Effects of food abundance and early clutch predation on reproductive timing in a high Arctic shorebird exposed to advancements in arthropod abundance
Reneerkens, J.; Schmidt, N.M.; Gilg, O.; Hansen, J.; Hansen, L.H.; Moreau, J.; Piersma, T. (2016). Effects of food abundance and early clutch predation on reproductive timing in a high Arctic shorebird exposed to advancements in arthropod abundance. Ecol. Evol. 6(20): 7375–7386. https://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.2361
In: Ecology and Evolution. John Wiley & Sons: Chichester. ISSN 2045-7758; e-ISSN 2045-7758, more
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| Keyword |
Calidris alba (Pallas, 1764) [WoRMS]
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| Author keywords |
Bird migration; Calidris alba; chick growth; climate change; nest survival; phenology; timing; trophic interactions; trophic mismatch |
| Authors | | Top |
- Reneerkens, J.
- Schmidt, N.M.
- Gilg, O.
- Hansen, J.
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- Hansen, L.H.
- Moreau, J.
- Piersma, T., more
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| Abstract |
Climate change may influence the phenology of organisms unequally acrosstrophic levels and thus lead to phenological mismatches between predators andprey. In cases where prey availability peaks before reproducing predators reachmaximal prey demand, any negative fitness consequences would selectivelyfavor resynchronization by earlier starts of the reproductive activities of thepredators. At a study site in northeast Greenland, over a period of 17 years, themedian emergence of the invertebrate prey of Sanderling Calidris alba advancedwith 1.27 days per year. Yet, over the same period Sanderling did not advancehatching date. Thus, Sanderlings increasingly hatched after their prey was maximallyabundant. Surprisingly, the phenological mismatches did not affect chickgrowth, but the interaction of the annual width and height of the peak in foodabundance did. Chicks grew especially better in years when the food peak wasbroad. Sanderling clutches were most likely to be depredated early in the season,which should delay reproduction. We propose that high early clutch predationmay favor a later reproductive timing. Additionally, our data suggestthat in most years food was still abundant after the median date of emergence,which may explain why Sanderlings did not advance breeding along with theadvances in arthropod phenology |
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