A landscape-scale model of yellow-billed loon (Gavia adamsii) habitat preferences in northern Alaska

Earnst, Susan L.; Platte, Robert M.; Bond, Laura

doi:10.1007/978-1-4020-5556-0_17

Cited by 4 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…For example, loons that require large lakes for breeding and foraging [70] were most abundant in flat areas with high amounts of freshwater; gulls, which often breed on marshy hummocks, raised beaches, and inland tundra around large ponds [71], [72], were most abundant in the same habitats as loons. Shorebirds were most abundant in flat areas with high vegetative productivity, as predicted based on habitat preference [64].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Influence of Weather and Lemmings on Spatiotemporal Variation in the Abundance of Multiple Avian Guilds in the Arctic

Robinson¹,

Franke²,

Derocher³

2014

PLoS ONE

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Climate change is occurring more rapidly in the Arctic than other places in the world, which is likely to alter the distribution and abundance of migratory birds breeding there. A warming climate can provide benefits to birds by decreasing spring snow cover, but increases in the frequency of summer rainstorms, another product of climate change, may reduce foraging opportunities for insectivorous birds. Cyclic lemming populations in the Arctic also influence bird abundance because Arctic foxes begin consuming bird eggs when lemmings decline. The complex interaction between summer temperature, precipitation, and the lemming cycle hinder our ability to predict how Arctic-breeding birds will respond to climate change. The main objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between annual variation in weather, spring snow cover, lemming abundance and spatiotemporal variation in the abundance of multiple avian guilds in a tundra ecosystem in central Nunavut, Canada: songbirds, shorebirds, gulls, loons, and geese. We spatially stratified our study area based on vegetation productivity, terrain ruggedness, and freshwater abundance, and conducted distance sampling to estimate strata-specific densities of each guild during the summers of 2010–2012. We also monitored temperature, rainfall, spring snow cover, and lemming abundance each year. Spatial variation in bird abundance matched what was expected based on previous ecological knowledge, but weather and lemming abundance also significantly influenced the abundance of some guilds. In particular, songbirds were less abundant during the cool, wet summer with moderate snow cover, and shorebirds and gulls declined with lemming abundance. The abundance of geese did not vary over time, possibly because benefits created by moderate spring snow cover were offset by increased fox predation when lemmings were scarce. Our study provides an example of a simple way to monitor the correlation between weather, spring snow cover, lemming abundance, and spatiotemporal variations in Arctic-breeding birds.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Influence of Weather and Lemmings on Spatiotemporal Variation in the Abundance of Multiple Avian Guilds in the Arctic

Robinson¹,

Franke²,

Derocher³

2014

PLoS ONE

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“…Square root of pond area is an approximation of available shoreline, whereas pond perimeter accounts for the intricacies of the shoreline but is more affected than pond area by the scale at which it is measured (Mandelbrot ). Shoreline complexity is the ratio of the measured perimeter of a water body to the circumference of a circle of equal area, with a perfectly circular water body having a shoreline complexity of 1 (Hansson et al , Earnst et al ). Along with a null model (an intercept‐only model), we considered all single‐factor models involving the explanatory variables.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Relationships between abundances of breeding ducks and attributes of Canadian prairie wetlands

Bartzen

Dufour²,

Bidwell

et al. 2017

Wildl. Soc. Bull.

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Understanding how animals respond to changing habitat conditions can improve predictions about effects of environmental change and also inform conservation planning. We examined relationships between abundances of 5 common dabbling duck species breeding in the Canadian Prairie Pothole Region and basic wetland metrics. Pond area was a well‐supported predictor of duck abundance at the local scale of pond. Relationships for all 5 species varied with their respective regional duck and pond densities. In regions where duck densities were high, there were more ducks per pond; conversely, there were fewer ducks per pond in regions where pond densities were high, indicating that mechanisms influencing local habitat use were, in part, mediated by processes occurring at larger spatial scales. Although models explained small amounts of variation of duck abundance on a per pond basis, these models explained more variation when results were aggregated to the level of survey segment, indicating reasonable performance of models for estimating duck abundance over specific areas with known pond areas. Our results also indicated that the greatest increase in duck abundance with increasing pond size occurs at the low end of the range of pond sizes. It is relatively small wetlands that face the greatest threat of loss and degradation on the prairies; therefore, protection and conservation efforts need to focus on these wetlands if the objective is to increase or maintain populations of the duck species studied. © 2017 The Wildlife Society.

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Introduction: An Overview of Loon Research and Conservation in North America

2014

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A landscape-scale model of yellow-billed loon (Gavia adamsii) habitat preferences in northern Alaska

Cited by 4 publications

References 11 publications

The Influence of Weather and Lemmings on Spatiotemporal Variation in the Abundance of Multiple Avian Guilds in the Arctic

The Influence of Weather and Lemmings on Spatiotemporal Variation in the Abundance of Multiple Avian Guilds in the Arctic

Relationships between abundances of breeding ducks and attributes of Canadian prairie wetlands

Introduction: An Overview of Loon Research and Conservation in North America

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