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RESPONDENT
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Benoit Sittler
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SITE NAME
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Traill Island, Karupelv Valley, Greenland, Denmark
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| Contact details
(phone/fax//e-mail//address): |
| (49-761)2033629/(49-761)2033638 // sittler@ruf.uni-freiburg.de // Institut fur Landespflege Albert-Ludwigs-Universitat Freiburg D-79085 Freiburg, Germany
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PROJECT DETAILS |
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Start of survey:
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End
of survey: |
Team
size: |
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2
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WEATHER
CONDITIONS
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| Date of ice-break on
rivers: |
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| Date of final loss of
snow: |
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BIOTIC
CONDITIONS
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| Rodents abundance evaluation: |
low
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Breeding conditions:
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Patterns observed on Traill Island (NE Greenland) clearly point to a deep depression of the lemming population. This situation was fully expected in view to the dynamics assessed in the two previous seasons. Indicators of this numerical depression include the very low number of winter nests recorded (second lowest figure in 13 years) as well as the extremly poor trapping success in summer. A high proportion of winter nests occupied by stoats suggests that a high predation pressure during this season prevented any recovery of the population in the subnivean environment. These very low densities are related to the failure to observe any reproduction attempt in lemming predators in summer (absence of snowy owls, no fox pups, no breeding of long tailed skuas).
From a climatic point of view, one should notice that snow cover in winter was lower than on average, with snow melt already fully completed by the end of June, i.e. more than 2 weeks earlier than usual. This earlier snow clearance may have favored nesting of certain wader species like sanderlings but reproductive success later suffered from predation.
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Rodent dynamics:
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Rodent species recorded:
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Summary
of fauna studies: |
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