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SITE NAME
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Canning River Delta, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska, USA
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| Contact details
(phone/fax//e-mail//address): |
| (907) 456-0303/(907) 456-0428(fax) // Steve_Kendall@fws.gov // U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, 101 12th Ave., Room 236, Fairbanks, AK 99708, USA
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PROJECT DETAILS |
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Project name:
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Nest Survival of Tundra Nesting Birds and Abundance of Nest Predators Relative to Human Development on Alaska's Arctic Costal Plain
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Start of survey:
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End
of survey: |
Team
size: |
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6.06
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22.07
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4
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WEATHER
CONDITIONS
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Weather conditions: |
| Snow cover was less than 50% on 6 June. A strong wind and rain storm occurred on 1 - 2 July.
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| Date of ice-break on
rivers: |
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| Date of final loss of
snow: |
29.06
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BIOTIC
CONDITIONS
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| Rodents abundance evaluation: |
low
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Breeding conditions:
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| This is the first year of the study, so there are no data for comparison. However another study was conducted at this site in the late 70's and early 80's. There was considerable annual variation in nest density during that time periods. Densities in 2002 at this site were within the range of variation. Densities (in nests/km2) for species found on plots were: Pacific Diver - 1.1, Long-tailed Duck - 1.1, Dunlin - 5.6, Pectoral Sandpiper - 7.8, Semipalmated Sandpiper - 16.7, Stilt Sandpiper - 2.2, Grey Phalarope - 21.1, Red-necked Phalarope - 5.6, and Lapland Bunting - 14.4. Nest initiation dates were earlier than those found in a previous multi-year study at another site on the coastal plain. Mayfiled estimate of nest success of most abundant tundra nesting birds was at the low end of the range previously found: 9% in Dunlin (n=5), 20% in Pectoral Sandpiper (n=7), 29% in Semipalmated Sandpiper (n=15), 32% in Grey Phalarope (n=19), 23% in Red-necked Phalarope (n=5), and 43% in Lapland Bunting (n=13).
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Rodent dynamics:
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| We rarely observed a few lemmings.
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Rodent species recorded:
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Summary
of fauna studies: |
| This study is part of collaborative multi year study to investigate nest survival of tundra nesting birds and nest predator abundance relative of human development on the Arctic coastal plain. The results are preliminary. At the completion of the study data will be pooled from sites at varying distances from human infrastructure to determine if distance to development is correlated to predator abundance and nest success.
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