Meeting Abstract

S6.11  Tuesday, Jan. 5  Conserving Animal Migrations: Key Research Challenges WILCOVE, D.S.; Princeton University dwilcove@princeton.edu

Around the world, animal migrations are fading away as a result of habitat destruction, barriers and obstacles, overexploitation, and climate change. Integrative biology has a crucial role to play in providing the knowledge needed to protect and restore populations of migratory animals. Four key areas for research include: (1) stopover ecology of aerial migrants, with an emphasis on determining the dispersion and characteristics of rest and refueling sites; (2) demographic connectivity—determining how events at any point in a migratory species’ life cycle affect its overall population; (3) impacts of global climate change on migration, especially with respect to the cues animals use to time their journeys and the degree to which migrations of particular species are tied to key phenological events, such as fruiting seasons, leaf emergence, etc.; and (4) the extent to which species can alter the timing, route, or endpoints of their migrations in response to changes in land use or climate.