Coping Mechanisms of Alpine and Arctic Breeding Birds: Extreme Weather and Limitations to Reproductive Resilience1
As ground nesting homeotherms, alpine and arctic birds must meet similar physiological requirements for breeding as other birds, but must do so in more extreme conditions. Annual spring snowfall and timing of snow melt can vary by up to 1 month and daily temperatures near the ground surface vary fro...
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The Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology
2004
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1093/icb/44.2.177 |
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ftbioone:10.1093/icb/44.2.177 2024-06-02T08:00:00+00:00 Coping Mechanisms of Alpine and Arctic Breeding Birds: Extreme Weather and Limitations to Reproductive Resilience1 Kathy Martin Karen L. Wiebe Kathy Martin Karen L. Wiebe world 2004-04-01 text/HTML https://doi.org/10.1093/icb/44.2.177 en eng The Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology doi:10.1093/icb/44.2.177 All rights reserved. https://doi.org/10.1093/icb/44.2.177 Text 2004 ftbioone https://doi.org/10.1093/icb/44.2.177 2024-05-07T00:53:50Z As ground nesting homeotherms, alpine and arctic birds must meet similar physiological requirements for breeding as other birds, but must do so in more extreme conditions. Annual spring snowfall and timing of snow melt can vary by up to 1 month and daily temperatures near the ground surface vary from below freezing to over 45°C in alpine and arctic habitats. Species breeding in these environments have various behavioral, physiological, and morphological adaptations to cope with energetically demanding conditions. We review the ways birds cope with harsh and variable weather, and present data from long term field studies of ptarmigan to examine effects of spring weather on reproduction. In variable but normal spring conditions, timing of breeding was not influenced by snow melt, snow depth or daily temperatures in the alpine, as breeding did not commence until conditions were generally favorable. Arctic ptarmigan tended to vary breeding onset in response to spring conditions. Generally, birds breeding in alpine and arctic habitats suffer a seasonal reproductive disadvantage compared to birds at lower latitudes or elevations because the breeding window is short and in late years, nest failure may be high with little opportunity for renesting. Coping mechanisms may only be effective below a threshold of climactic extremes. Despite strong resilience in fecundity parameters, when snowmelt is extremely delayed breeding success is greatly reduced. Alpine and arctic birds will be further challenged as they attempt to cope with anticipated increases in the frequency and severity of weather events (climate variability), as well as general climate warming. Text Arctic birds Arctic BioOne Online Journals Arctic Integrative and Comparative Biology 44 2 177 185 |
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Open Polar |
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language |
English |
description |
As ground nesting homeotherms, alpine and arctic birds must meet similar physiological requirements for breeding as other birds, but must do so in more extreme conditions. Annual spring snowfall and timing of snow melt can vary by up to 1 month and daily temperatures near the ground surface vary from below freezing to over 45°C in alpine and arctic habitats. Species breeding in these environments have various behavioral, physiological, and morphological adaptations to cope with energetically demanding conditions. We review the ways birds cope with harsh and variable weather, and present data from long term field studies of ptarmigan to examine effects of spring weather on reproduction. In variable but normal spring conditions, timing of breeding was not influenced by snow melt, snow depth or daily temperatures in the alpine, as breeding did not commence until conditions were generally favorable. Arctic ptarmigan tended to vary breeding onset in response to spring conditions. Generally, birds breeding in alpine and arctic habitats suffer a seasonal reproductive disadvantage compared to birds at lower latitudes or elevations because the breeding window is short and in late years, nest failure may be high with little opportunity for renesting. Coping mechanisms may only be effective below a threshold of climactic extremes. Despite strong resilience in fecundity parameters, when snowmelt is extremely delayed breeding success is greatly reduced. Alpine and arctic birds will be further challenged as they attempt to cope with anticipated increases in the frequency and severity of weather events (climate variability), as well as general climate warming. |
author2 |
Kathy Martin Karen L. Wiebe |
format |
Text |
author |
Kathy Martin Karen L. Wiebe |
spellingShingle |
Kathy Martin Karen L. Wiebe Coping Mechanisms of Alpine and Arctic Breeding Birds: Extreme Weather and Limitations to Reproductive Resilience1 |
author_facet |
Kathy Martin Karen L. Wiebe |
author_sort |
Kathy Martin |
title |
Coping Mechanisms of Alpine and Arctic Breeding Birds: Extreme Weather and Limitations to Reproductive Resilience1 |
title_short |
Coping Mechanisms of Alpine and Arctic Breeding Birds: Extreme Weather and Limitations to Reproductive Resilience1 |
title_full |
Coping Mechanisms of Alpine and Arctic Breeding Birds: Extreme Weather and Limitations to Reproductive Resilience1 |
title_fullStr |
Coping Mechanisms of Alpine and Arctic Breeding Birds: Extreme Weather and Limitations to Reproductive Resilience1 |
title_full_unstemmed |
Coping Mechanisms of Alpine and Arctic Breeding Birds: Extreme Weather and Limitations to Reproductive Resilience1 |
title_sort |
coping mechanisms of alpine and arctic breeding birds: extreme weather and limitations to reproductive resilience1 |
publisher |
The Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology |
publishDate |
2004 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1093/icb/44.2.177 |
op_coverage |
world |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic birds Arctic |
genre_facet |
Arctic birds Arctic |
op_source |
https://doi.org/10.1093/icb/44.2.177 |
op_relation |
doi:10.1093/icb/44.2.177 |
op_rights |
All rights reserved. |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1093/icb/44.2.177 |
container_title |
Integrative and Comparative Biology |
container_volume |
44 |
container_issue |
2 |
container_start_page |
177 |
op_container_end_page |
185 |
_version_ |
1800744031730270208 |