The timing of breeding is a life-history trait that can greatly affect fitness, because successful reproduction depends on the match between the food requirements for raising young and the seasonal peak in food availability. We analysed phenology (hatch dates) in relation to climate change for 2 seabird species breeding in the high-Arctic, little auks Alle alle and black-legged kittiwakes Rissa tridactyla, for the periods 1963-2008 and 1970-2008, respectively. We show that spring climate has changed during the study period, with a strong increase in both air temperature (TEMP) and sea surface temperature (SST) and a decrease in sea ice concentration. Little auks showed a trend for earlier breeding over the study period, while kittiwakes showed a non-significant trend for later breeding, demonstrating different phenological responses in these 2 species. Little auks and kittiwakes adjusted their timing of breeding to different environmental signals. Spring TEMP was the best predictor of little auk phenology, with a significant negative effect. Spring SST was the strongest predictor of kittiwake phenology, with a non-significant negative effect. Spring sea ice concentration and the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) winter index had a low relative variable importance. Furthermore, in kittiwakes, years with late breeding were associated with low clutch size and mean annual breeding success, indicating poor investment and food availability. This study identifies some spring environmental factors important for regulating the timing of breeding in the high-Arctic, most likely through effects on snow cover limiting access to nest sites and the development of the polar marine food web. It remains to be investigated whether environmental factors are reliable predictors of marine prey phenology, and whether the decision to start breeding is constrained by food availability.
Aim The arctic forest–tundra boundary is expected to advance rapidly northwards in response to climate warming. The purpose of this study was: (1) to analyse region‐wide changes in the positions of the latitudinal forest line and tree line since the early 20th century; (2) to calculate rates of northward movement and to estimate uncertainties from different sources of data; (3) to analyse how rates of advance differ between two common tree species, Betula pubescens (downy birch) and Pinus sylvestris (Scots pine); and (4) to place the results in the context of dynamic global vegetation models. Location The study covers Finnmark county in northern Norway, which has warmed by 1–2 °C since the early 20th century. Methods Historical forest maps, topographic maps, aerial photographs and satellite imagery were used to delineate region‐wide, species‐specific and time‐specific subarctic forest lines and tree lines. Rates of advance were calculated using two geometrical methods, placing different emphases on the shape and mean position of the lines, but yielding similar results. Results The analyses revealed an average northward advance of the birch and pine forest lines of 156 and 71 m year−1, respectively. Both showed considerable spatial and temporal variation. The birch tree line showed the most pronounced advance (340 m year−1), whereas the pine tree line showed very limited advance (10 m year−1). Data sources contributed an uncertainty of around 10 m year−1 to these rates. Main conclusions The analysis of historical and recent forest delineation data showed a very restricted advance rate compared to the predictions of dynamic global vegetation models. If these results are representative of the behaviour of the entire circumarctic forest–tundra zone over the present century, they suggest that the modelled prediction of the loss of 40% of the current tundra is a serious overestimate. A stronger focus on factors limiting the response of the forest–tundra ecotone to climate change is needed to refine the output from dynamic global vegetation models.
1. Wind energy production has expanded to meet climate change mitigation goals, but negative impacts of wind turbines have been reported on wildlife. Soaring birds are among the most affected groups with alarming fatality rates by collision with wind turbines and an escalating occupation of their migratory corridors. These birds have been described as changing their flight trajectories to avoid wind turbines, but this behaviour may lead to functional habitat loss, as suitable soaring areas in the proximity of wind turbines will likely be underused. 2. We modelled the displacement effect of wind turbines on black kites (Milvus migrans) tracked by GPS. We also evaluated the impact of this effect at the scale of the landscape by estimating how much suitable soaring area was lost to wind turbines. 3. We used state-of-the-art tracking devices to monitor the movements of 130 black kites in an area populated by wind turbines, at the migratory bottleneck of the Strait of Gibraltar. Landscape use by birds was mapped from GPS data using dynamic Brownian bridge movement models, and generalized additive mixed modelling was used to estimate the effect of wind turbine proximity on bird use while accounting for orographic and thermal uplift availability. 4. We found that areas up to approximately 674 m away from the turbines were less used than expected given their uplift potential. Within that distance threshold, bird use decreased with the proximity to wind turbines. We estimated that the footprint of wind turbines affected 3%-14% of the areas suitable for soaring in our study area.
Conservation efforts have secured the partial recovery of Europe's wild reindeer, although only in 24 separate fragments of their original range, now separated by resorts and roads. Full recovery of the original range will require restoration of migration routes across developed or disturbed areas. We analyzed distribution of around 3500 Rangifer tarandus tarandus (reindeer) during winters in relation to 10 alpine resorts and prior to and following relocation of ski trails and cabins in Norway done to restore use of former habitat.Reindeer used areas within 15 km of resorts, which is less than expected based on the availability of habitat, most likely as a result of cross-country skiing activity surrounding the resorts, limiting their access to other ranges and historic migration corridors. Reindeer abundance declined and mean distance between reindeer groups and resorts increased with increasing resort size. No apparent habituation to resorts was observed during the 20-year study period. However, when ski trails and an associated tourist cabin were removed to restore access to historic habitat, reindeer moved into the area. No such change in reindeer distribution was observed in the 10 years preceding relocation, or at the other nine resorts where no such experiments were conducted. Regulation of human traffic, relocation of trails, and removal of infrastructure and cabins are apparently effective in restoring access to and use of historic ranges and migration routes. However, restoration of historic migration routes between ranges will likely require the removal of hundreds of recreational cabins in order to become effective.
Understanding how soaring birds use updrafts at small spatial scales is important to identify ecological constraints of movement, and may help to prevent conflicts between wind-energy development and the conservation of wildlife. We combined high-frequency GPS animal tracking and fine-spatial-scale uplift modelling to establish a link between flight behaviour of soaring birds and the distribution of updrafts. We caught 21 black kites (Milvus migrans) and GPS-tracked them while flying over the Tarifa region, on the Spanish side of the Strait of Gibraltar. This region has a diverse topography and land cover, favouring a heterogeneous updraft spatial distribution. Bird tracks were segmented and classified into flight modes from motion parameters. Thermal and orographic uplift velocities were modelled from publically available remote-sensing and meteorological data. We found that birds perform circular soaring in areas of higher predicted thermal uplift and linear soaring in areas of higher predicted orographic uplift velocity. We show that updraft maps produced from publically available data can be used to predict where soaring birds will concentrate their flight paths and how they will behave in flight. We recommend the use of this methodological approach to improve environmental impact assessments of new wind-energy installations.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.