Meeting Abstract
In preparation for migration and during recovery from migration, birds experience widespread changes to their bodies including changes in fat, skeletal muscle, and digestive organ mass. While these changes have long been established, potential effects of these seasonal events on the skeleton, including changes to bone quantity and microarchitecture, have not been studied in detail. In the current study, we used micro-computed tomography to examine possible changes in the avian skeleton as a result of migration to the wintering grounds. We examined the humeri of Gambel’s White-Crowned Sparrows (Zonotrichia leucophrys gambelii) that were collected before migration, shortly after migration, and months after arrival to the wintering grounds. MicroCT analysis revealed differences in cortical bone volume and cortical thickness however, with the exception of differences in tissue mineral density, no changes were found in trabecular bone morphology across any of the three groups examined. Additional work needs to be done to further understand the mechanisms underlying the observed changes to cortical bone as well as to explore why trabecular bone appeared to be unaffected by migration. Further studies with larger sample sizes and better understanding of the type(s) of loading the wing bones experience during migration may help us to better understand the changes that the avian skeleton undergoes during migratory events.
