From T.Meijer@RGD.NLMon Mar 17 11:17:10 1997 Date: Mon, 17 Mar 1997 09:25:11 +0100 From: Tom Meijer Reply to: Research in Quaternary Science To: QUATERNARY@MORGAN.UCS.MUN.CA Subject: Bird migration: answers Is there anything known about routes of bird migration during different parts of the Quaternary. And for instance, are there ideas about the influence of the differences in geographical occurrence of continental ice sheets during glacial periods on the bird migration routes during the succeeding interglacials? To this question I received the following aswers: I want to thank all who answered, Tom. Tammy Rittenour : I am a geol grad student at the University of Massachusetts. My research centers around Quaternary Research in general and glacial lakes, ice retreat and climate during the latest deglaciation more specifically. On the side Im interested in Ornithology and speciation that occured during the pleistocene due to changes in habitat as the Laurentide Ice Sheet (N. Am) disected the continent. I do not conduct research on this topic but I am interested in it. I know that some research has been conducted on the Northern Flicker of North America - two varities (Red-shafted and Yellow-Shafted) developed during the Pleistocene as the population was separated into an eastern and western population. Also the Eastern Meadowlark and Western Meadowlark has been thought to have deviated from a common population during this time. I do not know the genus-species for these bird off hand but if you are interested I can easily send that information. =================================================== From: fladmark@sfu.ca (Knut Fladmark) In speculating about the possibility of early human movements southwards in North America along a so-called "Ice Free Corridor" between eastern (Laurentide) and western (Cordilleran) ice masses, I have thought that the close alignment of that route with a major seasonal bird flight-path paralleling the eastern flanks of the Rocky Mts., is intriquing (eg. Fladmark 1983. Times and Places: Environmental Correlates of Mid-to-Late Wisconsinan Population Expansion in North America. In: " Early Man in the New World", R. Shutler, ed., Sage Publications, Beverly Hills/London, pp. 13-42 [specifically p. 29]). Thus, it is conceivable that seasonal concentrations of waterfowl and other birds might have provided an important food resource for early human migrants in an otherwise impoverished tundra-like landscape and the directions of their flight paths might have served as signals to people that inhabitable lands existed in the distance. So far, however, that is really just speculation, although a number of migratory birds, including waterfowl, were identified in the ca. 10,500 B.P. Paleoindian assemblage at Charlie Lake Cave, in the B.C. Peace River district in the central portion of that "corridor" (see J. Driver 1996. The Significance of the Fauna from Charlie Lake Cave. In: "Early Human Occupation in British Columbia" [R. L. Carlson and L. Dalla Bona, eds.], UBC Press, pp. 21-8). Hope this helps, K. Fladmark Dept. of Archaeology Simon Fraser University Burnaby, B.C., V5A 1S6 Canada ================================================ Greg Laden: I'm pretty sure that Eaton Tchernov did something with bird migration in California during the late Pleistocene. Not glacial stuff, but latitudinal shift in habitat. Dr. Greg Laden Biological Anthropology Wing Department of Anthropology Harvard University gladen@fas.harvard.edu http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~gladen/ ================================================ From: "P. BUCKLAND" Useful lists and some discussion of the abundant material from Creswell Crags identified by Don Bramwell is in D.D.Gilbertson (ed) (1984)' In the Shadow of Extinction' Sheffield. ================================================ From: "P. BUCKLAND" Following up Tom Maier's note, a further question - after rapid warming into the Holocene, how do birds re-establish their migration routes to remote Arctic islands. The problem seems particularly acute if the navigational aid is realated to the Earth's magnetic field, since the first bred generation as a result of chance dispersal/blown off course will be wrongly orientated. Or is this the wrong net for this question? Paul C Buckland ================================================ From: Greg Laden It's also a problem when the magnetic orientation of the earth either shifts or reverses. All the birds go the wrong way. This must be why there are birds in both the northern and southern hemispheres! ================================================ From: "Geraint Coles, Archaeology, Edinburgh" You might look at the following: Jenkinson, R.D.S. and Gilbertson, D.D. 1984 "In the Shadow of Extinction" Sheffield: John R Collis/Sheffield University. ISBN 0 906090 21 0. Especially chapters 5 and 6: Ch.5 with D. Bramwell "The Birds of Britian -- When did they arrive?" Ch.6 with Sheila Sutherland "Changes in European Geese and Duck Migration Patterns during the Quaternary". and refs given in the above. ================================================ From: "Robert E. Nelson" Since the major environmental changes are NOT happening in a single season, and most migrating birds don't live all that long anyhow, I'd expect that migration routes expand and contract with the available resources. A 1-km meltback of an ice sheet margin may be truly incredible, but it wouldn't be a significant extension of a migration route already hundreds or thousands of kilometers long. How many birds make such a migration more than 2 or 3 times in their lifespans? I'd suspect that those who are REALLY messed up by being blown off-course either get back with the program or die. For smaller birds in particular, mortality tends to be