Dataset Information

Warming in the land of the midnight sun: breeding birds may suffer greater heat stress at high- versus low-Arctic sites.

ABSTRACT: Rising global temperatures are expected to increase reproductive costs for wildlife as greater thermoregulatory demands interfere with reproductive activities. However, predicting the temperatures at which reproductive performance is negatively impacted remains a significant hurdle. Using a thermoregulatory polygon approach, we derived a reproductive threshold temperature for an Arctic songbird-the snow bunting (Plectrophenax nivalis). We defined this threshold as the temperature at which individuals must reduce activity to suboptimal levels (i.e. less than four-time basal metabolic rate) to sustain nestling provisioning and avoid overheating. We then compared this threshold to operative temperatures recorded at high (82° N) and low (64° N) Arctic sites to estimate how heat constraints translate into site-specific impacts on sustained activity level. We predict buntings would become behaviourally constrained at operative temperatures above 11.7°C, whereupon they must reduce provisioning rates to avoid overheating. Low-Arctic sites had larger fluctuations in solar radiation, consistently producing daily periods when operative temperatures exceeded 11.7°C. However, high-latitude birds faced entire, consecutive days when parents would be unable to sustain required provisioning rates. These data indicate that Arctic warming is probably already disrupting the breeding performance of cold-specialist birds and suggests counterintuitive and severe negative impacts of warming at higher latitude breeding locations.

SUBMITTER: O'Connor RS

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9399709 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Warming in the land of the midnight sun: breeding birds may suffer greater heat stress at high- versus low-Arctic sites.

O'Connor Ryan S RS Le Pogam Audrey A Young Kevin G KG Love Oliver P OP Cox Christopher J CJ Roy Gabrielle G Robitaille Francis F Elliott Kyle H KH Hargreaves Anna L AL Choy Emily S ES Gilchrist H Grant HG Berteaux Dominique D Tam Andrew A Vézina François F

Proceedings. Biological sciences 20220824 1981

Rising global temperatures are expected to increase reproductive costs for wildlife as greater thermoregulatory demands interfere with reproductive activities. However, predicting the temperatures at which reproductive performance is negatively impacted remains a significant hurdle. Using a thermoregulatory polygon approach, we derived a reproductive threshold temperature for an Arctic songbird-the snow bunting (<i>Plectrophenax nivalis</i>). We defined this threshold as the temperature at which ...[more]

PMID: 36000233

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Project description:AimMany studies have examined large-scale distributions of various taxa and their drivers, emphasizing the importance of climate, topography, and land use. Most studies have dealt with distributions over a single season or annually without considering seasonality. However, animal distributions and their drivers can differ among seasons because many animals migrate to suitable climates and areas with abundant prey resources. We aim to clarify seasonality in bird distributions and their drivers.LocationJapan.MethodsWe examined the effects of climate (annual mean temperature, snow depth), topography (elevation), and land use (extent of surrounding habitat) on bird species richness, in the breeding and wintering seasons separately, using nationwide data (254 forest and 43 grassland sites, respectively). We separately analyzed the species richness of all species, residents, short-, and long-distance migrants in forests and grasslands.ResultsIn the breeding season, the annual mean temperature negatively affected all groups (except for forest and grassland residents), and the extent of surrounding habitat positively affected many groups. By contrast, in the wintering season, temperature positively affected all groups (except for forest residents), and the extent of surrounding habitat positively affected only grassland long-distance migrants. In both seasons, the species richness of forest and grassland residents was high in regions of moderate and high temperature, respectively. Moreover, snow depth negatively affected all forest groups in the wintering season. Mapping expected species richness suggested that regions with different climates served as habitats for different groups during different seasons.Main conclusionsAll regions were important bird habitats depending on the season, reflecting the contrasting effects of temperature across seasons. In the breeding season, surrounding land use was also an important driver. To understand the seasonal role that each region and environment plays in maintaining species/communities, a large-scale study considering both environmental seasonality and species distribution is needed.

Dataset Information

Warming in the land of the midnight sun: breeding birds may suffer greater heat stress at high- versus low-Arctic sites.

Publications

Warming in the land of the midnight sun: breeding birds may suffer greater heat stress at high- versus low-Arctic sites.

Similar Datasets

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