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Publication Details
AFRICAN RESEARCH NEXUS
SHINING A SPOTLIGHT ON AFRICAN RESEARCH
agricultural and biological sciences
High variation reduces the value of feather stable isotope ratios in identifying new wintering areas for aquatic warblers Acrocephalus paludicola in West Africa
Journal of Avian Biology, Volume 42, No. 4, Year 2011
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Description
Stable isotope analysis of feathers can be useful in the study of seasonal interactions and migratory connectivity in birds. For the Palaearctic-African migration system, however, the lack of isotope data from feathers of known origin in Africa renders the geographic assignment of birds captured on European breeding grounds to potential wintering areas problematic. Rectrices of the threatened aquatic warbler Acrocephalus paludicola grown in Africa were sampled across six European countries to assess whether birds in different breeding populations shared similar isotopic signatures and so were likely to have wintered in the same region in Africa. Freshly grown feathers of aquatic warblers collected at the only known wintering site in Senegal showed high variation in carbon, nitrogen, and hydrogen isotope ratios. Due to similarly high variation in isotope ratios of African-grown feathers within all breeding populations, it was not possible to determine whether different populations wintered in different regions. However, isotope signatures of 20% of birds captured on European breeding grounds fell outside the range of those captured in Senegal, suggesting a wider wintering distribution than is currently known. We therefore assessed whether the origin of these feathers could be estimated by trying to establish isotopic gradients across sub-Saharan West Africa. Feathers of three ecologically similar surrogate species were sampled from wetlands across a 3000km east-west and a 2000km north-south transect. Within-site variation in feather isotope ratios was frequently larger than the difference predicted by gradients across West Africa. Thus, predicting the origin of individual feathers using single-isotope gradients was not reliable. The large within-site variability of feather isotope ratios of a habitat specialist species like the aquatic warbler indicates that using feather isotope ratios will require large sample sizes from many locations, and may thus not be an efficient tool in identifying wintering areas of Palaearctic-African migrants. © 2011 The Authors.
Authors & Co-Authors
Oppel, Steffen
United Kingdom, Bedford
Royal Society for the Protection of Birds
Pain, Deborah J.
United Kingdom, Bedford
Royal Society for the Protection of Birds
United Kingdom, Slimbridge
Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust
Lindsell, Jeremy A.
United Kingdom, Bedford
Royal Society for the Protection of Birds
Lachmann, Lars
United Kingdom, Bedford
Royal Society for the Protection of Birds
Poland, Warsaw
Ogólnopolskie Towarzystwo Ochrony Ptaków
Diop, Ibrahima
Senegal, St. Louis
Parc National Des Oiseaux du Djoudj
Tegetmeyer, Cosima
Germany, Greifswald
Universität Greifswald
Donald, Paul F.
United Kingdom, Bedford
Royal Society for the Protection of Birds
Anderson, Guy
United Kingdom, Bedford
Royal Society for the Protection of Birds
Bowden, Christopher G.R.
United Kingdom, Bedford
Royal Society for the Protection of Birds
Tanneberger, Franziska
United Kingdom, Bedford
Royal Society for the Protection of Birds
Flade, Martin
Germany, Eberswalde
Brandenburg State Office for Environment
Statistics
Citations: 29
Authors: 11
Affiliations: 6
Identifiers
Doi:
10.1111/j.1600-048X.2011.05252.x
ISSN:
09088857
e-ISSN:
1600048X
Research Areas
Environmental
Study Locations
Multi-countries
Senegal