high; few live more than 3 years at most, from my understanding. ================================================ From: John Curnutt Long-distance migration isn't very well understood. But the evidence is definately pointing toward the use of the eath's magnetic field. An article in Trends in Ecology and Evolution (Oct. 1996) reviews very strong evidence for magnetic field use by sea birds and sea turtles. The response to this post that I just read correctly notes that birds do not live that long - large seabirds probably live, at most, a few decades. Also, there is evidence (I don't remember the source) that the alignment and "sense of place" of vertabrates is formed during development of the embryo, so each individual will tend to return to the place of its birth. This explains how species can keep up with long-term (geologic) change of thier breeding locations. Expansion of breeding territories is probably incrimental, as first year breeders, returning to their natal sites, must set up new breeding territories in places that are already full of territories established by older breeders. One can envision a constantly shifting breeding range of a species that is driven by short-term and long-term environmental change. ================================================ From: jonathan driver Some evidence for the recolonisation of recently deglaciated environments comes from Charlie Lake Cave in northeastern British Columbia (just east of the Rockies). A paleontological/archaeological sequence begins c.10,500 B.P., very shortly after draining of glacial lakes and the establishment of terrestrial plant communities. Both regional palynology and vertebrates suggest an open landscape from deglaciation to c. 10,000 B.P., followed by the establishment of boreal forest. At Charlie Lake Cave the pre-10,000 B.P. fauna includes duck (unidentified to species), a woodpecker, raven and a large number of cliff swallows. Between 10,000 B.P. and 9500 B.P. the larger assemblage of bird bones includes western grebe, horned grebe, mallard, teal, ruddy duck, grouse or ptarmigan, coot, rail, small waders, short-eared owl and passenger pigeon, as well as the taxa identified for the earlier period. Some of these data are discussed in an article by Driver and Hobson (in the journal ARCTIC vol 45 no.2 pp. 105-110). Other data are from more recent excavations and have been submitted for publication. It would appear that birds colonized recently deglaciated environments quite quickly. ================================================ From: Arthur Harris Magnetic orientation appears to be only one method of several used by many (most?) migrating birds (sun orientation, landmark recognition, star compass, etc.). However, we wouldn't expect magnetic orientation to a specific locality to be an inherited trait (the field is not stable enough). Thus we'd presume that it's used much as we use a compass--as a way of knowing where a particular direction is to be able to use that as a reference point. Thus a first generation bird in a new area would have as stable a "compass" as its relatives in the "old country." ================================================ ------------------------------------------------------------------ Tom Meijer e-mail: T.Meijer@RGD.NL & Meijer.T@Inter.NL.net (the first will soon be replaced by: T.Meijer@nitg.tno.nl) Phone: +31 (0)23 530.03.51; Fax: +31 (0)23 540.17.54 ------------------------------------------------------------------ European Quaternary Malacologists: http://web.inter.NL.net/users/Meijer.T/eqmal.html Malacological Society of the Netherlands (in Dutch language): http://web.inter.NL.net/users/Meijer.T/nmv.html From T.J.M.Steele@SOTON.AC.UKMon Mar 17 11:17:32 1997 Date: Mon, 17 Mar 1997 15:03:40 GMT From: James Steele Reply to: Research in Quaternary Science To: QUATERNARY@MORGAN.UCS.MUN.CA Subject: Re: Bird migration: answers A digression into general theory, but: there is some excellent discussion of animal navigation abilities (including bird migration) in a special issue of _Journal of Experimental Biology_ 199[1], 1996, 'Navigation: Migration and Homing' (33 papers, 261 pages). You might try the paper by A.J. Helbig, 'Genetic basis, mode of inheritance and evolutionary changes of migratory directions in palearctic warblers (Aves: Sylviidae).' Ibid., pp. 49-55. James. ------------------------------------------------------- James Steele, Ph.D., Dept of Archaeology, University of Southampton, Highfield, Southampton SO17 1BJ, England. E-Mail: tjms@soton.ac.uk Telephone: (01703) 594198 Fax: (01703) 593023 ======================================================= From gcoles@HSY1.SSC.ED.AC.UKTue Apr 29 15:37:03 1997 Date: Wed, 5 Mar 1997 13:22:38 GMT From: "Geraint Coles, Archaeology, Edinburgh" Reply to: Research in Quaternary Science To: Multiple recipients of list QUATERNARY Subject: Re: Routes of bird migration RE: > Is there anything known about routes of bird migration during different > parts of the Quaternary. And for instance, are there ideas about the > influence of the differences in geographical occurrence of continental ice > sheets during glacial periods on the bird migration routes during the > succeeding interglacials? You might look at the following: Jenkinson, R.D.S. and Gilbertson, D.D. 1984 "In the Shadow of Extinction" Sheffield: John R Collis/Sheffield University. ISBN 0 906090 21 0. Especially chapters 5 and 6: Ch.5 with D. Bramwell "The Birds of Britian -- When did they arrive?" Ch.6 with Sheila Sutherland "Changes in European Geese and Duck Migration Patterns during the Quaternary". and refs given in the above. Cheers, Geraint Coles Department of Archaeology University of Edinburgh The Old High School EDINBURGH EH1 1LT Scotland. U.K. Telephone +44 131 650 4143 or +44 131 650 2374