INVESTIGADORES
LAMBERTUCCI Sergio Agustin
artículos
Título:
Wing size but not wing shape is related to migratory behavior in a soaring bird
Autor/es:
GRAÑA GRILLI, M; LAMBERTUCCI, S A; THERRIEN, J-F; BILDSTEIN, K
Revista:
JOURNAL OF AVIAN BIOLOGY
Editorial:
WILEY-BLACKWELL PUBLISHING, INC
Referencias:
Lugar: Londres; Año: 2017
ISSN:
0908-8857
Resumen:
Both wing size and wing shape affect the flight abilities of birds. Intra andinter-specific studies have revealed such patterns which, however, havenot been studied in soaring migrants. Below we assess the relationshipbetween the wing morphology and the characteristics of the migratoryhabits using the turkey vulture (Cathartes aura), an obligate soaringmigrant as our model, as some populations are complete long distancemigrants, whereas other are shorter-distance partial migrants, and stillothers are non-migratory. We compared wing shape and size withmigration strategy among three totally migrant, one partially migrant andone resident population distributed across the Americas. We calculated theaspect ratio and wing loading using wing tracings to characterize the wingmorphology. We used satellite-tracking data from the migratorypopulations to calculate movement parameters, including distance,duration, and speed and altitude during migration. Wing loading, but notaspect ratio, differed among the populations, segregating the residentpopulation from the completely migratory ones. Unlike results in speciesthat use flapping flight on migration, the migratory flight parameters ofturkey vultures were not related to the aspect ratio. By contrast, wingloading was related to most flight parameters. Birds with lower wingloading flew farther, faster, and higher during their longer journeys. Ourresults suggest that wing shape in this soaring species enables low wingloadingand in turn, lower-cost flight, and that differences in the relativesizes of wings may increase extra savings during migration. The possibilitythat wing shape is influenced by foraging as well as migratory flight isdiscussed. We conclude that flight efficiency may be improved throughdifferent morphological adaptations in birds with different flightmechanisms.