Migratory herbivorous waterfowl track satellite-derived green wave index

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dc.contributor.authorShariatinajafabadi, M.en
dc.contributor.authorWang, T.en
dc.contributor.authorSkidmore, A. K.en
dc.contributor.authorToxopeus, A. G.en
dc.contributor.authorKölzsch, A.en
dc.contributor.authorNolet, B. A.en
dc.contributor.authorExo, K.-M.en
dc.contributor.authorGriffin, L.en
dc.contributor.authorStahl, J.en
dc.contributor.authorCabot, Daviden
dc.date.accessioned2025-01-15T09:45:47Z
dc.date.available2025-01-15T09:45:47Z
dc.date.issued2014en
dc.description.abstractMany migrating herbivores rely on plant biomass to fuel their life cycles and have adapted to following changes in plant quality through time. The green wave hypothesis predicts that herbivorous waterfowl will follow the wave of food availability and quality during their spring migration. However, testing this hypothesis is hampered by the large geographical range these birds cover. The satellite-derived normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) time series is an ideal proxy indicator for the development of plant biomass and quality across a broad spatial area. A derived index, the green wave index (GWI), has been successfully used to link altitudinal and latitudinal migration of mammals to spatiotemporal variations in food quality and quantity. To date, this index has not been used to test the green wave hypothesis for individual avian herbivores. Here, we use the satellite-derived GWI to examine the green wave hypothesis with respect to GPS-tracked individual barnacle geese from three flyway populations (Russian n = 12, Svalbard n = 8, and Greenland n = 7). Data were collected over three years (2008-2010). Our results showed that the Russian and Svalbard barnacle geese followed the middle stage of the green wave (GWI 40-60%), while the Greenland geese followed an earlier stage (GWI 20-40%). Despite these differences among geese populations, the phase of vegetation greenness encountered by the GPStracked geese was close to the 50% GWI (i.e. the assumed date of peak nitrogen concentration), thereby implying that barnacle geese track high quality food during their spring migration. To our knowledge, this is the first time that the migration of individual avian herbivores has been successfully studied with respect to vegetation phenology using the satellite-derived GWI. Our results offer further support for the green wave hypothesis applying to long-distance migrants on a larger scale. © 2014 Shariatinajafabadi et al.en
dc.description.statusPeer revieweden
dc.description.versionPublished Versionen
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen
dc.identifier.citationShariatinajafabadi, M., Wang, T., Skidmore, A.K., Toxopeus, A.G., Kölzsch, A., Nolet, B.A., Exo, K.M., Griffin, L., Stahl, J. and Cabot, D. (2014) 'Migratory herbivorous waterfowl track satellite-derived green wave index', PloS one, 9(9), p.e108331. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0108331en
dc.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0108331en
dc.identifier.issued9
dc.identifier.journaltitlePLoS ONEen
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10468/16824
dc.identifier.volume9
dc.language.isoenen
dc.publisherPublic Library of Scienceen
dc.rights© 2014, Shariatinajafabadi et al. This work is made available under the CC BY license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)en
dc.rights.urihttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
dc.subjectAvian herbivoresen
dc.subjectVegetation phenologyen
dc.subjectSatellite-derived GWIen
dc.titleMigratory herbivorous waterfowl track satellite-derived green wave indexen
dc.typeArticle (peer-reviewed)en
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