The Relationship of Fat Deposition and Vernal Migratory Behavior as Indicated by Zugunruhe in Zonotrichia-Leucophrys-Gambelii

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[edit] Author(s)

  • King, J. R.
  • Farner, D. S.

[edit] Journal

American Zoologist 1.3 (1961): 365-65.

[edit] Abstract

In seeking to identify the external factors and internal mechanisms which initiate and characterize avian migration, it appears that one of the more profitable avenues of approach is through an analysis of the physiology of premigratory fat deposition. It has been emphasized by many investigators (Wolfson, 1942 ; de Bont, 1947 ; Farner, 1955 ; Helms and Drury, 1960) that this deposition is characteristic of many small migratory species, that it does not occur in sedentary species, and that it is one of the earliest and most prominent signs of the physiological preparation for migration. In an analysis of the component mechanisms of premigratory fat deposition there are several obvious preliminary questions which delimit the approaches to orderly field observation and meaningful experimental design: (1 ) What are the quantitative and temporal characteristics of fat deposition under natural conditions? (2) What are the sources of energy which underlie intensive fat deposition? (3) What are the environmental timers, if any, which initiate deposition and the dissipation of the surplus reserves? (4) What neuro-endocrine changes and alterations in intermediary metabolism are involved? In an earlier paper concerning the first of these questions (King and Farner, 1959), we have quantitatively analyzed the phases of vernal premigratory fattening in wild White-crowned Sparrows of the race Zonotrichia leucophrys gambelii and compared the pattern with that of captive members of this same race. It was emphasized that quantitative differences between wild and captive birds were relatively minor and that temporal differences were not detectable. Because of this similarity, it was concluded that captive birds could legitimately be used in experimental analysis of the physiology of premigratory fattening. The investigations to be described below relate to question 2 and, in part, to question 3 as they apply to captive Zonotrichia leucophrys gambelii.

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