Use of trace element analysis of feathers as a tool to track fine-scale dispersal in birds

From Pubwiki

[edit] Author(s)

• Poesel, A.
• Nelson, D. A.
• Gibbs, H. L.
• Olesik, J. W.

[edit] Journal

Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 63.1 (2008): 153-58.

[edit] Keywords

trace elements fine-scale dispersal song dialect Zonotrichia leucophrys

[edit] Abstract

Tracking dispersal and migratory movements of animals over small and large spatial scales is a challenge. In birds, a promising yet underutilized tool is the trace elemental composition of feathers. The elemental profile of a feather may reveal information about the geographic origin of a bird provided that molting occurs on the breeding grounds and that elemental differences exist between breeding areas. Here, we explore the use of trace elemental composition in body feathers of the Puget Sound white-crowned sparrow Zonotrichia leucophrys pugetensis as a tool (1) to discriminate among birds collected in four different song dialect populations along a 400-km stretch of the Pacific Northwest coast and (2) to assign males singing nonlocal dialects in one population to potential natal populations. Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry detected 34 trace elements in sampled feathers and in a discriminant function analysis seven of these elements differed among the four source populations. Half of the six nonlocal dialect singers, who were likely to have immigrated into the focal population, were assigned to a population that matched their song dialect. Our study suggests that feather microchemistry is a promising tool for identifying geographic origins of dispersing birds over small geographic scales and in combination with other markers, such as song, may give insight into ecological and evolutionary processes.

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