Abstract: Animal migration is changing rapidly due to global change, such as rising temperatures, fragmented habitats and increased human activity. Migratory animals are critical in linking spatially separated communities by transport and trophic interactions, so they play an important role in biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. The changed migratory strategies could cause severe consequences to the diversity and stability of ecological communities. However, a global picture of changing migratory strategies is lacking. We don't know how global change affects migratory strategies, and how changes in migration might further influence our ecosystem.
So in this study, we synthesized a global dataset from 300 published empirical studies. Through meta-analysis, we can estimate how migration is changing on its timing, distance, direction, range and propensity to respond to global change, we can also asses their consequences to population, community dynamics and ecosystem functions. Our study would have implications for predicting the evolutionary direction of migration and understanding the potential consequences to ecosystems that are driven by the declining and disappearing migratory animals.
