Billions of nocturnally migrating songbirds fly across oceans and deserts on their annual journeys. Using multisensor data loggers, we show that great reed warblers () regularly prolong their otherwise strictly nocturnal flights into daytime when crossing the Mediterranean Sea and the Sahara Desert. Unexpectedly, when prolonging their flights, they climbed steeply at dawn, from a mean of 2394 meters above sea level to reach extreme cruising altitudes (mean 5367 and maximum 6267 meters above sea level) during daytime flights. This previously unknown behavior of using exceedingly high flight altitudes when migrating during daytime could be caused by diel variation in ambient temperature, winds, predation, vision range, and solar radiation. Our finding of this notable behavior provides new perspectives on constraints in bird flight and might help to explain the evolution of nocturnal migration.
Background: Migratory bats perform seasonal movements between their summer and winter areas. When crossing ecological barriers, like the open sea, they are exposed to an increased mortality risk due to energetically demanding long-distance flights and unexpected inclement weather events. How such barriers affect bat migratory movements is still poorly known.
State Key Laboratory of Mariculture Biobreeding and Sustainable Goods, Yellow Sea Fisheries Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences, Qingdao, Shandong, 266071, China.
The giant grouper (Epinephelus lanceolatus) is a large coral reef fish distributed in the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean. With a high market value, this species can grow up to approximately 2.7 meters in length and weigh 440 kilograms.
Efforts to understand how Pleistocene climate changes were translated into fluctuations in ice sheet extent and volume are limited by a lack of consensus about the glacial history of the North Sea. Here, we use high-resolution 3D seismic data to interpret the landforms and sediments of the central North Sea in unprecedented detail. In contrast to previous interpretations of multiple extensive early glaciations, our data suggest that grounded ice extended across the central North Sea only once, from western Norway, during the Early Pleistocene.
Discarded cigarette butts (CBs) are a significant source of environmental pollution. In areas with large amounts of cigarette waste, environmental hazards may arise due to the leaching of chemicals from filters and smoked tobacco. Accurately estimating the number of CBs on beaches requires a standardized method.
The Antarctic Peninsula is undergoing rapid climate changes, impacting its surrounding marine ecosystem. At that site, sea ice plays a crucial role in this ecosystem by serving as a habitat for organisms and influencing primary productivity. Studying sea ice variability and primary productivity is essential for understanding environmental changes in Antarctica.
