High annual-cycle repeatability suggests low flexibility to environmental changes in a near-threatened migratory shorebird

Migratory species often repeat spatio-temporal patterns within their annual cycle. Although this may help to promote knowledge about local features and site quality, stereotyped behaviours may also create an ecological trap by preventing the flexibility required to adjust to environmental changes. Using a long-term international dataset, this study assesses 24 spatial and temporal parameters describing the repeatability of the entire migratory cycle in 94 individuals of the migratory near-threatened Eurasian curlew (Numenius arquata) that were tracked for up to 7 consecutive years using high-resolution GPS tags. Twenty-two parameters show significant repeatability, with the highest repeatability for use of the same breeding and wintering sites, indicating consistent faithfulness. All migration and stopover parameters during spring migration are also significantly repeatable, with lower repeatability for autumn migration, likely related to variable breeding success. The location of migration routes varies between consecutive years, but intra-individual similarity is significantly greater than inter-individual similarity. While the potential of adaptations to long-term environmental changes needs further studies (preferably including several cohorts of individuals) there are indications of a potentially maladaptive behaviour to short-term changes that should be carefully observed by site managers to conserve this near-threatened species.

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Publication Details

Journal
Communications Biology
Published
2026-05-30
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-026-10371-0
Primary Topic
Avian ecology and behavior
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00
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article

High annual-cycle repeatability suggests low flexibility to environmental changes in a near-threatened migratory shorebird

Riho Marja, Helmut Kruckenberg, Verena Rupprecht, M. Boschert et al.
Communications Biology
Avian ecology and behavior
article

High annual-cycle repeatability suggests low flexibility to environmental changes in a near-threatened migratory shorebird

Riho Marja, Helmut Kruckenberg, Verena Rupprecht, M. Boschert, Philipp Schwemmer, Michał Korniluk, Pierre Rousseau, Marie Donnez, Moritz Mercker, Thomas Fartmann, Heinz Düttmann, Stefan Garthe, Pierrick Bocher, Markus Piha, Steffen Kämpfer, Jaanus Elts, Dominik Krupiński, Frédéric Jiguet, Wolfgang Fiedler
article en

Abstract

Migratory species often repeat spatio-temporal patterns within their annual cycle. Although this may help to promote knowledge about local features and site quality, stereotyped behaviours may also create an ecological trap by preventing the flexibility required to adjust to environmental changes. Using a long-term international dataset, this study assesses 24 spatial and temporal parameters describing the repeatability of the entire migratory cycle in 94 individuals of the migratory near-threatened Eurasian curlew (Numenius arquata) that were tracked for up to 7 consecutive years using high-resolution GPS tags. Twenty-two parameters show significant repeatability, with the highest repeatability for use of the same breeding and wintering sites, indicating consistent faithfulness. All migration and stopover parameters during spring migration are also significantly repeatable, with lower repeatability for autumn migration, likely related to variable breeding success. The location of migration routes varies between consecutive years, but intra-individual similarity is significantly greater than inter-individual similarity. While the potential of adaptations to long-term environmental changes needs further studies (preferably including several cohorts of individuals) there are indications of a potentially maladaptive behaviour to short-term changes that should be carefully observed by site managers to conserve this near-threatened species.

Communications BiologyVol. 9(1)
Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR), Osnabrück University (DE), University of Konstanz (DE), Museum and Institute of Zoology (PL), Natural Resources Institute Finland (FI), Hochschule für Angewandte Wissenschaften Kiel (DE), Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel (DE), Sorbonne Université (FR), Niedersächsisches Ministerium für Umwelt, Energie und Klimaschutz (DE), Institute of Ecology and Botany (HU), Centre d'Écologie et des Sciences de la Conservation (FR), Institute for Biodiversity (DE), LIttoral ENvironnement et Sociétés (FR), Fanjingshan National Nature Reserve (CN), Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior (DE), Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (FR), HUN-REN Centre for Ecological Research (HU), Landesamt für Umwelt, Naturschutz und Geologie (DE), Finnish Museum of Natural History (FI), Polskie Towarzystwo Gastroenterologii (PL), Museum am Rothenbaum (DE), Schmerzklinik Kiel (DE), Polish Academy of Sciences (PL)
Life below water
Openalex Percentile: Top 6%
Avian ecology and behavior
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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