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Abstract
Altitudinal migration exists in many taxa around the world, yet our understanding of the factors influencing the behavior is limited. The objectives of this study were to gain a deeper understanding of altitudinal migration by synthesizing existing knowledge and by studying migratory propensity of a tropical bird species. First, I conducted a literature review highlighting common patterns and drivers of altitudinal migration, current knowledge gaps, and conservation implications of the behavior. I then investigated altitudinal migration of long-tailed manakins (Chiroxiphia linearis) in an agricultural landscape in Costa Rica. Capture-recapture and radio telemetry data were collected at low and high elevations between January and April of 2016. Five of the 12 tracked manakins migrated upslope during the study. Manakin abundance decreased in small forest fragments at low elevation and increased at high elevation, while abundance increased at both low and high elevations in large fragments. However, my results did not demonstrate that individual traits such as age, sex, and body size affect migratory propensity.