Individual Variation in Migration and Wintering Patterns of Long‐Tailed Ducks Clangula hyemalis From a Population in Decline

Thiemo Karwinkel; Ingrid L. Pollet; Sandra Vardeh; Julia Loshchagina; Petr Glazov; Alexander Kondratyev; Aleksandr Sokolov; Vasiliy Sokolov; Julius Morkūnas; Daniela J. Tritscher; Juan F. Masello; Götz Eichhorn; Helmut Kruckenberg; Petra Quillfeldt; Jochen Bellebaum

doi:10.1002/ece3.71187

Individual Variation in Migration and Wintering Patterns of Long‐Tailed Ducks Clangula hyemalis From a Population in Decline

Thiemo Karwinkel^* (Co-auteur), Ingrid L. Pollet, Sandra Vardeh, Julia Loshchagina, Petr Glazov, Alexander Kondratyev, Aleksandr Sokolov, Vasiliy Sokolov, Julius Morkūnas, Daniela J. Tritscher, Juan F. Masello, Götz Eichhorn, Helmut Kruckenberg, Petra Quillfeldt, Jochen Bellebaum

^*Bijbehorende auteur voor dit werk

Onderzoeksoutput: Bijdrage aan wetenschappelijk tijdschrift/periodieke uitgave › Artikel › Wetenschappelijk › peer review

Samenvatting

The population of long-tailed ducks Clangula hyemalis has declined dramatically since the 1990s at the species' most important wintering area, the Baltic Sea. It is unclear if this represents a real population decline at the flyway level or merely a northward shift in the wintering range, with part of the population moving from the Baltic Sea to rarelysurveyed ice-free Arctic waters. To investigate wintering area choice and individual repeatability, we deployed light-level loggers on female long-tailed ducks at three breeding sites in the Western Russian Arctic across two annual cycles, from 2017 to 2019. We obtained data from 94 year-round migration tracks (78, 14 and 2 from each breeding site) from 65 females. Females moved from freshwater breeding sites to mostly marine post-breeding sites after wing moult. For wintering, the majority of the birds (94%) migrated to the Baltic Sea, while the rest overwintered in the White and Barents Seas. Spring migration involved staging at marine sites in the Arctic Ocean for most birds. Individual repeatability scores were high for longitudes of wintering sites, departure dates from breeding and wintering sites, and low for arrival dates at breeding and wintering sites. Therefore, our results suggest that the observed decline in the long-tailed duck wintering population in the Baltic Sea is unlikely the result of a shift in wintering range within individuals, so that a real decline in the population size remains the most parsimonious explanation. High repeatability values indicate that the substantial variation in wintering sites throughout the Baltic Sea is clearly attributable to between-individual variation rather than within-individual variation across years. Still, addressing the underlying causes of population decline remains a challenge for this Arctic-breeding species.

Originele taal-2	Engels
Artikelnummer	e71187
Tijdschrift	Ecology and Evolution
Volume	15
Nummer van het tijdschrift	4
DOI's	https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.71187
Status	Gepubliceerd - apr. 2025

Toegang tot document

10.1002/ece3.71187Licentie: CC BY

Citeer dit

Karwinkel, T., Pollet, I. L., Vardeh, S., Loshchagina, J., Glazov, P., Kondratyev, A., Sokolov, A., Sokolov, V., Morkūnas, J., Tritscher, D. J., Masello, J. F., Eichhorn, G., Kruckenberg, H., Quillfeldt, P., & Bellebaum, J. (2025). Individual Variation in Migration and Wintering Patterns of Long‐Tailed Ducks Clangula hyemalis From a Population in Decline. Ecology and Evolution, 15(4), Artikel e71187. https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.71187

@article{3b1f88f505d94d65a3dcc8e69f63c217,

title = "Individual Variation in Migration and Wintering Patterns of Long‐Tailed Ducks Clangula hyemalis From a Population in Decline",

abstract = "The population of long-tailed ducks Clangula hyemalis has declined dramatically since the 1990s at the species' most important wintering area, the Baltic Sea. It is unclear if this represents a real population decline at the flyway level or merely a northward shift in the wintering range, with part of the population moving from the Baltic Sea to rarelysurveyed ice-free Arctic waters. To investigate wintering area choice and individual repeatability, we deployed light-level loggers on female long-tailed ducks at three breeding sites in the Western Russian Arctic across two annual cycles, from 2017 to 2019. We obtained data from 94 year-round migration tracks (78, 14 and 2 from each breeding site) from 65 females. Females moved from freshwater breeding sites to mostly marine post-breeding sites after wing moult. For wintering, the majority of the birds (94%) migrated to the Baltic Sea, while the rest overwintered in the White and Barents Seas. Spring migration involved staging at marine sites in the Arctic Ocean for most birds. Individual repeatability scores were high for longitudes of wintering sites, departure dates from breeding and wintering sites, and low for arrival dates at breeding and wintering sites. Therefore, our results suggest that the observed decline in the long-tailed duck wintering population in the Baltic Sea is unlikely the result of a shift in wintering range within individuals, so that a real decline in the population size remains the most parsimonious explanation. High repeatability values indicate that the substantial variation in wintering sites throughout the Baltic Sea is clearly attributable to between-individual variation rather than within-individual variation across years. Still, addressing the underlying causes of population decline remains a challenge for this Arctic-breeding species.",

