Effects of Climate Variation on the Breeding Ecology of Arctic Shorebirds
Effects of Climate Variation on the Breeding Ecology of Arctic Shorebirds

Author: Hans Meltofte

Publisher: Museum Tusculanum Press

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 52

ISBN-13: 9788763512794

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About 50 species of shorebirds breed in the Arctic, where they constitute the most characteristic component of the tundra avifauna. Here, we review the impact of weather and climate on the breeding cycle of shorebirds based on extensive studies conducted across the Arctic. Conditions for breeding shorebirds are highly variable among species, sites and regions, both within and between continents. Weather effects on breeding are most moderate in the Low Arctic of northern Europe and most extreme in the Siberian High Arctic. The decision of whether or not to breed upon arrival on the breeding grounds, the timing of egg-laying and the chick-growth period are most affected by annual variation in weather. In large parts of the Arctic, clutch initiation dates are highly correlated with snowmelt dates and in regions and years where extensive snowmelt occurs before or soon after the arrival of shorebirds, the decision to breed and on the breeding ecology of clutch initiation dates appear to be a function of food availability for laying females. Once incubation is initiated, adult shorebirds appear fairly resilient to variations in temperature with nest abandonment primarily occurring in case of severe weather with new snow covering the ground. Feeding conditions for chicks, a factor highly influenced by weather, affects juvenile production in most regions. Predation has a very strong impact on breeding productivity throughout the Arctic and subarctic, with lemming Dicrostonyx spp. and Lemmus spp. fluctuations strongly influencing predation rates, particularly in the Siberian Arctic. The fate of Arctic shorebirds under projected future climate scenarios is uncertain, but High Arctic species and populations appear particularly at risk. Climatic amelioration may benefit Arctic shorebirds in the short term by increasing both survival and productivity, whereas in the long term habitat changes both on the breeding grounds and on the temperate and tropical non-breeding areas may put them under considerable pressure and may bring some of them near to extinction. Their relatively low genetic diversity, which is thought to be a consequence of survival through past climatically-driven population bottlenecks, may also put them more at risk to anthropogenic-induced climate variation than other avian taxa.

Effects of Climate Change on the Breeding Ecology and Trophic Interactions of Arctic-breeding Shorebirds
Effects of Climate Change on the Breeding Ecology and Trophic Interactions of Arctic-breeding Shorebirds

Author: Eunbi Kwon

Publisher:

Published: 2016

Total Pages:

ISBN-13:

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Impacts of climate change on biological systems include shifts in seasonal phenology. How do migratory animals adjust reproductive decisions as they shift timing of breeding? I investigated patterns of climate change at a network of Arctic sites in Alaska and Canada, and examined the impacts of climate change on the breeding phenology, reproductive performance, and trophic interactions of Arctic-breeding shorebirds. First, I compared the breeding performance of three species, Western Sandpiper, Semipalmated Sandpiper, and Red-necked Phalaropes, at Nome, Alaska, across a 14-year interval. I found that shorebirds responded to a decreasing temperature during laying by delaying timing of breeding. Delayed breeding shortened the incubation duration for two biparental species but extended incubation for a uniparental species. Despite a short Arctic summer, the breeding windows of three sympatric species were temporally distinct. The three species often nested within several meters from each other, but bred under different temperature regimes and adjusted their reproductive output to different sets of environmental factors. Shifts in breeding phenology can disrupt trophic interactions, especially the phenological match between peak prey availability and hatching of shorebirds. Comparing the extent of phenological mismatch between six shorebirds and their invertebrate prey at ten Arctic sites, peak demand of shorebird broods occurred on average 3.8 days (± 13.8) later than local food peaks, and population demand curves overlapped with food curves by 47% (± 14%). Latitudinal and longitudinal gradients in the extent of trophic mismatch were mediated through geographic variation in the seasonal phenology of invertebrates and shorebirds. For individual nests, both more northerly and easterly sites showed greater phenological mismatch with annual food peaks. Delayed emergence of food peaks at more northerly and easterly sites alleviated the extent of phenological mismatch. My multi-site study provides the first evidence that large-scale geographic processes can determine the extent of phenological mismatch in a bitrophic system. Trends of climate change are sensitive to breeding stages and also vary along a longitudinal gradient. Variability in climatic trends in the Arctic, combined with species-dependent responses to local climate change, indicate that it will be challenging to predict the impacts of future climate change.

Effects of Climate Change on Birds
Effects of Climate Change on Birds

Author: Anders Pape Møller

Publisher: OUP Oxford

Published: 2010-08-12

Total Pages: 332

ISBN-13: 0191576662

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Climate change affects all living organisms; it has done so in the past and will do so in the future. However, current climate change is exceptional both in terms of the rate of change and the impact of multiple types of global change on individuals, populations, species, and ecosystems. Effects of Climate Change on Birds provides an exhaustive and up-to-date synthesis of the science of climate change as it relates to birds. Compared with any other class of animals, birds provide more long-term data and extensive time series (some dating back more than 100 years), a more geographically and taxonomically diverse source of information, and a longer tradition of extensive research. In fact this research record exceeds what is available in all other organisms combined.

