, wind or another organism

Active animal dispersal

22
 17. 11. 2016

Active plant dispersal

• Exploding seed pads

Squirting cucumber

Himalayan Balsam

Autochory
Gravity

Allochory

Zoochory – by animals
epizoochory – seed is ON the animal
endozoochory – seed is IN SIDE of an animal

Anthropochory - dispersal by humans

Myrmecochory – by ants

23
 17. 11. 2016

The jellyfish Velella and Physalia

(Portuguese man o' war) have sails or
floats.
The orientation of the sail causes them to
drift either to the right or left. This may
enable them to remain within a restricted
area.

Passive animal dispersal

24
 17. 11. 2016

Types of dispersal events

1. Jump dispersal

2. Diffusion

3. Secular migration

Jump dispersal
Long distance dispersal accomplished during a relatively short period

– Occurs infrequently, large effect

– Some species are better at jump dispersal than others (water, wind, wings)

e.g. Hawaii and Galapagos

Consequences:

Explains wide and often discontinuous distributions of many taxa (some

species good at distance dispersal, but chance is still important)

25
 17. 11. 2016

example: oceanic islands

 mostly by volant organisms (birds and

bats) ex.: Galapagos, Krakatau Islands
 rare, large (distance), and "surprising" events
 explains large discontinuous distributions of some organisms
 explains taxonomic similarity of distant biotas and populations

Krakatau 1880-1940

Diffusion
Slow dispersal of individuals spreading out from the margins of the
species’ range (accomplished over generations)
Often follows jump dispersal

26
 17. 11. 2016

European starling
Sturnus vulgaris

House sparrow
Passer domesticus

27
 17. 11. 2016

American muskrat
Ondatra zibethica

European rabbit

Oryctolagus cuniculus

28
 17. 11. 2016

Secular migration
Very slow dispersal (e.g. hundreds of generations) that commonly
involves evolutionary changes in the dispersing populations

Barriers and Dispersal Routes

Barriers – abiotic or biotic feature that restricts movement of genes or
individuals from one place to another
• Species-specific
• Generally, organisms that inhabit fluctuating environments are more
tolerant of extreme/unusual conditions than species in stable habitats

29
 17. 11. 2016

Temperature

Humidity

Water

Light

Types of Barriers
Physiological

Ecological

Behavioral

30
 17. 11. 2016

Physiological Barriers
Physical environments outside
the range an organism
normally encounters so it
cannot survive and disperse
across the barrier

Common physiological barriers

 Land-water
 Salinity
 Temperature

Ecological Barriers
Dispersing organisms must
be able to survive ecological
exposure

 Predation
 Competition Kudzu (Pueraria sp.)

31
 17. 11. 2016

Behavioral Barriers

Ability of some organisms to select suitable habitat can limit ability

to disperse across barriers
– Example – bird species capable of flying long distances will not cross
open areas

Dispersal Routes

 Corridors

 Filters Increasing resistance

to biotic exchange

 Sweepstake routes

32
 17. 11. 2016

Corridor – dispersal route that permits movement of many related

species from one region to another

 Similar environment to that of the two regions

 Balanced taxonomic composition

33
 17. 11. 2016

Mammals and land bridges, George Gaylord Simpson (1940)

Filters
*Blocks or slows passage of some organisms
 Colonist-biased subset
 Often form transition zones

34
 17. 11. 2016

Mammals and land bridges, George Gaylord Simpson (1940)

The Bering Land Bridge which existed some 20,000 years ago likely functioned as a
corridor which allowed organisms to pass from northern Eurasia to North America

Sweepstake Routes

*Severe barrier that permits rare dispersal events (jump

dispersal)
*Many insular faunas are of this type

 Rare on ecological timescale, likely and important

on geological timescale
 Can be followed by dispersal and adaptive radiation

35
 17. 11. 2016

Mammals and land bridges, George Gaylord Simpson (1940)

South America-to-Galapagos dispersal

36
 17. 11. 2016

Human assisted colonization, dispersal

Intentional introductions
Eurasian carp from Europe to America

European rabbit to Australia

Monterey Pine from California to Australia and New Zealand

Unintentional introductions

Rats

Seaweed Caulerpa taxifolia

37