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SITE NAME
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Chipp North, USA
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| Contact details
(phone/fax//e-mail//address): |
| 907-474-7738 // kegurney@alaska.edu // 209 Irving 1 Building, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK 99775, USA
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PROJECT DETAILS |
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Project name:
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Changing Arctic Ecosystems
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Start of survey:
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End
of survey: |
Team
size: |
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04.06
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12.08
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2
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WEATHER
CONDITIONS
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Weather conditions: |
| In 2012, the weather at Chipp North was one of the warmest on record for the past 50 years. During our field studies that lasted from 4 June to 16 August 2012 there was very little wind, few precipitation, and the air and water temperatures were relatively high, resulting in rapid and accelerated evapotranspiration of many shallow tundra ponds. It is not clear how this influenced bird abundance, but densities of nesting shorebirds seemed high. Snow cover on flat areas reduced to 50% on 16 June and disappeared completely on 30 June.
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| Date of 50%
snow-cover: |
16.06
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| Date of ice-break on
rivers: |
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| Date of final loss of
snow: |
30.06
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BIOTIC
CONDITIONS
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| Rodents abundance evaluation: |
average
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Breeding conditions:
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There was a pretty high density of young Arctic Foxes on our study site, and in several cases direct nest predation by foxes was observed. Stouts were rarely recorded.
Snowy Owls, Parasitic Skuas, and Long-tailed Skuas turned to be common and bred. Common Ravens were rarely seen without signs of breeding. Glaucous gulls were abundant breeders.
Willow Grouse were found as common breeders.
Breeding conditions for shorebirds seemed to be good, and nest densities for Pectoral Sandpipers, Semipalmated Sandpipers, Dunlin, Grey Plovers, Grey Phalaropes and Red Phalaropes seemed high. However, because this is the first year that nest-searching activities were conducted with a consistent effort, it is not possible to say if this perceived annual effect was true.
The Chipp North study site has a very high density of nesting Yellow-billed Loons (5.0 nests/km2) and Pacific Loons. Loon nest survival was higher in 2012 than in 2011and likely impacted by a variety of factors, including nest initiation date, territory quality and predator abundance. The daily survival rate for Pacific Loon nests was 0.933 (95% CI: 0.904-0.954), which was lower than that for Yellow-billed Loons 0.964 (95%CI: 0.941-0.979), and Red-throated Loons 0.986 (95%CI: 0.850-0.999).
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Rodent dynamics:
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| Both lemmings and voles were common in the area.
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Rodent species recorded:
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Summary
of fauna studies: |
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Impact of human activities:
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| This study site is in a remote and mostly pristine area, where the most significant impact of human activities on bird numbers is likely related to the presence of our base camp.
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