Date of Award
11-25-2024
Publication Type
Thesis
Degree Name
M.Sc.
Department
Biological Sciences
Keywords
Arctic Passerine, Climate Change, Mismatch, Phenology, Snow Bunting, Songbird
Supervisor
Oliver Love
Supervisor
François Vézina
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Abstract
Snow Buntings (Plectrophenax nivalis) are an Arctic-breeding cold-adapted songbird currently suffering from large population declines within the context of rapid environmental change. The goal of my thesis was to examine whether Snow Buntings can keep pace with the degree of climate change currently facing the Arctic. Specifically, we first examined whether Snow Buntings can phenologically adjust laying decisions to keep pace with climate change. We then studied the fitness consequences for phenological mismatches between Snow Buntings and arthropod prey by comparing how indices of temporal and biomass mismatch predicted offspring number and quality. To examine these questions, we used a long-term dataset (2007-2019) supplemented by two years of my own research (2022-23) from Qikiqtakuluk (East Bay Island), Nunavut to relate variation in environmental conditions and arthropod abundance to bunting lay date, clutch size, and success outcomes (e.g., fledging success and quality). In Chapter 2, we found that: i) Snow Buntings are extremely responsive to changes in temperature, ii) they rely on cues just days before investment in reproduction to time laying, and that iii) certain individuals can initiate laying at lower temperatures and therefore lay earlier than expected. In Chapter 3, we found that while a widely-used temporal mismatch index did not predict variation in breeding success, females timing breeding so that the peak of nestling demand matched higher arthropod biomass levels fledged the greatest number of offspring. However, neither the temporal nor biomass mismatch indices predicted fledgling quality. Together, these results are the first evidence of an Arctic breeding bird showing an adaptive response to climate change. For the first time, this thesis provides unique insight into the adaptive capacity of this Arctic passerine birds and suggests this species currently has the plasticity necessary to adapt to a rapidly changing Arctic.
Recommended Citation
Riquier, Alysha, "Assessing the effects of environmentally-mediated phenological matching of an Arctic-breeding songbird to its arthropod prey" (2024). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 9609.
https://scholar.uwindsor.ca/etd/9609