Copyright © by The Royal Society
It has long been assumed that the resistant eggs of many zooplankton are able to survive passage through the gut of migratory waterbirds, thus facilitating their dispersal between isolated aquatic habitats. We present the first evidence that such passive internal transport within birds may be relevant for insect populations. In three out of six faecal samples from black-tailed Godwits on autumn migration in southwest Spain, we found larvae of the chironomid Chironomus salinarius which had survived gut passage. Although adult chironomids can fly, they are likely to disperse greater distances when transported as larvae via birds. In insects with discrete generations, such passive transport also enables colonization of new habitats at times when flight by adults is not an option.
M.I.S. was supported by a Ph.D. grant from the Ministerio
de Ciencia y Tecnología and a I3P postgraduate grant
from the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas.
The Consejería de Medio Ambiente, Junta de Andalucía
and Aragonesas Industrias y Energía S.A. provided permission
to work in the saltworks. Two anonymous referees
helped us to improve the manuscript.
Peer reviewed