author = "Thiemo Karwinkel and Pollet, {Ingrid L.} and Sandra Vardeh and Julia Loshchagina and Petr Glazov and Alexander Kondratyev and Aleksandr Sokolov and Vasiliy Sokolov and Julius Morkūnas and Tritscher, {Daniela J.} and Masello, {Juan F.} and G{\"o}tz Eichhorn and Helmut Kruckenberg and Petra Quillfeldt and Jochen Bellebaum",

note = "Data archiving: no NIOO data",

year = "2025",

month = apr,

doi = "10.1002/ece3.71187",

language = "English",

volume = "15",

journal = "Ecology and Evolution",

issn = "2045-7758",

publisher = "John Wiley and Sons Ltd",

number = "4",

}

Karwinkel, T, Pollet, IL, Vardeh, S, Loshchagina, J, Glazov, P, Kondratyev, A, Sokolov, A, Sokolov, V, Morkūnas, J, Tritscher, DJ, Masello, JF, Eichhorn, G, Kruckenberg, H, Quillfeldt, P & Bellebaum, J 2025, 'Individual Variation in Migration and Wintering Patterns of Long‐Tailed Ducks Clangula hyemalis From a Population in Decline', Ecology and Evolution, vol. 15, nr. 4, e71187. https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.71187

Individual Variation in Migration and Wintering Patterns of Long‐Tailed Ducks Clangula hyemalis From a Population in Decline. / Karwinkel, Thiemo (Co-auteur); Pollet, Ingrid L.; Vardeh, Sandra et al.
In: Ecology and Evolution, Vol. 15, Nr. 4, e71187, 04.2025.

Onderzoeksoutput: Bijdrage aan wetenschappelijk tijdschrift/periodieke uitgave › Artikel › Wetenschappelijk › peer review

TY - JOUR

T1 - Individual Variation in Migration and Wintering Patterns of Long‐Tailed Ducks Clangula hyemalis From a Population in Decline

AU - Karwinkel, Thiemo

AU - Pollet, Ingrid L.

AU - Vardeh, Sandra

AU - Loshchagina, Julia

AU - Glazov, Petr

AU - Kondratyev, Alexander

AU - Sokolov, Aleksandr

AU - Sokolov, Vasiliy

AU - Morkūnas, Julius

AU - Tritscher, Daniela J.

AU - Masello, Juan F.

AU - Eichhorn, Götz

AU - Kruckenberg, Helmut

AU - Quillfeldt, Petra

AU - Bellebaum, Jochen

N1 - Data archiving: no NIOO data

PY - 2025/4

Y1 - 2025/4

N2 - The population of long-tailed ducks Clangula hyemalis has declined dramatically since the 1990s at the species' most important wintering area, the Baltic Sea. It is unclear if this represents a real population decline at the flyway level or merely a northward shift in the wintering range, with part of the population moving from the Baltic Sea to rarelysurveyed ice-free Arctic waters. To investigate wintering area choice and individual repeatability, we deployed light-level loggers on female long-tailed ducks at three breeding sites in the Western Russian Arctic across two annual cycles, from 2017 to 2019. We obtained data from 94 year-round migration tracks (78, 14 and 2 from each breeding site) from 65 females. Females moved from freshwater breeding sites to mostly marine post-breeding sites after wing moult. For wintering, the majority of the birds (94%) migrated to the Baltic Sea, while the rest overwintered in the White and Barents Seas. Spring migration involved staging at marine sites in the Arctic Ocean for most birds. Individual repeatability scores were high for longitudes of wintering sites, departure dates from breeding and wintering sites, and low for arrival dates at breeding and wintering sites. Therefore, our results suggest that the observed decline in the long-tailed duck wintering population in the Baltic Sea is unlikely the result of a shift in wintering range within individuals, so that a real decline in the population size remains the most parsimonious explanation. High repeatability values indicate that the substantial variation in wintering sites throughout the Baltic Sea is clearly attributable to between-individual variation rather than within-individual variation across years. Still, addressing the underlying causes of population decline remains a challenge for this Arctic-breeding species.

AB - The population of long-tailed ducks Clangula hyemalis has declined dramatically since the 1990s at the species' most important wintering area, the Baltic Sea. It is unclear if this represents a real population decline at the flyway level or merely a northward shift in the wintering range, with part of the population moving from the Baltic Sea to rarelysurveyed ice-free Arctic waters. To investigate wintering area choice and individual repeatability, we deployed light-level loggers on female long-tailed ducks at three breeding sites in the Western Russian Arctic across two annual cycles, from 2017 to 2019. We obtained data from 94 year-round migration tracks (78, 14 and 2 from each breeding site) from 65 females. Females moved from freshwater breeding sites to mostly marine post-breeding sites after wing moult. For wintering, the majority of the birds (94%) migrated to the Baltic Sea, while the rest overwintered in the White and Barents Seas. Spring migration involved staging at marine sites in the Arctic Ocean for most birds. Individual repeatability scores were high for longitudes of wintering sites, departure dates from breeding and wintering sites, and low for arrival dates at breeding and wintering sites. Therefore, our results suggest that the observed decline in the long-tailed duck wintering population in the Baltic Sea is unlikely the result of a shift in wintering range within individuals, so that a real decline in the population size remains the most parsimonious explanation. High repeatability values indicate that the substantial variation in wintering sites throughout the Baltic Sea is clearly attributable to between-individual variation rather than within-individual variation across years. Still, addressing the underlying causes of population decline remains a challenge for this Arctic-breeding species.

U2 - 10.1002/ece3.71187

DO - 10.1002/ece3.71187

M3 - Article

SN - 2045-7758

VL - 15

JO - Ecology and Evolution

JF - Ecology and Evolution

IS - 4

M1 - e71187

ER -