ABSTRACT
The remarkable long-distance journeys of migratory songbirds require a complex suite of behaviours that have evolved over millennia. Rapid, human-driven environmental change may be incompatible with evolved strategies and push the limits of phenotypic plasticity in some species or populations. Yet, we have much to learn about the degree to which songbirds are able to mount adaptive responses to environmental change, where this will result in winners and losers in future climate change scenarios, and how conservation and management can best address these challenges. This chapter will first summarize how we currently understand the way in which migration timing, navigation, and stopover behaviour is formed and maintained in songbirds. Next, these behaviours will be considered within the context of new challenges faced by migrants, such as those resulting from climate change, habitat loss, and light pollution. This chapter will then explore the evidence regarding the phenotypic plasticity of migration behaviour as well as where and how this may limit responses to rapid environmental change. Lastly, this chapter will investigate the future role of conservation and management strategies, including the potential to manage for adaptive migration behaviour and to re-introduce lost migratory populations.
