Vagrancy (biology)

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Laughing gull, a species of the Americas, photographed in Wales. Laughing gull Porthmadog.jpg
Laughing gull, a species of the Americas, photographed in Wales.

Vagrancy is a phenomenon in biology whereby an individual animal (usually a bird) appears well outside its normal range; [1] they are known as vagrants. The term accidental is sometimes also used. There are a number of poorly understood factors which might cause an animal to become a vagrant, including internal causes such as navigatory errors (endogenous vagrancy) and external causes such as severe weather (exogenous vagrancy). [2] Vagrancy events may lead to colonisation and eventually to speciation. [3]

Contents

Birds

Vagrant birds in unfamiliar habitats may end up dying from stress or a lack of food, as happened to this great shearwater that was found at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore on Lake Michigan Great Shearwater specimen (as discovered), Sleeping Bear Dunes NL, September 9, 2012 (7969969606).jpg
Vagrant birds in unfamiliar habitats may end up dying from stress or a lack of food, as happened to this great shearwater that was found at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore on Lake Michigan

In the Northern Hemisphere, adult birds (possibly inexperienced younger adults) of many species are known to continue past their normal breeding range during their spring migration and end up in areas further north (such birds are termed spring overshoots).

In autumn, some young birds, instead of heading to their usual wintering grounds, take "incorrect" courses and migrate through areas which are not on their normal migration path. For example, Siberian passerines which normally winter in Southeast Asia are commonly found in Northwest Europe, e.g. Arctic warblers in Britain. [4] This is reverse migration, where the birds migrate in the opposite direction to that expected (say, flying north-west instead of south-east). The causes of this are unknown, but genetic mutation or other anomaly relating to the bird's magnetic sensibilities is suspected. [5]

Other birds are sent off course by storms, such as some North American birds blown across the Atlantic Ocean to Europe. Birds can also be blown out to sea, become physically exhausted, land on a ship and end up being carried to the ship's destination.

While many vagrant birds do not survive, if sufficient numbers wander to a new area they can establish new populations. Many isolated oceanic islands are home to species that are descended from landbirds blown out to sea, Hawaiian honeycreepers and Darwin's finches being prominent examples.

Insects

Vagrancy in insects is recorded from many groups—it is particularly well-studied in butterflies and moths, and dragonflies.[ citation needed ]

Mammals

In mammals, vagrancy has been recorded for bats, pinniped seals, whales, manatees, belugas, cougars, and more.[ citation needed ]

Reptiles

Vagrancy has been recorded for sea turtles, snakes (e.g. Pelamis platura ), crocodilians, and probably also occurs in lizards. It therefore seems to be a fairly widespread phenomenon in reptiles. Saltwater crocodiles are especially prone to vagrancy, with individuals occasionally being recorded in odd places including Fiji, Iwo Jima, and even the Sea of Japan. [6]

Plants

The term vagrant is also used of plants (e.g. Gleason and Cronquist, 1991), to refer to a plant that is growing far away from its species' usual range (especially north of its range) with the connotation of being a temporary population. In the context of lichens, a vagrant form or species occurs unattached to a substrate ("loose"), not necessarily outside its range. [7]

Another definition (de Lange & Molloy, 1995) defined vagrant species in New Zealand flora – although could also be applied for any given region. Their definition was, "taxa whose presence within the New Zealand botanical region is naturally transitory... those which have failed to establish themselves significantly beyond their point of introduction through reproductive failure or for quite specific ecological reasons.". [8] One example was the presence of Atriplex cinerea in New Zealand.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fish migration</span> Movement of fishes from one part of a water body to another on a regular basis

Fish migration is mass relocation by fish from one area or body of water to another. Many types of fish migrate on a regular basis, on time scales ranging from daily to annually or longer, and over distances ranging from a few metres to thousands of kilometres. Such migrations are usually done for better feeding or to reproduce, but in other cases the reasons are unclear.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bird migration</span> Seasonal movement of birds

