Black-tailed Godwit abundancies across key European breeding habitats ...

• Main Author: Silva-Monteiro, MA
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: DANS Data Station Life Sciences 2022
• Subjects: black-tailed godwit; Limosa limosa
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.17026/dans-zxb-cyvu; https://lifesciences.datastations.nl/citation?persistentId=doi:10.17026/dans-zxb-cyvu

he endangered continental Black-tailed Godwit (Limosa limosa limosa) is a migratory ground-nesting wader breeding in a wide variety of open, wet habitats across Europe. Conservation research has concentrated on the causes of population decline, but we know surprisingly little about whether any resources limit local breeding populations and, if so, whether these are resources for the adults or the chicks. We collected data from 63 key breeding sites in five countries across Europe to test whether, after correcting for differences in surveyed areas, the size of Godwit breeding populations was related to environmental variables (vegetation biomass, soil moisture) or food resources for adult birds (soil invertebrates) or chicks (vegetation dwelling arthropods) measured during different times of the reproductive cycle. We found the number of Godwit territories to be positively related to arthropod abundance during the chick-hatching period. We found additional, weaker support for a positive relation between ...