Browsing by Author "Ma Z"

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    Power source, data retrieval method, and attachment type affect success of dorsally mounted tracking tag deployments in 37 species of shorebirds
    (John Wiley and Sons Ltd on behalf of Nordic Society Oikos, 2025-12-04) Weiser EL; Lanctot RB; Ruthrauff DR; Saalfeld ST; Tibbitts TL; Abad-Gómez JM; Aldabe J; de Almeida JB; Alves JA; Anderson GQA; Battley PF; Belting H; Bêty J; Bianchini K; Bishop MA; Bom RA; Bowgen K; Brown GS; Brown SC; Bugoni L; Burton NHK; Bybee DR; Carneiro C; Castresana G; Chan Y-C; Choi C-Y; Christie KS; Clark NA; Conklin JR; Cruz-López M; Dinsmore SJ; Dodd SG; Douglas DC; Eberhart-Hertel LJ; English WB; Ewing HT; Faria FA; Franks SE; Fuller RA; Gill RE; Giroux M-A; Gratto-Trevor CL; Green DJ; Green RE; Green RMW; Gunnarsson TG; Gutiérrez JS; Harrison A-L; Hartman CA; Hassell CJ; Hoepfner SA; Hooijmeijer JCEW; Johnson JA; Johnson OW; Kempenaers B; Klaassen M; Kok EMA; Krietsch J; Küpper C; Kwarteng AY; Kwon E; Lamarre J-F; Latty CJ; Lecomte N; Loonstra AHJ; Ma Z; Mander L; Marlow C; Marra PP; Masero JA; McDuffie LA; McGuire RL; Melter J; Melville DS; Méndez V; Michels TJ; Morrissey CA; Mu T; Newstead DJ; Page GW; Pierce AK; Piersma T; Repenning M; Robinson BH; Rocha AD; Rogers DI; Scarpignato AL; Schulte S; Scragg ES; Senner NR; Smith PA; Taylor AR; Taylor RC; Þórisson B; Valcu M; Verhoeven MA; Ware L; Warnock N; Weber MF; Wright LJ; Wunder MB; Shamoun-Baranes J; Bensch S
    Animal-borne trackers are commonly used to study bird movements, including in long-distance migrants such as shorebirds. Selecting a tracker and attachment method can be daunting, and methodological advancements often have been made by trial and error and conveyed by word of mouth. We synthesized tracking outcomes across 2745 dorsally mounted trackers on 37 shorebird species around the world. We evaluated how attachment method, power source, data retrieval method, relative tracker mass, and biological traits affected success, where success was defined as whether or not each tag deployment reached its expected tracking duration (i.e. all aspects succeeded for the intended duration of the study: attachment, tracking, data acquisition, and bird survival). We conducted separate analyses for tag deployments with remote data retrieval (‘remote-upload tag deployments') and those that archived data and had to be recovered (‘archival tag deployments'). Among remote-upload tag deployments, those that were a lighter mass relative to the bird, were beyond their first year of production, transmitted data via satellite, or were attached with a leg-loop harness were most often successful at reaching their expected tracking duration. Archival tag deployments were most successful when applied at breeding areas, or when applied to males in any season. Remote-upload tag deployments with solar power, satellite data retrieval, or leg-loop harnesses continued tracking for longer than those with battery power, other types of data retrieval, or glue attachments. However, the majority of tag deployments failed to reach their expected tracking duration (71% of remote-upload, 83% of archival), which could have been due to tracker failure, attachment failure, or bird mortality. Our findings highlight that many tag deployments may fail to meet the goals of a study if tracking duration is crucial. Using our results, we provide guidelines for selecting a tracker and attachment to improve success at meeting study goals.
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    Shorebirds wintering in Southeast Asia demonstrate trans-Himalayan flights
    (Springer Nature Limited, 11/12/2020) Li D; Davidson G; Lisovski S; Battley PF; Ma Z; Yang S; How CB; Watkins D; Round P; Yee A; Srinivasan V; Teo C; Teo R; Loo A; Leong CC; Er K
    Many birds wintering in the Indian subcontinent fly across the Himalayas during migration, including Bar-headed Geese (Anser indicus), Demoiselle Cranes (Anthropoides virgo) and Ruddy Shelducks (Tadorna ferruginea). However, little is known about whether shorebirds migrate across the Himalayas from wintering grounds beyond the Indian subcontinent. Using geolocators and satellite tracking devices, we demonstrate for the first time that Common Redshanks (Tringa totanus) and Whimbrels (Numenius phaeopus) wintering in Singapore can directly fly over the Himalayas to reach breeding grounds in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and north-central Russia, respectively. The results also show that migratory shorebirds wintering in Southeast Asia can use both the Central Asian Flyway and the East Asian-Australasian Flyway. For Redshanks, westerly-breeding birds crossed the Himalayas while more eastern breeders migrated east of the Himalayas. For Whimbrels, the individual that crossed the Himalayas was probably from a different breeding population than others that migrated coastally up the East Asian-Australasian Flyway. The minimum required altitude of routes of trans-Himalayan Redshanks were no higher on average than those of eastern migrants, but geolocator temperature data indicate that birds departing Singapore flew at high elevations even when not required to by topography, suggesting that the Himalayan mountain range may be less of a barrier than assumed.