Migratory species, as a biological and ecological topic, are taxa whose life cycles include regular, cyclical, and predictable movements between distinct geographic regions, typically driven by seasonal variation in resource availability, breeding opportunities, or environmental conditions. These movements can occur across latitudinal, altitudinal, or aquatic gradients and span scales from local to transcontinental. Research on migratory species focuses on navigation mechanisms (e.g., celestial, geomagnetic, olfactory cues), energetics and physiology of long-distance movement, connectivity between populations across ranges, and the consequences of migration for gene flow, community structure, ecosystem processes, and vulnerability to anthropogenic pressures along migratory routes.
Colorful tropical fish are heading south along the WA coast, including around Rottnest. This sounds spectacular, but it's not.
Plants & Animals
Oct 8, 2025
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Every fall, the skies of the northeastern United States fill with warblers, barn swallows and other birds heading south to warmer climates. The journeys are long—often spanning continents—and birds often have to make many ...
Plants & Animals
Sep 25, 2025
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A study of migratory hoverflies on a North Sea oil rig has revealed their vital role as long-distance pollen transporters.
Plants & Animals
Sep 18, 2025
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For millennia, Indigenous people living in Alaska and Canada's Yukon territory have relied on Chinook salmon. The large, fatty fish provide essential nutrients for Arctic living and have influenced traditions and languages ...
Plants & Animals
Sep 11, 2025
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As climate change drives earlier spring conditions in the Arctic, bird species that travel there to breed there are under pressure to migrate faster. A new study led by researchers from the University of Amsterdam and the ...
Plants & Animals
Sep 9, 2025
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All sea turtle species are threatened worldwide. They migrate long distances in the oceans—often thousands of kilometers—and so fall under multiple countries' laws and conservation targets. They also have a complex life cycle ...
Ecology
Sep 8, 2025
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Is aging inevitable? While most living beings age, some do so more slowly than others. A new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science addresses a fascinating question: what if migration influences ...
Plants & Animals
Aug 25, 2025
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A new study by the University of Cincinnati has found that monarch butterflies have an internal compass for their epic migration that flips when the temperatures plunge. This changing polarity helps butterflies prepare for ...
Plants & Animals
Aug 19, 2025
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Monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus) have long been known for their impressive migration abilities, with North American species traveling around 3,000 miles from the United States and Canada into Mexico or Southern California ...
In better times, droves of young winter-run Chinook salmon would travel 300 miles downstream from the Sacramento River, beneath the Golden Gate Bridge and into the Pacific. They would return as adults, shimmering silver and ...
Plants & Animals
Aug 13, 2025
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