What is the relationship between the winter route of Raptor Peregrine Falcon and climate change?

At present, it is known that global climate change and human development activities will affect t

What is the relationship between the winter route of Raptor Peregrine Falcon and climate change?

At present, it is known that global climate change and human development activities will affect the annual migration and movement of birds, which may further lead to unsuitable living places and breeding environment in bird migration.

Migratory birds will follow the seasonal preference of breeding grounds in the Arctic (polar), but scientists still don't know the route of bird migration, its maintenance methods, its future route and how genes in the body affect and determine the migration path.

Recent studies have found that the ADCY8 gene of peregrine falcon may be related to the migration path. With the continuous global warming, the migration distance of peregrine falcons in the west of Eurasia will be shorter and shorter, while the migration distance of peregrine falcons in the east will be longer and longer.

Falco peregrinus, the fastest bird of prey on the water, is a big bird with extremely fast flying speed, and its top speed can even reach more than 300 kilometers per hour when diving. Peregrine falcons will first lock the small and medium-sized birds they want to prey on at high altitude, and then turn their tails back and dive down (just like in the movie).

Falcon means "falcon" in the name of peregrine falcon, and it means "sickle" in Latin, which comes from the bent wings of peregrine falcon when flying. At present, some fighters and heavy aircraft are named peregrine falcon. For example, Suzuki GSX 1300R Falcon, a heavy-duty machine produced in Japan, has a special shape in the front that imitates peregrine falcons. In addition, the flying peregrine falcon will also appear on the national emblem of the United Arab Emirates as the national bird of the country.

Figure 3 * * * The national emblem of UAE is peregrine falcon. Wikimedia must migrate to the south to find food. Peregrine falcons are distributed all over the world except Antarctic continent and a few areas. Peregrine falcons in different areas have slightly different living environments, and can live in mountain habitats such as plains and wetlands, and even cities. Some peregrine falcons are resident birds, and some peregrine falcons migrate in certain seasons. The migration reasons of peregrine falcons can be mainly divided into two categories: one is that young birds mature and leave their nests and spread to other habitats; Another reason is to explore the source of food. When autumn comes and the climate gets cold, peregrine falcons in high latitudes will start to migrate because of the lack of food resources in their environment, spend the winter in warmer places with sufficient food, and then return to their original breeding grounds after the winter has passed.

Peregrine falcons in the Arctic have specific migration routes. Peregrine falcons living in the Arctic begin to migrate in autumn in September, and can travel 2280 to 1 1002 km in 27 days, and reach their winter areas in1October. Peregrine falcons usually migrate alone, and peregrine falcons from different parts of the polar regions use different migration paths. By tracking 56 peregrine falcons of 6 ethnic groups by satellite, the research team can observe 5 different paths (Figure 4), and the migration starting points are also different, which are divided into 6 places: Kola, Korgaff, Yamal, Popigai, Lena and Colimma (Kola and Korgaff peregrine falcons use the same migration path).

Figure 4/ By tracking 56 peregrine falcons by satellite, five different paths can be found. The solid line is autumn migration, and the dotted line is spring migration. If the reference 1 continuously tracks the flight path of peregrine falcon for three years, it can be found that its migration path is quite repetitive, with little annual change (Figure 5). If we further calculate and compare the migration paths of peregrine falcons of different ethnic groups, we can find that the travel paths of peregrine falcons migrated from eastern routes are significantly higher than those migrated from western routes.

Figure 5/ Lena migration path of peregrine falcon from 20 10 to 20 14. Reference 1 classifies peregrine falcons migrating from five different places into two categories, namely LD, long-distance migration (LD) and short-distance migration (SD). Long-distance migration refers to the flight path of peregrine falcon from Yamal, Popigai, Lena and Colimma, while short-distance migration refers to Kola and Colimma. (Figure 6)

Figure 6/ Routes from five locations can be divided into long-distance migration (LD) and short-distance migration (SD). Cora and Kolgaff belong to SD; Yamal, Popigai, Lena and Kerema belong to LD. The migration path of the reference 1 peregrine falcon is influenced by the environment in different periods. These breeding groups * * * used five different migration paths to cross Eurasia (Eur), which may be due to the transition from LGM and the maximum of the last glacial period (LGM) to Holocene (about 1 10,000 years ago), the climate changed from cold to warm and stable, and the glaciers gradually melted. Nowadays, the environmental differences in these different migration routes also keep these routes unique.

