BREEDING CONDITIONS REPORT, 1995


RESPONDENT

Benoit Sittler

SITE NAME

Traill Island, Karupelv Valley, Greenland, Denmark

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

PROJECT DETAILS

Project name:

Karupelv Valley Project (1988-1998)

Start of survey:

End of survey: Team size:

m Jun

e Aug

5


WEATHER CONDITIONS

Season phenology:

Weather conditions:

Snowfalls occur only in June and August.

 

Season temperature:
Season humidity:
Date of 50% snow-cover:
Date of ice-break on rivers:
Date of final loss of snow:

BIOTIC CONDITIONS

Rodents abundance evaluation:

low

Breeding conditions:

The Karupelv Valley is located at the southern edge of Traill Island in NE Greenland and is part of the NE Greenland National Park. This high arctic site is classified as semi-polar desert and includes some large patches free of vegetation. Snow depth exceeds by far what is generally reported from other high arctic sites. Basaltic outcrops offer some suitable breeding sites for barnacle geese. In the inner tundra, at the edge of some deep gorges pink footed geese have also been found breeding.
 

Rodent dynamics:

Density of winter nests was 1007 per 1000 ha, but lemming numbers declined rapidly in spring before bird breeding.

Rodent species recorded:

LatinAbundance

Summary of fauna studies:

 

FAUNA IN STUDY AREA

Group of speciesPresenceAbundanceBreedingDetailed studiesComment
arctic foxesYes breedingYes 
lemmingsYes breedingYes 
wadersYes breedingYes 
geeseYes    
ducksYes breeding  
birds of preyYes breeding  
skuasYes breedingYes 
gulls/ternsYes breeding  
owlsYes breedingYes 
passerinesYes breeding  

 

SEABIRD COLONIES

speciesComment

 

WATERBIRD NON-BREEDING AGGREGATIONS

speciesAggregation typeNumberComment

 

HUMAN ACTIVITY IN THE STUDY AREA

Human activityComment
summer field camp 

 


Recommended citation

Sittler, B. (1995). Breeding conditions report for Traill Island, Karupelv Valley, Greenland, Denmark, 1995. ARCTIC BIRDS: an international breeding conditions survey. (Online database). Eds. M.Soloviev, P.Tomkovich. . Updated 11 Dec. 2008. Accessed .

 See also

Sittler, B.//Berg, T.B. 1995. Karupelv valley project 1988-1998. An ongoing long-term research on lemming cycles. NSN Newsletter. No 17: 11-13.
Sittler, B.//Gilg, O.//Berg, T. 2000. Low abundance of King Eider nests during low lemming years in northeast Greenland. Arctic. Vol. 53(1), 53-60.

 more on citation guidelines

 

HOME PAGE