Topic
Staging area
About: Staging area is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 130 publications have been published within this topic receiving 3618 citations. The topic is also known as: staging ground & staging place.
Papers published on a yearly basis
Papers
TL;DR: Measurements of changes in body mass of incubating female Brent Geese, coupled to estimated flying costs showed that body reserves stored in the Wadden Sea were insufficient to accomplish both migration and successful breeding.
Abstract: Seasonal changes in body mass of Arctic-nesting Brent Geese are characterized by a depression in early April, followed by a sharp increase during pre-migratory fattening. Both male and female Brent Geese increased their body mass by 25-35% in the Wadden Sea in April/May. Paired females reach on average higher body masses than single females. Female Brent Geese that returned with offspring to the wintering quarters in western Europe had on average been heavier at spring departure from the staging grounds in the Wadden Sea, than those failing to raise offspring. This difference remained significant after correcting for body size (i.e. wing length). In males, corrected spring body mass had no effect on subsequent breeding success. Measurements of changes in body mass of incubating female Brent Geese, coupled to estimated flying costs (based on data on body mass, wing span and total wing area) showed that body reserves stored in the Wadden Sea were insufficient to accomplish both migration and successful breeding. Presumably the geese refuelled in the White Sea, in order to complete their spring migration and arrive on the breeding grounds in Taymyr in the condition necessary for successful breeding.
245 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, human disturbance at an important coastal migration staging area has a negative impact on shorebird movement patterns because of displacement of shorebirds from preferred resting areas within the study area.
169 citations
166 citations
TL;DR: The results show that assessing the fitness consequences of early arrival by focusing solely on breeding females would lead to an overestimation of the genuine benefits, and indicates possible genetically based differences among individuals in migration duration and arrival time on the breeding grounds.
Abstract: Decisions made by birds during migration to breeding grounds can strongly affect the fitness of individuals. We investigated possible causes and reproductive consequences of inter-individual variation in the migratory behavior of an arctic-nesting species, the greater snow goose (Anser caerulescens atlanticus), by radio-tracking females at their staging area and on their breeding grounds. Females showed relatively high repeatability in the duration of migration (ri=0.37) and arrival date on the breeding grounds (ri=0.42) suggesting that these traits are characteristics of individuals. Conversely, no individual consistency in departure date from the staging area was detected (ri=−0.02) indicating that environmental factors may have a large influence. Females paired with dominant males departed slightly earlier from the staging area than females accompanied by subordinate males. However, neither social status on the staging area (i.e. paired vs unpaired) nor dominance scores were associated with arrival time of individuals. Finally, the probability of breeding was positively related to arrival date indicating a reproductive cost of arriving too early on the breeding grounds. The combination of breeding probability and seasonal decline in breeding success nonetheless suggests that females arriving a few days earlier than the median arrival date attained highest reproductive success. Our results show that assessing the fitness consequences of early arrival by focusing solely on breeding females would lead to an overestimation of the genuine benefits. This study also indicates possible genetically based differences among individuals in migration duration and arrival time on the breeding grounds.
158 citations
TL;DR: Body stores carried from the last spring staging area to the breeding grounds appear to offer Arctic-breeding shorebirds significant selective advantages: they are used for physical transformation from migration to breeding condition, and in years when weather is difficult may enable survival after arrival on the breeding Grounds.
Abstract: Severe summer weather in Greenland and Arctic Canada in 1972 and 1974 caused very poor breeding success and elevated adult mortality in red knots Calidris canutus islandica. We show that those individual knots that are known to have survived these summers were in better than average nutritional condition shortly before departure from their late spring staging area in west Iceland. The condition index of previously banded or subsequently recovered birds captured in Iceland was positively related to the number of summers they were known to have survived. Body stores carried from the last spring staging area to the breeding grounds appear to offer Arctic-breeding shorebirds significant selective advantages: they are used for physical transformation from migration to breeding condition, and in years when weather is difficult may enable survival after arrival on the breeding grounds.
148 citations
Related Topics (5)
Performance Metrics
| Year | Papers |
|---|---|
| 2021 | 3 |
| 2020 | 3 |
| 2019 | 4 |
| 2018 | 4 |
| 2017 | 4 |
| 2016 | 4 |