|
|
|
|
SITE NAME
|
|
Alexandra Fiord, Ellesmere Island, Canada
|
|
| Contact details
(phone/fax//e-mail//address): |
| 506 206 2938 // s.trefry@unb.ca // 530 Dundonald Street, Apt 108, Fredericton, NB, Canada, E3B 7G4
|
|
PROJECT DETAILS |
|
Project name:
|
|
Alexandra Fiord, NU, Canada
|
|
|
Start of survey:
|
End
of survey: |
Team
size: |
|
7.06
|
1.08
|
5
|
|
WEATHER
CONDITIONS
|
| Season phenology: |
average
|
|
|
Weather conditions: |
I conducted breeding bird surveys during period from 7 June to 1 August 2008 by doing walking transects and rope dragging within 5 plots, to obtain a measure of how many birds were being spotted on the walking transects. This was a comparison of a breeding bird survey done at the same site in the early 1980s.
The spring and summer season of 2008 was average in timing and was warm and dry. Ice broke-up on major rivers on 15 June. On the same date snow cover on flat areas decreased to 50%, and snow melted completely two days later. No extreme weather events occurred during the observation period.
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Date of 50%
snow-cover: |
15.06
|
|
| Date of ice-break on
rivers: |
15.06
|
|
| Date of final loss of
snow: |
17.06
|
|
BIOTIC
CONDITIONS
|
| Rodents abundance evaluation: |
low
|
|
|
Breeding conditions:
|
Arctic Foxes were common and bred. We recorded neither owls, nor raptors, apart from the Gyrfalcon. Glaucous Gulls were common and the only gulls breeding in the area. A few Ravens were also present without evidence of breeding.
In the lowland, there were 8 species breeding this year (Snow Buntings, Hoary Redpolls, Lapland Buntings, Arctic Skuas, Long-tailed Ducks, and Baird's Sandpipers). There was also evidence of a few Rock Ptarmigan and a pair of Gyrfalcons nesting (though the Gyrfalcons nest failed this year). Acrtic Terns were common. The survey results from 2008 indicate very similar results in breeding bird species composition and abundances compared to the earlier surveys done at the site. Species like skuas and ducks were very susceptible to Arctic Fox and Wolf predators if their nests were found, and the skua pairs were not successful this year at our site.
Climate data for the site shows ambient warming in temperature over the past twenty years, but as of yet the the numbers of breeding birds appear to be relatively comparable over time.
|
|
|
Rodent dynamics:
|
| Only 5 Greenland Lemmings were seen over the course of the field season of 2008 indicating their low abundance. No capture data are available.
|
|
Rodent species recorded:
|
| Latin | Abundance |
|---|
| Dicrostonyx groenlandicus | rare |
|
|
|
Summary
of fauna studies: |
|
|
|