Sapir, N., Butler, P.J., Wikelski, M. and Hedenström, A. 2011. Energy Gain and Use During Animal Migration. In Fryxell, J.M., Milner-Gulland, E.J. and Sinclair, A.R.E. (eds.), Animal Migration – A Synthesis. Oxford: Oxford University Press (cited in 1 publication).
ABSTRACT
A balance of energy gain and use is needed during migration to safeguard against starvation and to minimize the costs of body mass overloading due to excessive lipid deposition. This chapter addresses how this is achieved throughout the four principal stages of animal migration: preparatory, movement, stopover, and arrival. It first discusses how lipid loading may be limited by ecological (e.g., food abundance), physiological (e.g., digestive capacity), and geomagnetic factors, as well as by annual routine events (e.g., the timing of feather moult) and the animal’s migration strategy. The chapter then deals with environmental effects on energy use and discusses the energetics of barnacle geese (Branta leucopsis) migrating from Svalbard to Scotland. It proposes that combining accelerometry to provide behavioural data with estimates of metabolic rate may substantially improve our understanding of the causes, mechanisms, patterns, and consequences of animal migration.