| 1. |
- Hoglund, Jacob, et al.
(författare)
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A hybrid snipe Gallinago gallinago x G-media found in the wild
- 2015
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Ingår i: Journal of Ornithology = Journal fur Ornithologie. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0021-8375 .- 1439-0361. ; 156:3, s. 819-827
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A hybrid snipe male was observed and caught in 2009 in the Norwegian mountains. We report behaviour, vocalizations, morphology, and genetic data for this bird. Mitochondrial and nuclear DNA sequences revealed that the hybrid had a great snipe mother and a common snipe father. The hybrid was intermediate in most measured morphometric traits and showed some intermediate plumage characteristics. The behaviour was similar to that of a great snipe-it displayed and vocalised at a great snipe lek for more than a week. The song was somewhat reminiscent of a great snipe's, but lacked the frequency-modulated whistles that are part of the great snipe song, consisting of more rapid click notes of a narrower frequency spectrum. This is the only putative hybrid that we have found among the more than 4,400 adult individuals we have examined between 1986 and 2014 at great snipe leks in Norway, Sweden, Poland, and Estonia. Common snipes invariably occur near these sites. Reports on putative hybrids among snipe species are very rare, and we question the validity of previous claims. This is the first where the parental origins-and, indeed, the hybrid status-have been unequivocally determined. We speculate on how a great snipe female, known for being extremely choosy about mating, came to mate with a common snipe male. We also note that, although perhaps behaviourally more likely, physical constraints on chick development (caused by the smaller egg size of the common snipe and larger body size of the great snipe) might prevent any successful male great snipe x female common snipe hybridisation-a possible example of an unidirectional post-zygotic barrier.
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| 2. |
- Lehikoinen, Aleksi, et al.
(författare)
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Common montane birds are declining in northern Europe
- 2014
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Ingår i: Journal of Avian Biology. - 0908-8857. ; 45:1, s. 3-14
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Large-scale multi-species data on population changes of alpine or arctic species are largely lacking. At the same time, climate change has been argued to cause poleward and uphill range shifts and the concomitant predicted loss of habitat may have drastic effects on alpine and arctic species. Here we present a multi-national bird indicator for the Fennoscandian mountain range in northern Europe (Finland, Sweden and Norway), based on 14 common species of montane tundra and subalpine birch forest. The data were collected at 262 alpine survey plots, mainly as a part of geographically representative national breeding bird monitoring schemes. The area sampled covers around 1/4 million km(2), spanning 10 degrees of latitude and 1600 km in a northeast-southwest direction. During 2002-2012, nine of the 14 bird species declined significantly in numbers, in parallel to higher summer temperatures and precipitation during this period compared to the preceding 40 yr. The population trends were largely parallel in the three countries and similar among montane tundra and subalpine birch forest species. Long-distance migrants declined less on average than residents and short-distance migrants. Some potential causes of the current decline of alpine birds are discussed, but since montane bird population sizes may show strong natural annual variation due to several factors, longer time series are needed to verify the observed population trends. The present Fennoscandian monitoring systems, which from 2010 onwards include more than 400 montane survey plots, have the capacity to deliver a robust bird indicator in the climate-sensitive mountainous regions of northernmost Europe for conservation purposes.
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| 3. |
- Lindström, Åke, et al.
(författare)
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Large-scale monitoring of waders on their boreal and arctic breeding grounds in northern Europe
- 2015
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Ingår i: Ardea. - : Netherlands Ornithologists' Union. - 0373-2266. ; 103:1, s. 3-15
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Large-scale and population-wide monitoring of waders on their boreal and arctic breeding grounds has hitherto been lacking, mainly because logistics are truly challenging in regions with few ornithologists, vast areas and few roads. In Norway, Sweden and Finland (here 'Fennoscandia') there are now national monitoring schemes in place, aimed at tracking all bird species, which allows trends to be estimated for northern wader populations. We present joint Fennoscandian population trends for 24 wader species, covering the period 2002-2013 (in some cases somewhat shorter time periods). The data stem from 1263 routes in Norway, Finland, and the northern two thirds of Sweden, all situated north of 58 degrees N. This area of one million km(2) largely coincides with the boreal and arctic parts of Fennoscandia. The trends found are rather evenly distributed between strong increases and strong declines. Trends do not differ between short-and long-distance migrants, nor do they vary in relation to breeding latitude. Ringed Plover Charadrius hiaticula, Wood Sandpiper Tringa glareola, Green Sandpiper T. ochropus and Common Redshank T. totanus had significant positive trends, whereas Common Snipe Gallinago gallinago, Ruff Philomachus pugnax and Spotted Redshank Tringa erythropus were declining significantly in numbers. Trends could be calculated even for relatively uncommon breeding birds such as Temminck's Stint Calidris temminckii, Eurasian Dotterel Chara drius morinellus, Broad-billed Sandpiper Limicola falcinellus, Jack Snipe Lymno cryptes minimus and Red-necked Phalarope Phalaropus lobatus, although these trends build on few routes and individuals, and thus have low precision. The monitoring schemes in Norway and Finland are expected to increase in coverage in the coming years, with up to a total of 1555 northern routes being tracked when the schemes are fully developed. This should enable still more robust trend estimates for northern waders on their Fennoscandian breeding grounds to be calculated in the future.
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