Circumpolar status of Arctic ptarmigan: Population dynamics and trends

Circumpolar status of Arctic ptarmigan Population dynamics and trends

Rock ptarmigan (Lagopus muta) and willow ptarmigan (L. lagopus) are Arctic birds with a circumpolar distribution but there is limited knowledge about their status and trends across their circumpolar distribution. Here, we compiled information from 90 ptarmigan study sites from 7 Arctic countries, wh...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Ambio Vol. 49; no. 3; pp. 749 - 761
Main Authors: Fuglei, Eva, Henden, John-André, Callahan, Chris T., Gilg, Olivier, Hansen, Jannik, Ims, Rolf A., Isaev, Arkady P., Lang, Johannes, McIntyre, Carol L., Merizon, Richard A., Mineev, Oleg Y., Mineev, Yuri N., Mossop, Dave, Nielsen, Olafur K., Nilsen, Erlend B., Pedersen, Åshild Ønvik, Schmidt, Niels Martin, Sittler, Benoît, Willebrand, Maria Hørnell, Martin, Kathy
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Dordrecht Springer Science + Business Media 01-03-2020
Springer Netherlands
Springer Nature B.V
Subjects:
Alaska
Animals
Arctic Regions
Atmospheric Sciences
Birds
Earth and Environmental Science
Ecology
Environment
Environmental Engineering/Biotechnology
Environmental Management
Galliformes
Greenland
North America
Physical Geography
Population Dynamics
Rocks
Russia
Svalbard
Sweden
TERRESTRIAL BIODIVERSITY IN A RAPIDLY CHANGING ARCTIC
Trends
Willow
Sweden
Arctic Regions
Alaska
Svalbard
North America
Greenland
Russia
Arctic region
Climate change
spp
Population cycles
Arctic
Ecosystems
Transient dynamics
Lagopus spp
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Rock ptarmigan (Lagopus muta) and willow ptarmigan (L. lagopus) are Arctic birds with a circumpolar distribution but there is limited knowledge about their status and trends across their circumpolar distribution. Here, we compiled information from 90 ptarmigan study sites from 7 Arctic countries, where almost half of the sites are still monitored. Rock ptarmigan showed an overall negative trend on Iceland and Greenland, while Svalbard and Newfoundland had positive trends, and no significant trends in Alaska. For willow ptarmigan, there was a negative trend in mid-Sweden and eastern Russia, while northern Fennoscandia, North America and Newfoundland had no significant trends. Both species displayed some periods with population cycles (short 3–6 years and long 9–12 years), but cyclicity changed through time for both species. We propose that simple, cost-efficient systematic surveys that capture the main feature of ptarmigan population dynamics can form the basis for citizen science efforts in order to fill knowledge gaps for the many regions that lack systematic ptarmigan monitoring programs.
ISSN:0044-7447
1654-7209
DOI:10.1007/s13280-019-01191-0