Proximity to infrastructure and ecotype influence breeding bird abundance at an Arctic mine, the Hope Bay Project, Nunavut, Canada

• Main Authors: Merodun, Alice, L., Albert, Arianne Y.K., Visty, Hannah, Sharam, Greg
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: Zenodo 2024
• Subjects: Nunavut; Polar Biology; Tundra
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8270783

Increased Artic mining development necessitates an understanding of the influence of infrastructure on tundra-breeding birds • We surveyed for breeding birds using two methods (PRISM and point count surveys) at a gold mine in the Canadian Arctic from 2005-2015 to determine if bird abundance was lower near mine infrastructure and in years with more activity at the site • Our results indicate that bird abundance is higher farther from infrastructure, and that shorebirds were less abundant during years with activity at the mine • PRISM surveys had a higher bird abundance in wet lowland habitat as well as higher shorebird detectability, while point counts typically only had songbirds and showed mixed habitat associations • We recommend a standardized walking survey method (like PRISMs) to be used within 10 km of infrastructure for future monitoring at Arctic resource developments to assess the influence of mining on breeding bird populations. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-024-03244-x