10.5061/DRYAD.18931ZCSR
Remacha Sebastián, Carolina
0000-0002-3763-968X
Complutense University of Madrid
Rodríguez, César
Complutense University of Madrid
de la Puente, Javier
SEO‐ Monticola Ringing Group
Pérez-Tris, Javier
Complutense University of Madrid
Climate change and maladaptive wing shortening in a long-distance
migratory bird
Dryad
dataset
2020
wing shape
trait optimization
apparent survival
population monitoring
Luscinia megarhynchos
migration
Spanish National Research Agency (co-funded by the European Regional
Development Fund)
project CGL2017-82117-P
Iberdrola
Southeast Regional Park of Madrid
Autonomous University of Madrid
Ente Gestor de 631 Infraestructuras Ferroviarias (GIF)
SEO/BirdLife
2021-02-19T00:00:00Z
2021-02-19T00:00:00Z
en
135274 bytes
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CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication
Contemporary phenotypic trends associated with global change are widely
documented, but whether such trends always denote trait optimization under
changed conditions remains obscure. Natural selection has shaped the wings
of long-distance migratory birds to minimize the costs of transport, and
new optimal wing shapes could be promoted by migration patterns altered
due to global change. Alternatively, wing shape could vary as a correlated
response to selection on other traits favoured in a changing environment,
eventually moving away from the optimal shape for migration and increasing
transport costs. Data from 20 years of monitoring of two Common
Nightingale (Luscinia megarhynchos) populations breeding in central Spain,
where environmental conditions for breeding have deteriorated during the
last decades due to increased summer drought, show that birds have reduced
wing length relative to body size over the period 1995-2014. However,
long-winged nightingales survived their first round-trip migration better,
and the shorter the average wing length of individuals, the stronger the
survival-associated natural selection favouring longer wings. Maladaptive
short wings may have arisen because the mortality costs of migration are
outweighed by reproductive benefits accrued by short-winged nightingales
in these populations. Assuming that the phenotypic integration of
morphological and reproductive adaptations of migratory birds has a
genetic basis, we hypothesize that the maladaptive trend towards shorter
wings may be a correlated response to selection for moderate breeding
investment in drying habitat. Our results provide evidence that
contemporary phenotypic change may deviate average trait values from their
optima, thereby increasing our understanding of the ecological constraints
underpinning adaptation to rapid global change.
According to the journal (The Auk) policy about the ethical re-use of
data, and considering the effort that the members of the SEO-Monticola
ringing group put in assembling this database, we would appreciate that
anyone interested in re-using the data to contact the corresponding author
in order to agree to a collaboration when appropriate. Analyses reported
in this article can be reproduced using the data provided. In the README
for databases.txt you can find a description of the variables included in
each database file. Missing values are designated as NA.