Environmental change, seasonal interactions, and demographic responses of arctic-breeding birds

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Many shorebird species travel the length of the hemisphere from breeding grounds in the Arctic to wintering grounds in Central and South America. The conditions they encounter throughout the annual cycle can have interactive and profound influences on behaviour, physiological condition and ultimately demography. These seasonal interactions, or carry-over effects, can explain patterns that would be inexplicable at any one site in isolation and are increasingly viewed as important determinants of demographic processes. The harsh and unpredictable breeding conditions of the Arctic provide substantial variation with which to test hypotheses about seasonal interactions. This, coupled with arctic-breeding shorebirds’ use of a restricted set of stopover sites during migration, makes for an ideal system within which to study the role of carry-over effects.