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.
Millions of eared grebes visit Great Salt Lake to rest and refuel en route to their winter homes on the Pacific Coast each fall, along with 250 other bird species throughout the year. That's about 10 million individual birds ...
Ecology
Jul 3, 2025
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It's a warm January summer afternoon, and as I traverse the flower-strewn western slopes of Australia's highest mountain, Mount Kosciuszko, I am on the lookout for a telltale river of boulders that winds its way down into ...
Plants & Animals
Jun 19, 2025
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26
Submarine canyons around Antarctica tend to have less sea ice, higher sea surface temperatures, and more biomass such as phytoplankton blooms than the shelves they cut into. Phytoplankton blooms feed Antarctic krill, making ...
Earth Sciences
Jun 18, 2025
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In a world-first discovery, researchers have shown that Australia's iconic Bogong moth uses constellations of stars and the Milky Way to navigate hundreds of kilometers across the country during its annual migration—making ...
Plants & Animals
Jun 18, 2025
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32
The forerunners of dinosaurs and crocodiles in the Triassic period were able to migrate across areas of the ancient world deemed completely inhospitable to life, new research suggests.
Paleontology & Fossils
Jun 11, 2025
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200
Bird flu cases are rising rapidly in the U.S. and around the world. A new study traces how the disease spread over the last two decades from Asia to Europe, Africa and the Americas. New bird species, from pelicans to peregrine ...
Environment
Mar 25, 2025
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