Why do avian responses to changes in Arctic green-up vary?
Global climate change has altered the timing of seasonal events for a diverse range of biota. Within and among species, however, phenological responses to climate change vary substantially. To better understand factors driving this variability in organismal responses, we evaluated changes in timing of nesting of eight Arctic-breeding shorebird species at 18 sites over a 23-year period. We used the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index as a proxy to determine the start of spring growing season (SOS) and quantified inter and intraspecific relationships between SOS and nest initiation dates as a measure of phenological responsiveness. We then tested whether (i) interspecific patterns in the relationship between SOS and nest initiation dates covaried with four species traits (migration distance, female body mass, expected female reproductive effort, seasonal timing of breeding), and (ii) intraspecific patterns showed spatial variation across the Arctic. Although no species completely tracked annual variation in SOS, phenological responses were strongest for Western Sandpipers, Pectoral Sandpipers, and Red Phalaropes. Migration distance was the strongest additional predictor of responsiveness, with longer-distance migrant species generally being more sensitive to SOS than species that migrate shorter distances. Semipalmated Sandpipers are a widely distributed species but adjustments in timing of nesting relative to changes in SOS did not vary across sites, suggesting that different breeding populations of this species were equally responsive to climate cues despite differing migration strategies. Our results unexpectedly show that some long-distance migrants are more sensitive to local environmental conditions, which may help them to adapt to climate change.
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Metadata Record Information
- File Identifier
- ed42b1fe-0fc6-40b9-9313-2e9d95ba1ede XML
- Date Stamp
- 2023-12-21T22:40:04
- Metadata language
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eng; CAN
- Character set
- UTF8
- Hierarchy Level
- Series
Data identification
- Date (Publication)
- 2023-10-09
- Date (Creation)
- 2023-10-09
- Status
- Completed
- Metadata language
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eng; CAN
- Character set
- utf8
- Topic category
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- Biota
- Environment
- Maintenance and Update Frequency
- As needed
Keywords
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Government of Canada Core Subject Thesaurus
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Applied research
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Aquatic wildlife
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Animal migrations
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Animal reproduction
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Arctic ecosystems
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Business Functions
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Expand Scientific Knowledge/Develop New Methodologies for Identifying, Monitoring and Managing Hazardous Substances and Waste
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Designate and Manage Priority Habitat
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Develop Risk Management Strategies for Substances of Concern
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Assess Status of Species
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Develop Species Recovery / Management / Conservation Plans
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Develop Species Assessment Strategy
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- Use Limitation
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Open Government Licence - Canada ( http://open.canada.ca/en/open-government-licence-canada )
- Access Constraints
- License
- Use Constraints
- License
- Begin Date
- 1983-04-15
- End Date
- 2017-09-15
Extent
Ref. system Reference Systems
- Reference system identifier
- http://www.epsg-registry.org / EPSG:3978 /
Distribution
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- Distribution format
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XLSX
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unknown
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XLSX
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unknown
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