RT Journal Article
T1 The interplay of wind and uplift facilitates over-water flight in facultative soaring birds
A1 Nourani, Elham
A1 Bohrer, Gil
A1 Becciu, Paolo
A1 Bierregaard, Richard O.
A1 Duriez, Olivier
A1 Figuerola, Jordi
A1 Gangoso, Laura
A1 Giokas, Sinos
A1 Higuchi, Hiroyoshi
A1 Kassara, Christina
A1 Kulikova, Olga
A1 Lecomte, Nicolas
A1 Monti, Flavio
A1 Pokrovsky, Ivan
A1 Therrien, Jean François
A1 Tsiopelas, Nikos
A1 Vansteelant, Wouter M. G.
A1 Viana, Duarte S.
A1 Yamaguchi, Noriyuki M.
A1 Wikelski, Martin
A1 Safi, Kamran
AB Flying over the open sea is energetically costly for terrestrial birds. Despite this, over-water journeys of many birds, sometimes hundreds of kilometres long, are uncovered by bio-logging technology. To understand how these birds afford their flights over the open sea, we investigated the role of atmospheric conditions, specifically wind and uplift, in subsidizing over-water flight at a global scale. We first established that ΔT, the temperature difference between sea surface and air, is a meaningful proxy for uplift over water. Using this proxy, we showed that the spatio-temporal patterns of sea-crossing in terrestrial migratory birds are associated with favourable uplift conditions. We then analysed route selection over the open sea for five facultative soaring species, representative of all major migratory flyways. The birds maximized wind support when selecting their sea-crossing routes and selected greater uplift when suitable wind support was available. They also preferred routes with low long-term uncertainty in wind conditions. Our findings suggest that, in addition to wind, uplift may play a key role in the energy seascape for bird migration that in turn determines strategies and associated costs for birds crossing ecological barriers such as the open sea.
PB Royal Society
SN 0962-8452, ESSN: 1471-2954
YR 2021
FD 2021-09-08
LK https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/4893
UL https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/4893
LA eng
NO Unión Europea
NO Fondo Social Europeo
NO Cabildo de Lanzarote
DS Docta Complutense
RD 20 dic 2025