title: Environmental drivers of variability in the movement ecology of turkey vultures (Cathartes aura) in North and South America.
abstract: Variation is key to the adaptability of species and their ability to survive changes to the Earth's climate and habitats. Plasticity in movement strategies allows a species to better track spatial dynamics of habitat quality. We describe the mechanisms that shape the movement of a long-distance migrant bird (turkey vulture, Cathartes aura) across two continents using satellite tracking coupled with remote-sensing science. Using nearly 10 years of data from 24 satellite-tracked vultures in four distinct populations, we describe an enormous amount of variation in their movement patterns. We related vulture movement to environmental conditions and found important correlations explaining how far they need to move to find food (indexed by the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index) and how fast they can move based on the prevalence of thermals and temperature. We conclude that the extensive variability in the movement ecology of turkey vultures, facilitated by their energetically efficient thermal soaring, suggests that this species is likely to do well across periods of modest climate change. The large scale and sample sizes needed for such analysis in a widespread migrant emphasizes the need for integrated and collaborative efforts to obtain tracking data and for policies, tools and open datasets to encourage such collaborations and data sharing.
authors.affiliation: Department of Civil, Environmental and Geodetic Engineering, The Ohio State University, , 475 Hitchcock Hall, 2070 Neil Avenue, Columbus, OH 43210, USA.
authors.forename: Somayeh
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Dodge
authors.forename: Gil
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Bohrer
authors.forename: Keith
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Bildstein
authors.forename: Sarah C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Davidson
authors.forename: Rolf
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Weinzierl
authors.forename: Marc J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Bechard
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Barber
authors.forename: Roland
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kays
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Brandes
authors.forename: Jiawei
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Han
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wikelski
mesh_terms: D000222:Adaptation, Physiological / Q000502:physiology*; D025041:Animal Migration / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D001717:Birds / Q000502:physiology*; D017753:Ecosystem; D016015:Logistic Models; D009656:North America; D063809:Satellite Imagery / Q000379:methods; D012621:Seasons; D013020:South America
keywords: avian scavengers; geographical variability; migration; movement ecology; remote-sensing observations; vultures
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