Site-level connectivity identified from multiple sources of movement data to inform conservation of a migratory bird
January 8, 2025
- Migratory birds depend on a suite of sites across their annual cycles, making them vulnerable to a wide variety of anthropogenic pressures. Current area-based conservation measures have been found inadequate to safeguard migratory birds, in part due to a lack of consideration for the connectivity between sites mediated by the movements of individuals.
- To address this issue, we develop a network analysis integrating different types of individual movement data for a migratory shorebird, the Black-tailed Godwit (Limosa limosa), across the East Atlantic Flyway. Leveraging metal-ring recoveries, colour-ring re-sightings and satellite tracking from over 10,000 individual godwits, we quantify variation in connectivity between sites across the migratory range, using two weighted metrics to address sampling biases.
- Colour-ring re-sightings provided the largest number of sites (70%) and links (60% and 43% per season) overall, followed by tracking data (50% of sites, 49% and 63% of links per season) and ring recoveries (25% of sites,
Citation Information
| Publication Year | 2025 |
|---|---|
| Title | Site-level connectivity identified from multiple sources of movement data to inform conservation of a migratory bird |
| DOI | 10.1111/1365-2664.14839 |
| Authors | M. Beal, J. Nightingale, J.R. Belo, C. Batey, H. Belting, P. Bocher, M. Burgess, T.B. Craft, N. Crockford, P. Delaporte, L. Donaldson, G. Gelinaud, J.A. Gill, T.G. Gunnarsson, B. Morrison, J.S. Gutierrez, J. Hooijmeijer, R.A. Howison, P. Hunke, L. Jomat, H. Lemke, J. Ludwig, F.A. Majoor, C. Marlow, J.A. Masero, J. Melter, I. Nicholson, M. Parejo, B. O'Mahony, E. Pasanen, J. Pessa, T. Piersma, A.D. Rocha, F. Robin, M. Roodbergen, P. Rousseau, V. Salewski, L. Schmidt, J. Smart, A. Staneva, T. Lee Tibbitts, S. Timonen, J.A. Alves, M.P. Dias |
| Publication Type | Article |
| Publication Subtype | Journal Article |
| Series Title | Journal of Applied Ecology |
| Index ID | 70263325 |
| Record Source | USGS Publications Warehouse |
| USGS Organization | Alaska Science Center Ecosystems |