Hlaváček Antonín, Mikula Peter, Hadrava Jiří, Lučan Radek K
Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Viničná 7, Prague 2 12800, Czechia.
Department of Ecology, Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Kamýcká 129, Prague 16500, Czechia.
R Soc Open Sci. 2025 Mar 5;12(3):241743. doi: 10.1098/rsos.241743. eCollection 2025 Mar.
Most migrating birds must replenish energy reserves during migration. Food availability significantly influences migratory routes and can even force migrants to detour, but still little is known about potential co-migration between insectivorous birds and their insect prey. To address this gap, we focused on day-flying insects and the insectivorous birds migrating through the Červenohorské sedlo mountain pass, Czech Republic. During four seasons of insect and bird trapping, using Malaise trap and mist-nets, respectively, we recorded 23 094 birds of 80 species and 35 087 migrating hoverflies (Syrphidae) of 47 species. We found a strong temporal correlation between the number of migrating hoverflies and insectivorous birds crossing the mountain pass. The observed pattern suggests that a similar phenomenon may occur in lowlands, where both groups stop over before and after crossing the mountains. These stopovers may provide migratory birds with abundant and reliable food resources. We also found that hoverflies comprised 88% of the biomass of all trapped insects, making them the most abundant potential prey of migrating birds. Our results outline the co-migration of birds and hoverflies and shed light on possible predator-prey dynamics during migration.
大多数候鸟在迁徙过程中必须补充能量储备。食物的可获得性会显著影响迁徙路线，甚至可能迫使候鸟绕道而行，但对于食虫鸟类与其昆虫猎物之间潜在的共同迁徙情况，我们仍然知之甚少。为了填补这一空白，我们聚焦于日间飞行的昆虫以及穿越捷克共和国切尔韦诺霍尔斯克山口的食虫鸟类。在分别使用马氏网和雾网进行的四个季节的昆虫和鸟类诱捕过程中，我们记录到了80种23094只鸟以及47种35087只正在迁徙的食蚜蝇（食蚜蝇科）。我们发现穿越山口的迁徙食蚜蝇数量与食虫鸟类数量之间存在很强的时间相关性。观察到的模式表明，在低地可能也会出现类似现象，这两个群体在穿越山脉前后都会在低地停留。这些中途停留地可能为候鸟提供丰富且可靠的食物资源。我们还发现，食蚜蝇占所有捕获昆虫生物量的88%，这使它们成为迁徙鸟类最丰富的潜在猎物。我们的研究结果概述了鸟类和食蚜蝇的共同迁徙情况，并揭示了迁徙过程中可能的捕食者 - 猎物动态。
