Data from: Satellite tracking of American Woodcock reveals a gradient of migration strategies
Data files
Feb 15, 2024 version files 34.02 KB
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amwo_migration_metrics_fall_clean.rds
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amwo_migration_metrics_spring_clean.rds
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README.md
Abstract
Diversity in behavior is important for migratory birds in adapting to dynamic environmental and habitat conditions and responding to global change. Migratory behavior can be described by a variety of factors that comprise migration strategies. We characterized variation in migration strategies in American Woodcock (Scolopax minor), a migratory gamebird experiencing long-term population decline, using GPS data from approximately 300 individuals tracked throughout eastern North America. We classified woodcock migratory movements using a step-length threshold, and calculated characteristics of migration related to distance, path, and stopping events. We then used principal components analysis (PCA) to ordinate variation in migration characteristics along axes that explained different fundamental aspects of migration, and tested effects of body condition, age-sex class, and starting and ending location on PCA results. The PCA did not show evidence for clustering, suggesting a lack of discrete strategies among groups of individuals; rather, woodcock migration strategies existed along continuous gradients driven most heavily by metrics associated with migration distance and duration, departure timing, and stopping behavior. Body condition did not explain variation in migration strategy during the fall or spring, but during spring adult males and young females differed in some characteristics related to migration distance and duration. Starting and ending latitude and longitude, particularly the northernmost point of migration, explained up to 61% of the variation in any one axis of migration strategy. Our results reveal gradients in migration behavior of woodcock, and this variability should increase the resilience of woodcock to future anthropogenic landscape and climate change.
README: Satellite tracking of American Woodcock reveals a gradient of migration strategies
https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.2bvq83bxq
Data and code for principal components analysis investigating migration strategy in American woodcock.
Description of the data and file structure
The two provided files, "amwo_migration_metrics_spring_clean.rds" and "amwo_migration_metrics_fall_clean.rds" contain data summarizing individual information and migration metrics for spring and fall migrations, respectively. There is one row for each individual American woodcock. All continuous data, including ordinal dates, are scaled and centered. The columns are as follows:
nstop=number of stopovers
mig_duration=migration duration
depart_time= departure date
arrive_time=arrival date
coast_dist_km= mean distance from coast
mig_dist_km=total migration distance
straight_dist_km=distance from first to last point of migration
sex= sex, f for female, m for male
age=age, Adult or Young
start_lat=starting latitude
start_lon=staring longitude
end_lat=ending latitude
end_lon=ending longitude
body_cond_index=body condition index
year=year
stop_duration=mean duration of stopping events
dist_difference= difference between mig_dist_km and straight_dist_km
Sharing/Access information
More information about the American woodcock movement data can be found at woodcockmigration.org
Data was derived from the following sources:
- Raw Woodcock movement GPS data are archived on Movebank (“American Woodcock Migration Ecology in Eastern North America”; Study ID 3515664596)
Code/Software
The attached R script contains code for running the analysis in addition to plots for exploring results.
Methods
This data set contains individual bird information from banding data, in addition to migration metrics calculated from GPS tracking data for American Woodcock during spring and fall migration. Code for running and exploring results of the principal components analysis is also included.
Please visit the Eastern Woodcock Migration Research Cooperative website, woodcockmigration.org for more information about our GPS data collection methods. The raw data are also archived on Movebank (“American Woodcock Migration Ecology in Eastern North America”; Study ID 3515664596).
Data from: Satellite tracking of American Woodcock reveals a gradient of migration strategies
Sarah J. Clements, Liam A. Berigan, Alexander C. Fish, Rachel L. Darling, Amber M. Roth, Greg Balkcom, Bobbi Carpenter, Gary Costanzo, Jeffrey Duguay, Kayleigh Filkins, Clayton L. Graham, William Harvey, Michael Hook, Douglas L. Howell, Seth Maddox, Scott McWilliams, Shawn W. Mayer, Theodore C. Nichols, J. Bruce Pollard, Christian Roy, David Sausville, Colby Slezak, Josh Stiller, Jacob Straub, Mathieu Tetreault, Dawn Washington, Lisa Williams, Erik J. Blomberg