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Fine-scale changes in flight effort revealed by animal-borne loggers / BAPTISTE GARDE

Swansea University Author: BAPTISTE GARDE

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DOI (Published version): 10.23889/SUthesis.59434

Abstract

The movements of the air are central to the life of flying birds, because they can determine whether the costs of flight are closer to resting or sprinting, and whether birds are able to reach their destination. Yet for species relying mainly on flapping flight, studies about the effects of weather...

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Published: Swansea 2022
Institution: Swansea University
Degree level: Doctoral
Degree name: Ph.D
Supervisor: Shepard, Emily ; Wilson, Rory ; Portugal, Steve ; Borger, Luca
URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa59434
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first_indexed 2022-02-22T14:58:40Z
last_indexed 2022-02-23T04:27:53Z
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spelling 2022-02-22T15:10:34.1054157 v2 59434 2022-02-22 Fine-scale changes in flight effort revealed by animal-borne loggers 49f9088e76951b42d6f91053b9c7f29c BAPTISTE GARDE BAPTISTE GARDE true false 2022-02-22 The movements of the air are central to the life of flying birds, because they can determine whether the costs of flight are closer to resting or sprinting, and whether birds are able to reach their destination. Yet for species relying mainly on flapping flight, studies about the effects of weather on flight effort have mainly focussed on wind, with other atmospheric factors receiving less attention. In addition, with the development of new technologies to measure flight effort, it has become clear that some methods need standardisation and further verification. The goal of this PhD is to provide insight into how atmospheric conditions affect flight costs more broadly and study the extent to which birds prioritise energy expenditure over other currencies, such as time and risk. I used high-frequency data-loggers to explore the combined effects of wind and thermals, as well as air density, on flight effort over fine scales, as well as how birds adjust their behaviour to these factors. Results showed that pigeons (Columba livia), which are not limited by energy expenditure, prioritise speed over energy savings, and use a very costly flight style which could serve as a predator-avoidance strategy. I also found that wind support was a strong predictor of whether chick-rearing tropicbirds (Phaethon rubricauda) use thermal soaring to save energy during foraging trips, suggesting that birds were weighing up the trade-off between energy and time, and chose to save energy only when this would not cost them too much time. Comparison of air density between seasons also revealed that the flapping flight of tropicbirds was more costly during summer, when air density was lower. This finding shows that the effect of seasonal changes in air density on flight costs is significant, outweighing the influence of both wind and thermal availability. It also sheds new light on how flight costs (particularly those in tropical birds) might be affected by global change. Finally, the analysis of the accelerometer data showed that the type of tag used, as well as differences in the longitudinal position and attachment method, affected the amplitude of the signal, which has implications for the robustness of acceleration-based proxies for flight effort. Nonetheless, the adoption of standardized calibrations should facilitate the comparison of these metrics between study sites and through time, improving the prospect that they can be used to study the effect of a changing climate on flight costs and avian ecology. E-Thesis Swansea Bird flight, movement ecology, biologging 22 2 2022 2022-02-22 10.23889/SUthesis.59434 ORCiD identifier: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8726-6279 COLLEGE NANME COLLEGE CODE Swansea University Shepard, Emily ; Wilson, Rory ; Portugal, Steve ; Borger, Luca Doctoral Ph.D European Research Council, under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program; Research grant number: 715874 2022-02-22T15:10:34.1054157 2022-02-22T14:55:04.1647955 Faculty of Science and Engineering School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Biosciences BAPTISTE GARDE 1 59434__22426__0da7392678754f9c895fbeef640b113d.pdf Garde_Baptiste_PhD_Thesis_Final_Redacted_Signature.pdf 2022-02-22T15:03:59.8836446 Output 3806981 application/pdf E-Thesis – open access true Copyright: The author, Baptiste Garde, 2022. true eng
title Fine-scale changes in flight effort revealed by animal-borne loggers
spellingShingle Fine-scale changes in flight effort revealed by animal-borne loggers
BAPTISTE GARDE
title_short Fine-scale changes in flight effort revealed by animal-borne loggers
title_full Fine-scale changes in flight effort revealed by animal-borne loggers
title_fullStr Fine-scale changes in flight effort revealed by animal-borne loggers
title_full_unstemmed Fine-scale changes in flight effort revealed by animal-borne loggers
title_sort Fine-scale changes in flight effort revealed by animal-borne loggers
author_id_str_mv 49f9088e76951b42d6f91053b9c7f29c
author_id_fullname_str_mv 49f9088e76951b42d6f91053b9c7f29c_***_BAPTISTE GARDE
author BAPTISTE GARDE
author2 BAPTISTE GARDE
format E-Thesis
publishDate 2022
institution Swansea University
doi_str_mv 10.23889/SUthesis.59434
college_str Faculty of Science and Engineering
hierarchytype
hierarchy_top_id facultyofscienceandengineering
hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Science and Engineering
hierarchy_parent_id facultyofscienceandengineering
hierarchy_parent_title Faculty of Science and Engineering
department_str School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Biosciences{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Science and Engineering{{{_:::_}}}School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Biosciences
document_store_str 1
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description The movements of the air are central to the life of flying birds, because they can determine whether the costs of flight are closer to resting or sprinting, and whether birds are able to reach their destination. Yet for species relying mainly on flapping flight, studies about the effects of weather on flight effort have mainly focussed on wind, with other atmospheric factors receiving less attention. In addition, with the development of new technologies to measure flight effort, it has become clear that some methods need standardisation and further verification. The goal of this PhD is to provide insight into how atmospheric conditions affect flight costs more broadly and study the extent to which birds prioritise energy expenditure over other currencies, such as time and risk. I used high-frequency data-loggers to explore the combined effects of wind and thermals, as well as air density, on flight effort over fine scales, as well as how birds adjust their behaviour to these factors. Results showed that pigeons (Columba livia), which are not limited by energy expenditure, prioritise speed over energy savings, and use a very costly flight style which could serve as a predator-avoidance strategy. I also found that wind support was a strong predictor of whether chick-rearing tropicbirds (Phaethon rubricauda) use thermal soaring to save energy during foraging trips, suggesting that birds were weighing up the trade-off between energy and time, and chose to save energy only when this would not cost them too much time. Comparison of air density between seasons also revealed that the flapping flight of tropicbirds was more costly during summer, when air density was lower. This finding shows that the effect of seasonal changes in air density on flight costs is significant, outweighing the influence of both wind and thermal availability. It also sheds new light on how flight costs (particularly those in tropical birds) might be affected by global change. Finally, the analysis of the accelerometer data showed that the type of tag used, as well as differences in the longitudinal position and attachment method, affected the amplitude of the signal, which has implications for the robustness of acceleration-based proxies for flight effort. Nonetheless, the adoption of standardized calibrations should facilitate the comparison of these metrics between study sites and through time, improving the prospect that they can be used to study the effect of a changing climate on flight costs and avian ecology.
published_date 2022-02-22T04:16:44Z
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score 11.013037

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