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SITE NAME
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Cape Churchill Peninsula, Canada
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| Contact details
(phone/fax//e-mail//address): |
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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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WEATHER
CONDITIONS
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Weather conditions: |
| The spring season in 2004 was exceptionally late. Heavy snow falls occurred in May, and the subsequent low air temperatures at or just above the freezing point delayed melt. Throughout much of June, the marshes were snow covered and some snow and ice persisted in coastal marshes until early July. Because of the high amounts of accumulated snow during winter and in spring, when the snow finally melted it resulted in unusually extensive flooding in the coastal zone of the Cape Churchill Peninsula. Goose nesting and reproduction was severely restricted and adversely affected. The growth of flowering plants and the flowering times of the spring flora were delayed and in early July, purple mountain saxifrage (Saxifraga oppositifolia) flowered at the same time as tundra avens (Dryas integrifolia). This telescoping of flowering times into a short summer season marked the overall pattern of plant phenology. Entomologists at the Churchill Northern Studies Centre also reported that the timing of the emergence of different insect species was also telescoped and large numbers of biting insects persisted well into August. Even in the second half of the summer, temperatures rarely reached the high 20s (C). The summer of 2004 in the Churchill region was characterized as a period of low biological productivity.
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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: |
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Breeding conditions:
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| Approximately 1500 pairs of Ross's geese nested at La Perouse Bay in 2004, produced a median clutch of 4 eggs and suffered at least 85% nest failure. The high failure was related to the lateness of the season and associate intense predation pressure. The failure to find any duck nests at Skidmore Lake in 2004 is likely related to the extreme lateness of the season and the fact that few ducks nested anywhere in this portion of the Hudson Bay Lowland this year (D. Caswell, pers. comm.).
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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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