About this Environmental Science article

Body mass patterns of Little Stints at different latitudes during incubation and chick‐rearing by Ingrid Tulp; Hans Schekkerman; Przemek Chylarecki; Pavel Tomkovich; Mikhail Soloviev; Leo Bruinzeel; Klaas Van Dijk; Olavi Hildén; Hermann Hötker; Wojciech Kania; Marc Van Roomen; Arkadiusz Sikora; Ron Summers is a Environmental Science article available to read on EtoBox.

Due to the ‘double‐clutch’ mating system found in the arctic‐breeding Little Stint __Calidris minuta__, each parent cares for a clutch and brood alone. The resulting constraint on feeding time, combined with the cold climate and a small body size, may cause energetic bottlenecks. Based on the notion that mass stores in birds serve as an ‘insurance’ for transient periods of negative energy balance, but entail certain costs as well, body mass may vary in relation to climatic conditions and stage of the breeding cycle. We studied body mass in Little Stints in relation to breeding stage and geographical location, during 17 expeditions to 12 sites in the Eurasian Arctic, ranging from north Norway to north‐east Taimyr. Body mass was higher during incubation than during chick‐rearing. Structural size, as estimated by wing length, increased with latitude. This was probably caused by relatively more females (the larger sex) incubating further north, possibly after leaving a first clutch to be incubated by a male further south. Before and after correction for structural size, body mass was strongly related to latitude during both incubation and chick‐rearing. In analogy to a similar geograph

Author

Ingrid Tulp; Hans Schekkerman; Przemek Chylarecki; Pavel Tomkovich; Mikhail Soloviev; Leo Bruinzeel; Klaas Van Dijk; Olavi Hildén; Hermann Hötker; Wojciech Kania; Marc Van Roomen; Arkadiusz Sikora; Ron Summers

Publisher

John Wiley and Sons; Wiley (Blackwell Publishing); Blackwell Publishing Inc.; Wiley (ISSN 0019-1019)

Published

2002

Language

EN

Field

Environmental Science (Physical Sciences)