(Fairbanks, Alaska - November 20, 2017) A new study co-authored by WCS (Wildlife Conservation Society) addresses concerns over the many Arctic shorebird populations in precipitous decline. Evident from the study is that monitoring and protection of habitat where the birds breed, winter, and stopover is critical to their survival and to that of a global migration spectacle.

To understand why arctic shorebirds are declining and the role humans may be playing, Dr. Rebecca Bentzen of the WCS Arctic Beringia Program and her colleagues set out to quantify adult bird survival.

The scientists collected and combined data across nine breeding sites in the Canadian and Alaskan Arctic in 2010–2014, engaging in unprecedented levels of collaboration as part of the Arctic Shorebird Demographic Network.

Sites included the Teshekpuk Lake Special Area in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A) and the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). Six species of shorebirds were represented in the study – American golden-plover, dunlin, semipalmated sandpiper, western sandpiper, red-necked phalarope, and red phalarope.

Testing how ecological and human-related variables affected the adult annual survival of the birds, the scientists observed few breeding ground impacts, suggesting that shorebird declines are not currently driven by conditions experienced on the Arctic breeding grounds.

“In a positive sense, our estimates for adult survival were substantially higher than previously published across five of the six species,” said Bentzen. “This is good news; we seem to be doing the right thing in the Arctic as far as conserving these birds.”

This could change, however, with a warming and more variable climate, and oil extraction in environmentally sensitive areas such as ANWR’s coastal plain or around Teshekpuk Lake in the National Petroleum Reserve.

In addition, the study found that the survival of five species of shorebirds that migrate from breeding sites in the Alaskan and Canadian Arctic to wintering areas farther south in the Americas is robust, presumably due to favorable conditions in the nesting areas along that flyway. Meanwhile, dunlin— a shorebird species that migrates to wintering areas in the East Asian-Australasian Flyway on the west side of the Pacific have poorer adult survival.

The authors surmise that loss of habitat at migratory stopovers or overwintering sites on the East Asian-Australasian Flyway are responsible for driving poorer adult survival rates and should be a focus of future conservation efforts.

Bentzen notes that the results should focus attention on habitat needs in the East Asian region. In addition, breeding grounds should be carefully monitored and protected as climate impacts and potentially development encroachment increases in and around these critical Arctic breeding habitats.

“Environmental and ecological conditions at Arctic breeding sites have limited effects on true survival rates of adult shorebirds,” appears in the current edition of The Auk. Co-authors include: Emily L. Weiser of Kansas State University (KSU); Richard B. Lanctot of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFW); Stephen C. Brown and H. River Gates of Manomet and USFW; Rebecca L. Bentzen of WCS; Joël Bêty of the Université du Québec à Rimouski; Megan L. Boldenow of University of Alaska Fairbanks; Willow B. English, David B. Lank, and Samantha E. Franks of Simon Fraser University; Laura Koloski of Trent University; Eunbi Kwon of KSU; Jean-Francois Lamarre of Département de Biologie, Chimie et Géographie and Centre d’Études Nordiques, Rimouski; Joseph R. Liebezeit,of Audubon Society of Portland; Laura McKinnon,and Erica Nol of Trent University; Jennie Rausch of Environment and Climate Change Canada; Sarah T. Saalfeld of  Manomet; Nathan R. Senner of Cornell Lab of Ornithology; David H. Ward of U.S. Geological Survey; Paul F. Woodard of Environment and Climate Change Canada; and Brett K.Sandercock of KSU.

This work was supported by the Liz Claiborne and Art Ortenberg Foundation, the Arctic Landscape Conservation Cooperative, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, and Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Act of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The views and conclusions in this document are those of the authors and should not be interpreted as representing the opinions of policies of the U.S. Government or the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and its funding sources. Mention of trade names or commercial products does not constitute their endorsement by the U.S. Government, or the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation or its funding sources.

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ABOUT THE WCS (Wildlife Conservation Society)

MISSION: WCS saves wildlife and wild places worldwide through science, conservation action, education, and inspiring people to value nature. To achieve our mission, WCS, based at the Bronx Zoo, harnesses the power of its Global Conservation Program in nearly 60 nations and in all the world’s oceans and its five wildlife parks in New York City, visited by 4 million people annually. WCS combines its expertise in the field, zoos, and aquarium to achieve its conservation mission. Visit: newsroom.wcs.org Follow: @WCSNewsroom. For more information: 347-840-1242.