During the last glacial maximum (LGM), peregrine falcons living in the western Arctic had a small wintering ground, but remained unchanged in the east, and peregrine falcons would migrate to a wintering ground and southeast (via India and Southeast Asia) (Figure 7). In the middle of Holocene, it was changed to southwest route. In the middle of Holocene, the breeding area of peregrine falcon gradually moved northward. This also shows that peregrine falcons need longer migration routes. These results show that the change of ice age cycle can adjust the migration direction and distance of peregrine falcon.

Figure 7. Location distribution and migration path of peregrine falcon breeding ground and wintering ground in different periods. The above picture shows the maximum value (LGM) of the last ice age; The middle picture shows the middle Holocene; The icon at the bottom shows the current migration route of peregrine falcons. Reference 1 Genetic variation leads to different migration distances. In this study, the research team not only used satellites to track the flight path of peregrine falcons, but also selected 35 peregrine falcons from 4 of 56 peregrine falcons observed in 6 populations for gene sequencing. The research team found a gene named ADCY8, which was previously reported to be related to the long-term memory of other animals. According to previous studies, ADCY8 can translate adenylate cyclase type 8 catalytic enzyme, which can promote the conversion of ATP into cAMP and act as a second messenger to down-regulate memory-related genes. Besides,

The mutation of ADCY8 gene can promote the combination of transcription factor CREB 1. CREB is a transcription factor, which can bind CREB 1 to CREB basic region and leucine zipper domain (bZIP) and regulate gene expression through DNA methylation. CREB 1 is pointed out to have a decisive influence on the development of long-term memory, because the mutation of ADCY8 gene occurs after the separation of long-distance migratory peregrine falcon and short-distance migratory peregrine falcon, and only the long-distance migratory peregrine falcon population has high activity, which can enhance the long-term memory ability and contribute to the long-distance migration of peregrine falcon.

In this study, it was found that ADCY8 gene was related to the different migration distances between different populations, and it was learned that ADCY8 and CREB 1 could affect the flight distance of peregrine falcon through the ability of * * *, and long-term memory may be a selective factor for the variation of ADCY8 gene in peregrine falcon population.

The research team on the influence of global warming on peregrine falcon migration used niche model to simulate the dispersion of peregrine falcon breeding sites and wintering sites in the future 2070. The results show that the breeding and wintering areas of each ethnic group will migrate to the North Pole by 2.08 latitude (Figure 8). This is also consistent with the migration of most arctic shorebirds, and can highlight tundra growing areas that are also affected by climate.

Fig. 8/ Breeding areas and wintering areas of peregrine falcons of five ethnic groups in 2070. The green dotted line indicates the current aquaculture area, and the solid line indicates the aquaculture area in 2070. The orange dotted line area is the current winter crossing area, and the solid line is the winter crossing area in 2070. Reference 1 In addition, the migration path of peregrine falcons using short distance path (SD) will be shorter and shorter in the future; On the contrary, the migration path of long-distance peregrine falcons will become longer and longer. If the earth's climate warms at the same rate in the next few decades, the number of quasi-tourists in western Eurasia may be greatly reduced and migration may stop. However, the peregrine falcon population in the eastern part of Eurasia will encounter a great long-distance migration crisis, because the mortality rate of peregrine falcon will increase with the increase of migration path.

It is predicted that global warming will also affect migration strategies and reduce breeding areas in the Eurasian Arctic. Clarifying the interaction between ecological function and evolution process can further help protect migratory birds.

In order to cope with global climate change, peregrine falcons need to change their new wintering sites and adjust their migration paths.

Climate warming and the decrease of arctic breeding grounds may not only lead to the decrease of peregrine falcon population, but also affect other endangered arctic migratory species. Therefore, it is really important to slow down the pace of global warming. Climate change will not only directly affect the living environment of human beings, but also immediately affect the survival of polar creatures.