Lover’s lane for birds discovered in Arctic
March 11th, 2011 - 6:43 pm ICT by ANIWashington, Mar 11 (ANI): A new study has revealed the critical importance of Teshekpuk Lake region in Arctic, where tens of thousands of birds breed during the brief, but productive arctic summers.
The results of the four-year study showed that the region contains some of the highest nesting bird densities and nest productivity across Alaska’s Arctic.
The study by the Wildlife Conservation Society is the first to look at the full suite of bird species from around the world that descend on the region.
Tens of thousands of geese migrate to the Teshekpuk Lake Special Area (TLSA) to molt in summer and a 70,000-strong Caribou herd-critical to North Slope natives for subsistence hunting -calves its young in the TLSA.”This is the first study to investigate breeding bird densities and measure how well birds are able to produce young in this remote and important region near Teshekpuk Lake,” said lead author Joe Liebezeit of the Wildlife Conservation Society.
“We found that the density of nesting birds was markedly higher compared to many other sites in Arctic Alaska,” he added.
During the study, Liebezeit and Steve Zack calculated nest densities (number of nests per unit of area) at the remote Teshekpuk site.
Those results were compared to six other areas (including both human impacted and remote sites) where nest densities were measured in previous studies.
The results showed that Teshekpuk densities far exceeded those at the other locations.
Additionally, nests were periodically monitored every 3-6 days at Teshekpuk and at a site in the Prudhoe Bay region 150 miles to the east where oil extraction activities are occurring.
Results showed that for some species, nest survivorship (production of young) was higher at Teshekpuk.
“Teshekpuk Lake is in the middle of the world’s biggest Arctic wetland, and thus at the heart of an international migration of shorebirds, waterfowl, loons, and songbirds that nest in this highly productive region during the short summer. This study makes clear how valuable this region is to breeding birds,” said Zack.
The study appears in the March issue of the peer-reviewed journal Arctic. (ANI)
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Tags: arctic alaska, author joe, bird species, calves, caribou, caribou herd, critical importance, densities, extraction activities, international migration, loons, north slope, oil extraction, productive region, prudhoe bay, shorebirds, songbirds, species nest, teshekpuk lake, wildlife conservation society