Department of Migration and Immuno-Ecology, Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, Radolfzell, Germany.
Department of Biology, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany.
Science. 2018 May 25;360(6391):911-914. doi: 10.1126/science.aap7781.
Soaring migrant birds exploit columns of rising air (thermals) to cover large distances with minimal energy. Using social information while locating thermals may benefit such birds, but examining collective movements in wild migrants has been a major challenge for researchers. We investigated the group movements of a flock of 27 naturally migrating juvenile white storks by using high-resolution GPS and accelerometers. Analyzing individual and group movements on multiple scales revealed that a small number of leaders navigated to and explored thermals, whereas followers benefited from their movements. Despite this benefit, followers often left thermals earlier and at lower height, and consequently they had to flap considerably more. Followers also migrated less far annually than did leaders. We provide insights into the interactions between freely flying social migrants and the costs and benefits of collective movement in natural populations.
候鸟利用上升的气流（上升热气流）来最小的能量消耗覆盖大的距离。在定位上升热气流时利用社会信息可能对这些鸟类有益，但研究人员一直面临着对野生候鸟进行集体运动研究的主要挑战。我们通过使用高分辨率 GPS 和加速度计来研究一群 27 只自然迁徙的幼年白鹳的群体运动。分析个体和群体在多个尺度上的运动，揭示了少数领导者导航到并探索上升热气流，而跟随者则受益于它们的运动。尽管有这种好处，但跟随者往往更早、在更低的高度离开上升热气流，因此它们不得不扇动翅膀更多次。跟随者每年的迁徙距离也比领导者短。我们提供了对自由飞行的社会性候鸟之间的相互作用以及自然种群中集体运动的成本和收益的深入了解。