Bird migration is the regular seasonal movement, often north and south, along a flyway, between breeding and wintering grounds. Many species of bird migrate. Migration carries high costs in predation and mortality, including from hunting by humans, and is driven primarily by the availability of food. It occurs mainly in the northern hemisphere, where birds are funnelled onto specific routes by natural barriers such as the Mediterranean Sea or the Caribbean Sea.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tundra swan</span> Species of bird

The tundra swan is a small swan of the Holarctic. The two taxa within it are usually regarded as conspecific, but are also sometimes split into two species: Bewick's swan of the Palaearctic and the whistling swan proper of the Nearctic. Birds from eastern Russia are sometimes separated as the subspecies C. c. jankowskii, but this is not widely accepted as distinct, with most authors including them in C. c. bewickii. Tundra swans are sometimes separated in the subgenus Olor together with the other Arctic swan species.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pallas's leaf warbler</span> A small migratory passerine bird that breeds in northern Asia

Pallas's leaf warbler or Pallas's warbler, is a bird that breeds in mountain forests from southern Siberia east to northern Mongolia and northeast China. It is named for German zoologist Peter Simon Pallas, who first formally described it. This leaf warbler is strongly migratory, wintering mainly in south China and adjacent areas of southeast Asia, although in recent decades increasing numbers have been found in Europe in autumn.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yellow-browed warbler</span> Species of bird

The yellow-browed warbler is a leaf warbler which breeds in the east Palearctic. This warbler is strongly migratory and winters mainly in tropical South Asia and South-east Asia, but also in small numbers in western Europe. Like the rest of Phylloscopidae, it was formerly included in the Old World warbler assemblage.

Drift migration is the phenomenon in which migrating birds are blown off course by the winds while they are in flight. It is more likely to happen to birds heading south in autumn because the large numbers of inexperienced young birds are less able to compensate than the adults heading north in spring.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reverse migration (birds)</span>

Reverse migration, also called reverse misorientation, is a phenomenon whereby a bird migrates in the opposite direction to that typical of its species during the spring or autumn.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hume's leaf warbler</span> Species of bird

Hume's leaf warbler or Hume's warbler is a small leaf warbler which breeds in the mountains of inner Asia. This warbler is migratory and winters mainly in India.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Garden warbler</span> A small migratory passerine bird

The garden warbler is a common and widespread small bird that breeds in most of Europe and in the Palearctic to western Siberia. It is a plain, long-winged and long-tailed typical warbler with brown upperparts and dull white underparts; the sexes are similar and juveniles resemble the adults. Its two subspecies differ only slightly and interbreed where their ranges overlap. Due to its lack of distinguishing features, this species can be confused with a number of other unstreaked warblers. The garden warbler's rich melodic song is similar to that of the blackcap, its closest relative, which competes with it for territory when nesting in the same woodland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sedge warbler</span> Species of bird

The sedge warbler is an Old World warbler in the genus Acrocephalus. It is a medium-sized warbler with a brown, streaked back and wings and a distinct pale supercilium. Sedge warblers are migratory, crossing the Sahara to get from their European and Asian breeding grounds to spend winter in Africa. The male's song is composed of random chattering phrases and can include mimicry of other species. The sedge warbler is mostly insectivorous.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marsh warbler</span> Species of bird

The marsh warbler is an Old World warbler currently classified in the family Acrocephalidae. It breeds in temperate Europe and the western Palearctic and winters mainly in southeast Africa. It is notable for incorporating striking imitations of a wide variety of other birds into its song.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pectoral sandpiper</span> Species of bird

The pectoral sandpiper is a small, migratory wader that breeds in North America and Asia, wintering in South America and Oceania. It eats small invertebrates. Its nest, a hole scraped in the ground and with a thick lining, is deep enough to protect its four eggs from the cool breezes of its breeding grounds. The pectoral sandpiper is 21 cm (8.3 in) long, with a wingspan of 46 cm (18 in).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blackpoll warbler</span> Species of bird

