Recoveries of Scottish‐ringed Dotterel<i>Charadrius morinellus</i>in the non‐breeding season: Evidence for seasonal shifts in wintering distribution

Whitfield, D. Philip; Duncan, Keith; Pullan, Dave; Smith, Rachel

doi:10.1080/03078698.1996.9674125

Cited by 7 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 2 publications

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“…on migration or wintering grounds) should not be overlooked (Van Oudenhove, Gauthier, & Lebreton, 2014). Dotterel inhabit open farmland and subdesert steppes in North Africa (Whitfield et al, 1996), where seasonal rainfall brings a corresponding flush of vegetation growth and insect abundance (Sinclair, 1978), so higher winter rainfall may increase prey availability and dotterel survival rates. The lagged nature of the effect may reflect delayed recruitment of some dotterel until their second breeding season, or the effects of rainfall on prey availability being themselves lagged by a year.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Finally, we also investigated the influence of conditions on the wintering grounds ( question 5 ) on subsequent dotterel breeding densities (Table 1d). Whitfield, Duncan, Pullan, and Smith (1996) showed (based on ring recoveries) that the plains to the northwest of the Atlas Mountains in Morocco (32°–34°N) were an important wintering site for dotterel breeding in Scotland. To reflect wintering ground conditions, we obtained annual estimates of winter rainfall (December–February) between 1986 and 2014 from the CRU TS4.01 meteorological data set (Harris, Jones, Osborn, & Lister, 2014) and calculated annual mean estimates of total rainfall for the subset of 0.5° grid squares overlapping the distribution of North African ring recoveries for dotterel from Scotland ( North African rainfall ; Whitfield et al, 1996).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…1987-1999 Rainfall on the North African wintering grounds of dotterel may be related to food availability and over-winter survival (Cooper et al, 2015;Whitfield et al, 1996), thus impacting numbers of birds returning to the breeding grounds. We modelled covariates reflecting same-year and (1-year) lagged effects.…”

Section: Dotterel Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Finally, we also investigated the influence of conditions on the wintering grounds (question 5) on subsequent dotterel breeding densities (Table 1d). Whitfield, Duncan, Pullan, and Smith (1996) showed ( Whitfield et al, 1996). We considered the effects of rainfall in the preceding winter and the one prior to that (i.e.…”

Section: Covariate Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

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Clinging on to alpine life: Investigating factors driving the uphill range contraction and population decline of a mountain breeding bird

Ewing

Baxter

Wilson

et al. 2020

Global Change Biology

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Climate change and anthropogenic nitrogen deposition are widely regarded as important drivers of environmental change in alpine habitats. However, due to the difficulties working in high‐elevation mountain systems, the impacts of these drivers on alpine breeding species have rarely been investigated. The Eurasian dotterel (Charadrius morinellus) is a migratory wader, which has been the subject of uniquely long‐term and spatially widespread monitoring effort in Scotland, where it breeds in alpine areas in dwindling numbers. Here we analyse data sets spanning three decades, to investigate whether key potential drivers of environmental change in Scottish mountains (snow lie, elevated summer temperatures and nitrogen deposition) have contributed to the population decline of dotterel. We also consider the role of rainfall on the species' wintering grounds in North Africa. We found that dotterel declines—in both density and site occupancy of breeding males—primarily occurred on low and intermediate elevation sites. High‐elevation sites mostly continued to be occupied, but males occurred at lower densities in years following snow‐rich winters, suggesting that high‐elevation snow cover displaced dotterel to lower sites. Wintering ground rainfall was positively associated with densities of breeding males two springs later. Dotterel densities were reduced at low and intermediate sites where nitrogen deposition was greatest, but not at high‐elevation sites. While climatic factors explained variation in breeding density between years, they did not seem to explain the species' uphill retreat and decline. We cannot rule out the possibility that dotterel have increasingly settled on higher sites previously unavailable due to extensive snow cover, while changes associated with nitrogen deposition may also have rendered lower lying sites less suitable for breeding. Causes of population and range changes in mountain‐breeding species are thus liable to be complex, involving multiple anthropogenic drivers of environmental change acting widely across annual and migratory life cycles.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Dotterel Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Finally, we also investigated the influence of conditions on the wintering grounds (question 5) on subsequent dotterel breeding densities (Table 1d). Whitfield, Duncan, Pullan, and Smith (1996) showed ( Whitfield et al, 1996). We considered the effects of rainfall in the preceding winter and the one prior to that (i.e.…”

Section: Covariate Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Clinging on to alpine life: Investigating factors driving the uphill range contraction and population decline of a mountain breeding bird

Ewing

Baxter

Wilson

et al. 2020

Global Change Biology

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In the UK, Dotterels occur on high mountain plateaux above 600 m, where they are particularly associated with moss-sedge (Racomitrium lanuginosum-Carex bigelowii) and Juncus trifidus heaths for both nesting and feeding (Thompson & Brown 1992, Galbraith et al 1993a. Individuals breeding in the UK winter predominantly in north western Africa, while those breeding further east migrate predominantly to parts of north eastern Africa and the Middle East (Cramp & Simmons 1983, Whitfield et al 1996, Whitfield 2002a. The Dotterel's unusual sexrole reversal in the breeding season means that males provide most of the parental care such that females can be sequentially polyandrous (Cramp & Simmons 1983, Kålås & Byrkjedal 1984, Holt et al 2002.…”

mentioning

confidence: 97%