Arctic Ecology
Arctic Ecology

Author: David N. Thomas

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2021-01-26

Total Pages: 468

ISBN-13: 1118846540

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The Arctic is often portrayed as being isolated, but the reality is that the connectivity with the rest of the planet is huge, be it through weather patterns, global ocean circulation, and large-scale migration patterns to name but a few. There is a huge amount of public interest in the ‘changing Arctic’, especially in terms of the rapid changes taking place in ecosystems and exploitation of resources. There can be no doubt that the Arctic is at the forefront of the international environmental science agenda, both from a scientific aspect, and also from a policy/environmental management perspective. This book aims to stimulate a wide audience to think about the Arctic by highlighting the remarkable breadth of what it means to study its ecology. Arctic Ecology seeks to systematically introduce the diverse array of ecologies within the Arctic region. As the Arctic rapidly changes, understanding the fundamental ecology underpinning the Arctic is paramount to understanding the consequences of what such change will inevitably bring about. Arctic Ecology is designed to provide graduate students of environmental science, ecology and climate change with a source where Arctic ecology is addressed specifically, with issues due to climate change clearly discussed. It will also be of use to policy-makers, researchers and international agencies who are focusing on ecological issues and effects of global climate change in the Arctic. About the Editor David N. Thomas is Professor of Arctic Ecosystem Research in the Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Helsinki. Previously he spent 24 years in the School of Ocean Sciences, Bangor University, Wales. He studies marine systems, with a particular emphasis on sea ice and land-coast interactions in the Arctic and Southern Oceans as well as the Baltic Sea. He also edited a related book: Sea Ice, 3rd Edition (2017), which is also published by Wiley-Blackwell.

Nest Site Selection in Arctic-breeding Shorebirds
Nest Site Selection in Arctic-breeding Shorebirds

Author: Jenny A. Cunningham

Publisher:

Published: 2014

Total Pages: 85

ISBN-13:

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Birds select nest sites based on factors that maximize their own survival and reproductive success. These factors include a location and structure that offers safety from predators, a favorable nest microclimate, proximity to food resources for adults and young, and social organizations with other birds. Furthermore, individual birds can learn from experience and modify their nest site selection criteria over their lifetimes. We investigated how these factors influenced nest site selection in six shorebird species that breed on the Arctic tundra around Barrow, Alaska. First, we developed predictive models to examine nest site selection patterns as they relate to the above habitat and social factors for each species. In a second analysis, we investigated the causes of breeding dispersal by a shorebird species, the Dunlin (Calidris alpina), and related hatching success to mate and site fidelity. Results indicated that shorebird nest site selection is not random, and all species studied select nest sites on the basis of both habitat and social cues. We also found that divorce influences breeding dispersal in female Dunlin, and territory-faithful males experience greater hatching success than those that change territories. We provide habitat models that may be used to predict the probability of nest site selection in other locations of the Arctic Coastal Plain of Alaska, and offer insights of how shorebirds may be affected by climate change.

The Links Between Global Climatic Cycles and the Diversification and Migration of Arctic Shorebirds
The Links Between Global Climatic Cycles and the Diversification and Migration of Arctic Shorebirds

Author: Ángel Arcones Segovia

Publisher:

Published: 2020

Total Pages: 300

ISBN-13:

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"In this thesis we studied how the changes in the climate determine the distribution, diversity and conservation of a very representative group of the Arctic avifauna, the shorebirds. In the first chapter we explored the changes in the ranges of the Arctic shorebirds during the Pleistocene glacial cycles, and how that shaped the current diversity of subspecies. We combined species distribution models, fossil evidence and estimation on the distribution of the tundra to compare the distribution of the breeding and wintering ranges between the present (representing an interglacial period) and the last glacial maximum (LGM) ca. 21,000 years ago. We found that the species with described subspecies predominantly experienced fragmentation of their breeding ranges during glacial cycles, especially during the glacial periods. On the other hand, most of the monotypic species maintained continuous breeding ranges during glacial and interglacial periods. This supports that the Pleistocene glacial cycles provided a mechanism for allopatric speciation that originated the current pattern of intraspecific diversity in these species. Additionally, we recovered that, despite changes in the breeding ranges, there was an overall lack of overlap with the wintering ranges and the long-distance migration between them remain uninterrupted during glacial periods. This migration likely contributed to originate and maintain the diversity between populations over multiple glacial cycles.While the first chapter provided a spatial mechanism of diversification during the glacial cycles, this needs to be confirmed by genetic data to support that the timing of this diversification falls within the Pleistocene. To better estimate divergence time within species, we performed the most comprehensive calibration of the mitochondrial molecular clock in birds to date. We included full mitochondrial genomes from 621 bird species and 25 reliable fossil calibrations and estimated the substitution rates for each of the mitochondrial genes in every lineage of the phylogenetic tree. We applied the obtained rates to molecular clock and coalescent hypothesis testing techniques in multiple Arctic shorebird species. We found that overall the diversity within the species originated during the Pleistocene, and especially during the last 900,000 years, coinciding with a period of longer and more intense glacial periods. Species with similar patterns of past and present distribution showed parallelism in their patterns of genetic diversification.Since the climate has played such a key role in the origin of the current diversity of these species, in the third chapter we explored the potential effects of the current climate change in their future distribution and conservation. We performed species distribution models to forecast their breeding ranges over three different climate change scenarios over the current century. The results show that the species' ranges will displace northwards due to the warming climate, and many species will experience severe range reduction as they are already at the northernmost part of the continents. This is especially critical in the Palearctic, while in the Nearctic the Arctic Archipelago could provide shelter for the species to expand their breeding ranges. We also estimated the potential changes in the extent of the Arctic and its ecosystems since the last interglacial and until the end of the century. Our results indicate that although the species have previously experienced extreme changes in the Arctic conditions, the current rate of change greatly exceeds those from recent events. This could lead to even more drastic range reductions and population declines than predicted and threaten all the diversity that originated during the Pleistocene.As a whole, this thesis provides an integrative perspective on the effects of the climate origin and conservation of the diversity within Arctic species. This work sheds light on the detailed spatial and temporal mechanisms that promoted the current diversity across a large group of Arctic birds, and the implications that the current climate change will have in the persistence of the Arctic biodiversity." -- TDX.