Authors: Susanne JenniEiermann
Publish Date: 2017/02/21
Volume: 203, Issue: 6-7, Pages: 431-438
Abstract
Migrating birds are known to fly nonstop for thousands of kilometres without food or water intake and at a high metabolic rate thereby relying on energy stores which were built up preceding a flight bout Hence from a physiological point of view the metabolism of a migrant has to switch between an active fasting phase during flight and a fuelling phase during stopover To meet the energetic and water requirements of endurance flight migratory birds have to store an optimal fuel composition and they have to be able to quickly mobilize and deliver sufficient energy to the working flight muscles After flight birds have to recover from a strenuous exercise and sleeplessness but at the same time they have to be alert to escape from predators and to prepare the next flight bout In this overview metabolic adaptations of freeranging migrants to both phases will be presented and compared with results from windtunnel studies The questions whether migratory strategy long distance versus short distance and diet composition influence the metabolic pathways will be discussedThe manuscript is based on data collected during more than 20 years of research My special thanks and appreciation goes to Lukas Jenni with whom I planned and carried out all the studies together I would also like to thank the former students Karen Falsone Ivan Maggini Michael Schaub and Regine Schwilch for their valuable contributions and the numerous helpers during field work The studies were financed by the Swiss Ornithological Institute
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