od_______908::9a2e9533cfe223df763b759c704ae4a8 2015-01-21T13:21:41Z

Physics::Geophysics food and beverages Quantitative Biology::Tissues and Organs Science::Plants (Botany) METEOROLOGY & ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES virus diseases Physics::Space Physics GEOLOGY Quantitative Biology::Populations and Evolution animal diseases IMAGING SCIENCE & PHOTOGRAPHIC TECHNOLOGY EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY Technology::Agriculture fungi Arts & recreation::Area planning & landscape architecture humanities Quantitative Biology::Cell Behavior REMOTE SENSING Research Article Science::Earth sciences & geology Science::Animals (Zoology) 2014-09-23 Public Library of Science PLoS ONE Many migrating herbivores rely on plant biomass to fuel their life cycles and have adapted to following changes in plant quality through time. The green wave hypothesis predicts that herbivorous waterfowl will follow the wave of food availability and quality during their spring migration. However, testing this hypothesis is hampered by the large geographical range these birds cover. The satellite-derived normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) time series is an ideal proxy indicator for the development of plant biomass and quality across a broad spatial area. A derived index, the green wave index (GWI), has been successfully used to link altitudinal and latitudinal migration of mammals to spatio-temporal variations in food quality and quantity. To date, this index has not been used to test the green wave hypothesis for individual avian herbivores. Here, we use the satellite-derived GWI to examine the green wave hypothesis with respect to GPS-tracked individual barnacle geese from three flyway populations (Russian n = 12, Svalbard n = 8, and Greenland n = 7). Data were collected over three years (2008–2010). Our results showed that the Russian and Svalbard barnacle geese followed the middle stage of the green wave (GWI 40–60%), while the Greenland geese followed an earlier stage (GWI 20–40%). Despite these differences among geese populations, the phase of vegetation greenness encountered by the GPS-tracked geese was close to the 50% GWI (i.e. the assumed date of peak nitrogen concentration), thereby implying that barnacle geese track high quality food during their spring migration. To our knowledge, this is the first time that the migration of individual avian herbivores has been successfully studied with respect to vegetation phenology using the satellite-derived GWI. Our results offer further support for the green wave hypothesis applying to long-distance migrants on a larger scale. oai:europepmc.org:3154348 oai:europepmc.org:3154348 PMC4172753 10.1371/journal.pone.0108331 25248162 false false 0.9 dedup_wf_001::7eb122eb33d12ccd775620ce86615a1d 9 Stahl, Julia dedup_wf_001::1099a3ec1f4332b0234f65525a8ecfb8 4 Toxopeus, Albertus G. dedup_wf_001::5dbed444ad127c204c03985159f91d0e 5 Kölzsch, Andrea datacite____::b0c0e7873cf7b760c6d84c0fed5cf153 2014-01-01 University of Konstanz datacite____::7fbd3faac2b5c55764be8c8ec739ba4e 2014-01-01 University of Konstanz datacite____::b9c6cd392696909ff1119607dfab2c89 2014-01-01 University of Konstanz od_______908::49deff1ceaa1d0b77daf867803d5cfde 10 Cabot, David od_______908::df1c489c8bbff82ac29e524152ff0350 2 Wang, Tiejun od_______908::b29d7a23dc2795edeaacc982c06fc4c8 1 Shariatinajafabadi, Mitra dedup_wf_001::cb6ee39d256bfae9a02595bd35d951da 3 Skidmore, Andrew K. dedup_wf_001::97e43b067f70abdfe002fdae882ef5bb 6 Nolet, Bart A. od_______908::7cd98dd24b863da38c32438691ea0324 8 Griffin, Larry dedup_wf_001::6e67c4127621f13464db8b676baa83c7 7 Exo, Klaus-michael http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4172753 1 Pettorelli N, Vik JO, Mysterud A, Gaillard J-M, Tucker CJ, et al (2005) Using the satellite-derived NDVI to assess ecological responses to environmental change. 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