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Migrating shorebirds as integrative sentinels of global environmental change

Piersma, T and Lindström, Åke LU orcid (2004) In Ibis 146(s1). p.61-69
Abstract
Many shorebirds travel over large sections of the globe during the course of their annual cycle and use habitats in many different biomes and climate zones. Increasing knowledge of the factors driving variations in shorebird numbers, phenotype and behaviour may allow shorebirds to serve as 'integrative sentinels' of global environmental change. On the basis of numbers, timing of migration, plumage status and body mass, shorebirds could indicate whether ecological and climate systems are generally intact and stable at hemispheric scales, or whether parts of these systems might be changing. To develop this concept, we briefly review the worldwide shorebird migration systems before examining how local weather and global climatic features... (More)
Many shorebirds travel over large sections of the globe during the course of their annual cycle and use habitats in many different biomes and climate zones. Increasing knowledge of the factors driving variations in shorebird numbers, phenotype and behaviour may allow shorebirds to serve as 'integrative sentinels' of global environmental change. On the basis of numbers, timing of migration, plumage status and body mass, shorebirds could indicate whether ecological and climate systems are generally intact and stable at hemispheric scales, or whether parts of these systems might be changing. To develop this concept, we briefly review the worldwide shorebird migration systems before examining how local weather and global climatic features affect several performance measures of long-distance migrants. What do variations in numbers, phenotype and behaviour tell us about the dependence of shorebirds on weather and climate? How does data on migrating shorebirds integrate global environmental information? Documenting the dependencies between the population processes of shorebirds and global environmental features may be an important step towards assessing the likely effects of projected climate change. In the meantime we can develop the use of aspects of shorebird life histories on large spatial and temporal scales to assay global environmental change. (Less)
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author
and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Ibis
volume
146
issue
s1
pages
61 - 69
publisher
Wiley-Blackwell
external identifiers
  • wos:000224166900011
  • scopus:11144282916
ISSN
0019-1019
DOI
10.1111/j.1474-919X.2004.00329.x
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
e80dcf86-7d19-4be4-a0f7-76db3b5b349c (old id 136890)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 11:36:46
date last changed
2024-01-07 13:54:29
@article{e80dcf86-7d19-4be4-a0f7-76db3b5b349c,
  abstract     = {{Many shorebirds travel over large sections of the globe during the course of their annual cycle and use habitats in many different biomes and climate zones. Increasing knowledge of the factors driving variations in shorebird numbers, phenotype and behaviour may allow shorebirds to serve as 'integrative sentinels' of global environmental change. On the basis of numbers, timing of migration, plumage status and body mass, shorebirds could indicate whether ecological and climate systems are generally intact and stable at hemispheric scales, or whether parts of these systems might be changing. To develop this concept, we briefly review the worldwide shorebird migration systems before examining how local weather and global climatic features affect several performance measures of long-distance migrants. What do variations in numbers, phenotype and behaviour tell us about the dependence of shorebirds on weather and climate? How does data on migrating shorebirds integrate global environmental information? Documenting the dependencies between the population processes of shorebirds and global environmental features may be an important step towards assessing the likely effects of projected climate change. In the meantime we can develop the use of aspects of shorebird life histories on large spatial and temporal scales to assay global environmental change.}},
  author       = {{Piersma, T and Lindström, Åke}},
  issn         = {{0019-1019}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{s1}},
  pages        = {{61--69}},
  publisher    = {{Wiley-Blackwell}},
  series       = {{Ibis}},
  title        = {{Migrating shorebirds as integrative sentinels of global environmental change}},
  url          = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/2560399/624615.pdf}},
  doi          = {{10.1111/j.1474-919X.2004.00329.x}},
  volume       = {{146}},
  year         = {{2004}},
}