The blackpoll warbler is a New World warbler. Breeding males are mostly black and white. They have a prominent black cap, white cheeks, and white wing bars. The blackpoll breeds in forests of northern North America, from Alaska throughout most of Canada, to the Adirondack Mountains of New York as well as New England in the Northeastern United States. They are a common migrant throughout much of North America. In fall, they fly south to the Greater Antilles and the northeastern coasts of South America in a non-stop long-distance migration over open water, averaging 2,500 km (1,600 mi), one of the longest-distance non-stop overwater flights ever recorded for a migratory songbird. Rare vagrants to western Europe, they are one of the more frequent transatlantic passerine wanderers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Black-and-white warbler</span> Species of New World warbler

The black-and-white warbler is a species of New World warbler, and the only member of its genus, Mniotilta. It breeds in northern and eastern North America and winters in Florida, Central America, and the West Indies down to Peru. This species is a very rare vagrant to western Europe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Palm warbler</span> Species of bird

The palm warbler is a small songbird of the New World warbler family.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Connecticut warbler</span> Species of bird

The Connecticut warbler is a small songbird of the New World warbler family.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Twitchers' vocabulary</span> Birding jargon used by twitchers

Twitchers' vocabulary is the set of jargon words used by twitchers. Some terms may be specific to regional birding communities, and not all are used due to dialectic and cultural differences.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Audubon's shearwater</span> Species of bird

Audubon's shearwater is a common tropical seabird in the petrel family. Sometimes known as the dusky-backed shearwater, the specific epithet honours the French naturalist Félix Louis L'Herminier.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Diel vertical migration</span> A pattern of daily vertical movement characteristic of many aquatic species

Diel vertical migration (DVM), also known as diurnal vertical migration, is a pattern of movement used by some organisms, such as copepods, living in the ocean and in lakes. The adjective "diel" comes from Latin: diēs, lit. 'day', and refers to a 24-hour period. The migration occurs when organisms move up to the uppermost layer of the water at night and return to the bottom of the daylight zone of the oceans or to the dense, bottom layer of lakes during the day. DVM is important to the functioning of deep-sea food webs and the biologically-driven sequestration of carbon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lepidoptera migration</span>

Many populations of Lepidoptera migrate, sometimes long distances, to and from areas which are only suitable for part of the year. Lepidopterans migrate on all continents except Antarctica, including from or within subtropical and tropical areas. By migrating, these species can avoid unfavorable circumstances, including weather, food shortage, or over-population. In some lepidopteran species, all individuals migrate; in others, only some migrate.

References

  1. Ralph, C. John; Wolfe, Jared D. (2018-12-21). "Factors affecting the distribution and abundance of autumn vagrant New World warblers in northwestern California and southern Oregon". PeerJ. 6: e5881. doi: 10.7717/peerj.5881 . ISSN   2167-8359. PMC   6305120 . PMID   30595974.
  2. "Vagrancy in Birds".
  3. Lees, Alexander C.; Gilroy, James J. (2013-11-12). "Vagrancy fails to predict colonization of oceanic islands". Global Ecology and Biogeography. 6 (4): 405–413. doi:10.1111/geb.12129. ISSN   1466-8238.
  4. Thorup, Kasper (May 1998). "Vagrancy of Yellow-browed Warbler Phylloscopus inornatus and Pallas's Warbler Ph. proregulus in north-west Europe: Misorientation on great circles?". Ringing & Migration. 19 (1): 7–12. doi: 10.1080/03078698.1998.9674155 . ISSN   0307-8698.
  5. Vinicombe, Keith; David Cottridge (1996). Rare birds in Britain and Ireland a photographic record. London: Collins. ISBN   0-00-219976-9.
  6. Takushima, Hauro (25 December 1955). "Records of crocodiles captured in the neighboring Sea of Japan". Journal of the Yamashina Institute for Ornithology. 1 (7): 300–302. doi: 10.3312/jyio1952.1.300 .
  7. Rosentreter, R. & McCune, B. 1992. "Vagrant Dermatocarpon in Western North America". The Bryologist. 95:15–19.
  8. de Lange, P. J.; Molloy, B. P. J. (1995). "Vagrancy within New Zealand orchids: what are the conservation priorities?". New Zealand Botanical Society Newsletter. 40: 13–14.