Results help identify rapidly
disappearing staging and wintering grounds
Date: August 22, 2016
Source: Wildlife Conservation
Society
Conservation of intertidal
habitat -- 65 percent of which has been lost over the last 50 years -- is
critical to the survival of countless birds during migration on the East Asian
Australasian Flyway.
In an effort to understand the
threats and inform conservation of these areas, scientists from The Institute
of Biological Problems of the North (Russian Academy of Sciences) and WCS
(Wildlife Conservation Society) have collaborated to identify vital stopover
areas for the dunlin, a shorebird known to migrate up to 7500 km (4700 miles)
to reach its destination.
Arctic shorebirds breeding in
Chukotka and Alaska depend upon key coastal intertidal sites along their
migratory route to find food to supply energy on their flights. Such intertidal
habitats are rapidly being lost to human development, resulting in marked
declines of all species that have been studied on this flyway. Some, like the
spoon-billed sandpiper, are now at critical risk of extinction, while 23 other
species are now threatened, endangered, or vulnerable to extinction. Many
others are in rapid decline, losing up to 10 percent of their numbers each
year. A key driver of these losses is thought to be associated with development
projects along the Yellow Sea coastline that convert intertidal mudflats to dry
ground.
To better understand the nuanced
threats to shorebird species that breed in Chukotka and nearby Alaska, Russian
and American scientists have collaborated on a number of studies, including an
assessment of nesting densities and factors influencing nest survival on
breeding grounds in Russia. Most recently they have charted the migratory
movements, timing, and wintering ground locations of a sub-species of dunlin, a
relatively common shorebird that breeds in Chukotka.
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