Relationships between Long-Term Demography and Weather in a Sub-Arctic Population of Common Eider.
Effects of local weather on individuals and populations are key drivers of wildlife responses to climatic changes. However, studies often do not last long enough to identify weather conditions that influence demographic processes, or to capture rare but extreme weather events at appropriate scales....
Published in: | PLoS ONE |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2013
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0067093 https://doaj.org/article/0dd2a325dd104b4eaf5aa3c2f5250718 |
id |
ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:0dd2a325dd104b4eaf5aa3c2f5250718 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:0dd2a325dd104b4eaf5aa3c2f5250718 2023-05-15T15:16:42+02:00 Relationships between Long-Term Demography and Weather in a Sub-Arctic Population of Common Eider. Jón Einar Jónsson Arnthor Gardarsson Jennifer A Gill Una Krístín Pétursdóttir Aevar Petersen Tómas Grétar Gunnarsson 2013-01-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0067093 https://doaj.org/article/0dd2a325dd104b4eaf5aa3c2f5250718 EN eng Public Library of Science (PLoS) http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3689676?pdf=render https://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203 1932-6203 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0067093 https://doaj.org/article/0dd2a325dd104b4eaf5aa3c2f5250718 PLoS ONE, Vol 8, Iss 6, p e67093 (2013) Medicine R Science Q article 2013 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0067093 2022-12-31T14:53:23Z Effects of local weather on individuals and populations are key drivers of wildlife responses to climatic changes. However, studies often do not last long enough to identify weather conditions that influence demographic processes, or to capture rare but extreme weather events at appropriate scales. In Iceland, farmers collect nest down of wild common eider Somateria mollissima and many farmers count nests within colonies annually, which reflects annual variation in the number of breeding females. We collated these data for 17 colonies. Synchrony in breeding numbers was generally low between colonies. We evaluated 1) demographic relationships with weather in nesting colonies of common eider across Iceland during 1900-2007; and 2) impacts of episodic weather events (aberrantly cold seasons or years) on subsequent breeding numbers. Except for episodic events, breeding numbers within a colony generally had no relationship to local weather conditions in the preceding year. However, common eider are sexually mature at 2-3 years of age and we found a 3-year time lag between summer weather and breeding numbers for three colonies, indicating a positive effect of higher pressure, drier summers for one colony, and a negative effect of warmer, calmer summers for two colonies. These findings may represent weather effects on duckling production and subsequent recruitment. Weather effects were mostly limited to a few aberrant years causing reductions in breeding numbers, i.e. declines in several colonies followed severe winters (1918) and some years with high NAO (1992, 1995). In terms of life history, adult survival generally is high and stable and probably only markedly affected by inclement weather or aberrantly bad years. Conversely, breeding propensity of adults and duckling production probably do respond more to annual weather variations; i.e. unfavorable winter conditions for adults increase probability of death or skipped breeding, whereas favorable summers can promote boom years for recruitment. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Arctic Population Common Eider Iceland Somateria mollissima Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Arctic PLoS ONE 8 6 e67093 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Medicine R Science Q |
spellingShingle |
Medicine R Science Q Jón Einar Jónsson Arnthor Gardarsson Jennifer A Gill Una Krístín Pétursdóttir Aevar Petersen Tómas Grétar Gunnarsson Relationships between Long-Term Demography and Weather in a Sub-Arctic Population of Common Eider. |
topic_facet |
Medicine R Science Q |
description |
Effects of local weather on individuals and populations are key drivers of wildlife responses to climatic changes. However, studies often do not last long enough to identify weather conditions that influence demographic processes, or to capture rare but extreme weather events at appropriate scales. In Iceland, farmers collect nest down of wild common eider Somateria mollissima and many farmers count nests within colonies annually, which reflects annual variation in the number of breeding females. We collated these data for 17 colonies. Synchrony in breeding numbers was generally low between colonies. We evaluated 1) demographic relationships with weather in nesting colonies of common eider across Iceland during 1900-2007; and 2) impacts of episodic weather events (aberrantly cold seasons or years) on subsequent breeding numbers. Except for episodic events, breeding numbers within a colony generally had no relationship to local weather conditions in the preceding year. However, common eider are sexually mature at 2-3 years of age and we found a 3-year time lag between summer weather and breeding numbers for three colonies, indicating a positive effect of higher pressure, drier summers for one colony, and a negative effect of warmer, calmer summers for two colonies. These findings may represent weather effects on duckling production and subsequent recruitment. Weather effects were mostly limited to a few aberrant years causing reductions in breeding numbers, i.e. declines in several colonies followed severe winters (1918) and some years with high NAO (1992, 1995). In terms of life history, adult survival generally is high and stable and probably only markedly affected by inclement weather or aberrantly bad years. Conversely, breeding propensity of adults and duckling production probably do respond more to annual weather variations; i.e. unfavorable winter conditions for adults increase probability of death or skipped breeding, whereas favorable summers can promote boom years for recruitment. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Jón Einar Jónsson Arnthor Gardarsson Jennifer A Gill Una Krístín Pétursdóttir Aevar Petersen Tómas Grétar Gunnarsson |
author_facet |
Jón Einar Jónsson Arnthor Gardarsson Jennifer A Gill Una Krístín Pétursdóttir Aevar Petersen Tómas Grétar Gunnarsson |
author_sort |
Jón Einar Jónsson |
title |
Relationships between Long-Term Demography and Weather in a Sub-Arctic Population of Common Eider. |
title_short |
Relationships between Long-Term Demography and Weather in a Sub-Arctic Population of Common Eider. |
title_full |
Relationships between Long-Term Demography and Weather in a Sub-Arctic Population of Common Eider. |
title_fullStr |
Relationships between Long-Term Demography and Weather in a Sub-Arctic Population of Common Eider. |
title_full_unstemmed |
Relationships between Long-Term Demography and Weather in a Sub-Arctic Population of Common Eider. |
title_sort |
relationships between long-term demography and weather in a sub-arctic population of common eider. |
publisher |
Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
publishDate |
2013 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0067093 https://doaj.org/article/0dd2a325dd104b4eaf5aa3c2f5250718 |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic Arctic Population Common Eider Iceland Somateria mollissima |
genre_facet |
Arctic Arctic Population Common Eider Iceland Somateria mollissima |
op_source |
PLoS ONE, Vol 8, Iss 6, p e67093 (2013) |
op_relation |
http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3689676?pdf=render https://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203 1932-6203 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0067093 https://doaj.org/article/0dd2a325dd104b4eaf5aa3c2f5250718 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0067093 |
container_title |
PLoS ONE |
container_volume |
8 |
container_issue |
6 |
container_start_page |
e67093 |
_version_ |
1766346988728614912 |