Incubation behaviour of the Common Ringed Plover Charadrius hiaticula at different latitudes

Kees Wanders* (Corresponding author), Mohammed Almalki, Oddvar Heggøy, Terje Lislevand, Chris McGuigan, Götz Eichhorn, Geir Wing Gabrielsen, Viktoria Azarov, Leylya Khasyanova, Tamás Székely

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal/periodicalArticleScientificpeer-review

3 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

In biparental Charadriinae plovers, male and female incubation duties often resemble daily routines, with males typically incubating at night and females incubating during the day. By analysing incubation behaviour in three Arctic populations of Common Ringed Plover Charadrius hiaticula, we show that these diel routines are lost in the 24-h sunlight of the Arctic. In contrast, a non-Arctic population in East Scotland exhibited significant daily routines, with males dominating incubation during the late afternoon and night, and females dominating incubation during the early morning and midday hours. These patterns suggest that clear light/dark cycles are necessary for daily incubation routines to form in the Common Ringed Plover, although further research is needed to understand the specific drivers of this behaviour.

Original languageEnglish
JournalJournal of Ornithology
DOIs
Publication statusE-pub ahead of print - 10 May 2023

Keywords

  • Arctic
  • Diel routine
  • Incubation
  • Latitude
  • Parental care
  • Plover
  • Shorebird
  • Wader

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