Monthly or annual 5 km × 5 km gridded datasets covering the UK are generated for the 1961-2000 period, for 36 climatic parameters. As well as the usual elements of temperature, rainfall, sunshine, cloud, wind speed, and pressure, derived temperature variables (such as growing-season length, heating degree days, and heat and cold wave durations) and further precipitation variables (such as rainfall intensity, maximum consecutive dry days, and days of snow, hail and thunder) are analysed.The analysis process uses geographical information system capabilities to combine multiple regression with inversedistance-weighted interpolation. Geographic and topographic factors, such as easting and northing, terrain height and shape, and urban and coastal effects, are incorporated either through normalization with regard to the 1961-90 average climate, or as independent variables in the regression. Local variations are then incorporated through the spatial interpolation of regression residuals.For each of the climatic parameters, the choice of model is based on verification statistics produced by excluding a random set of stations from the analysis for a selection of months, and comparing the observed values with the estimated values at each point. This gives some insight into the significance, direction, and seasonality of factors affecting different climate elements. It also gives a measure of the accuracy of the method at predicting values between station locations.The datasets are being used for the verification of climate modelling scenarios and are available via the Internet.  Crown

Monthly and annual long-term average datasets of 13 climate variables are generated for the periods 1961-90 and 1971-2000 using a consistent analysis method. Values are produced for each station in the Met Office's observing network and for a rectangular grid of points covering the UK at a horizontal spacing of 1 km. The variables covered are mean, maximum, minimum, grass minimum and soil temperature, days of air and ground frost, precipitation, days with rain exceeding 0.2 and 1 mm, sunshine, and days with thunder and snow cover.Gaps in the monthly station data are filled with estimates obtained via regression relationships with a number of well-correlated neighbours, and long-term averages are then calculated for each site. Gridded datasets are created by inverse-distance-weighted interpolation of regression residuals obtained from the station averages. This method does not work well for days of frost, thunder and snow, so an alternative approach is used. This involves first producing a grid of values for each month from the available station data. The gridded long-term average datasets are then obtained by averaging the monthly grids.The errors associated with each stage in the process are assessed, including verification of the gridding stage by leaving out a set of stations. The estimation of missing values allows a dense network of stations to be used, and this, along with the range of independent variables used in the regression, allows detailed and accurate climate datasets and maps to be produced. The datasets have a range of applications, and the maps are freely available through the Met Office Website.  Crown

In the final decades of the nineteenth century, concern was building about the status of migratory bird populations in North America. In this literature review, we describe how that concern led to a landmark conservation agreement in 1916, between the United States and Great Britain (on behalf of Canada) to conserve migratory birds shared by Canada and the United States. Drawing on published literature and our personal experience, we describe how subsequent enabling acts in both countries gave rise to efforts to better estimate population sizes and distributions, assess harvest rates and demographic impacts, design and fund landscape-level habitat conservation initiatives, and organize necessary political and regulatory processes. Executing these steps required large-scale thinking, unprecedented regional and international cooperation, ingenuity, and a commitment to scientific rigor and adaptive management. We applaud the conservation efforts begun 100 years ago with the Migratory Bird Treaty Convention. The agreement helped build the field of wildlife ecology and conservation in the twentieth century but only partially prepares us for the ecological and social challenges ahead. Ó 2017 The Wildlife Society.

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Conservation of long‐distance migratory species poses unique challenges. Migratory connectivity, that is, the extent to which groupings of individuals at breeding sites are maintained in wintering areas, is frequently used to evaluate population structure and assess use of key habitat areas. However, for species with complex or variable annual cycle movements, this traditional bimodal framework of migratory connectivity may be overly simplistic. Like many other waterfowl, sea ducks often travel to specific pre‐ and post‐breeding sites outside their nesting and wintering areas to prepare for migration by feeding extensively and, in some cases, molting their flight feathers. These additional migrations may play a key role in population structure, but are not included in traditional models of migratory connectivity. Network analysis, which applies graph theory to assess linkages between discrete locations or entities, offers a powerful tool for quantitatively assessing the contributions of different sites used throughout the annual cycle to complex spatial networks. We collected satellite telemetry data on annual cycle movements of 672 individual sea ducks of five species from throughout eastern North America and the Great Lakes. From these data, we constructed a multi‐species network model of migratory patterns and site use over the course of breeding, molting, wintering, and migratory staging. Our results highlight inter‐ and intra‐specific differences in the patterns and complexity of annual cycle movement patterns, including the central importance of staging and molting sites in James Bay, the St. Lawrence River, and southern New England to multi‐species annual cycle habitat linkages, and highlight the value of Long‐tailed Ducks (Calengula haemalis) as an umbrella species to represent the movement patterns of multiple sea duck species. We also discuss potential applications of network migration models to conservation prioritization, identification of population units, and integrating different data streams.

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