Landels-Hill Big Creek Reserve

07 Jan, 01 AM - 08 Jan, 04 AM

Migration is one of the most critical time periods in the annual life cycle of birds. Despite the importance of migration in basic and applied ecology, study has been hampered in small birds due to difficulty tracking movement. This is especially true for hummingbirds and other partial migrant species in which some populations migrate and others remain resident year round. Members of the hummingbird family (Trochilidae) number over 330 species, are among the smallest migrating birds in the world, and include partial migrant populations. Hummingbirds have a unique foraging life style requiring frequent nectar feedings to maintain high energetic needs. Thus they depend on and provide pollination service to native plants in their habitats. With an energetic ?life on the edge? coupled with specific habitat requirements for breeding, wintering, and migration movement corridors, climate change and human-caused habitat alteration is of special concern for hummingbirds and their ecological communities. However, the scientific literature is lacking for many important aspects of hummingbird biology including population structure, genetic diversity, and impacts of diseases. Two sympatric partial migrant hummingbird species are present in California. Combining recent improvements in methods of capture and noninvasive sampling will provide an excellent system to test hypotheses about partial migration and build a scientific knowledge base for this group of birds. This research involves the field study and minimally invasive banding and sampling for two partial migrant species in California, Anna?s Hummingbird (Calypte anna; ?Anna?s?) and Allen?s Hummingbird (Selasphorus sasin; ?Allen?s?) and migratory species Rufous Hummingbird (Selasphorus rufus) and any other hummingbird species detected at site (such as Black-chinned, Calliope, Costa's). Objectives include testing 1) whether migratory and sedentary populations are genetically distinct and how populations are substructured in relation to geography and landscape features and 2) if presence of a disease syndrome (with signs similar to Avian Pox virus) is associated with migratory strategy. Migratory Allen?s and Anna?s are hypothesized to be genetically distinct from their sedentary conspecifics. Anna?s Hummingbirds with pox-like disease syndrome are hypothesized to more likely be migrators due to factors possibly including lowered immunity imposed by stresses of migration and higher exposure to insect vectors of disease. A synergy of specialized capture techniques, molecular genetics, and stable isotope analysis will be used to address these questions then produce a predictive model for distributions and abundance of migrating and sedentary populations given current forecasts for climate change.

Visit #26386 @Landels-Hill Big Creek Reserve

Approved

Under Project # 24259 | Research

Hummingbird ecology, health, and genetics

faculty - University of California, Davis

Reservation Members(s)

Holly Ernest Jan 7 - 8, 2012 (2 days)
Holly Ernest Jan 7 - 8, 2012 (2 days)
Holly Ernest Jan 7 - 8, 2012 (2 days)

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