Meeting Abstract
P2.20 Sunday, Jan. 5 15:30 Interannual variability in arctic phenology and reproductive success in the White-crowned sparrow (Zonotrichia leucophrys gambelii) and Lapland longspur (Calcarius lapponicus) CHMURA, HE*; KRAUSE, JS; PEREZ, JH; SWEET, SK; ASMUS, A; BOELMAN, NT; GOUGH, L; WINGFIELD, JC; University of California, Davis; University of California, Davis; University of California, Davis; Columbia University; University of Texas, Arlington; Columbia University; University of Texas, Arlington; University of California, Davis hechmura@ucdavis.edu
Spring in the high arctic is notoriously harsh with interannual variability in snow-melt and resource availability. With climate change the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, such as late snowstorms, is expected to increase. Late storms have dramatic effects on breeding biology in migrant songbirds by affecting phenology of food resources, energy reserves for parental behavior, and reproductive timing. This can be detrimental to reproductive success as the breeding season for these species is already constrained by migration and the short arctic growing season. The 2013 breeding season on the North Slope of Alaska featured late spring snowstorms and delayed snowmelt followed by record breaking summer heat while 2012 featured less extreme weather. We use these two seasons as a case study to test the relationship between interannual variability in weather and reproductive success. To examine how the effects of climatic variation may be different across species, we monitored nests in the shrub breeding White-crowned sparrow (Z.l. gambelii) and the open tundra breeding Lapland longspur (Calcarius lapponicus) in the vicinity of Toolik Lake Research Station, Alaska. While reproductive success was similar for White-crowned sparrows between the two years, Lapland longspurs had lower reproductive success in 2013. We explore possible explanations for differences in reproductive success between species and between breeding seasons using data collected on nest micro-habitat, phenology of food resources, nestling body condition, and other factors.
