Birds migrate longitudinally in response to the resultant Asian monsoons of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau uplift

Zhang, Wenyuan, Gu, Zhongru, Chen, Yangkang, Zhang, Ran and Zhan, Xiangjiang 2025. Birds migrate longitudinally in response to the resultant Asian monsoons of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau uplift. eLife 14 , RP103971. 10.7554/elife.103971

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Abstract

The uplift of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is one of the greatest geological events on Earth, pivotally shaping biogeographic patterns across continents, especially for migratory species that need to overcome topographical barriers to fulfil their annual circle. However, how the uplift influences animal migration strategies remains largely unclear. We compare the current flyways of 50 avian species migrating across the plateau with those reconstructed before the uplift as a counterfactual. We find that the major effect of the plateau uplift is changing avian migratory directions from the latitudinal to the longitudinal. The monsoon system generated by the uplift rather than the high elevation per se shapes those changes. These findings unveil how an important global geological event has influenced biogeographic patterns of migratory birds, yielding testable hypotheses for how observed avian distributions emerge.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Published Online
Status:	Published
Schools:	Schools > Biosciences
Additional Information:	License information from Publisher: LICENSE 1: URL: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Publisher:	eLife Sciences Publications
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	11 November 2025
Last Modified:	11 Nov 2025 12:00
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/182327

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