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Drought At A Coastal Wetland Affects Refuelling And Migration Strategies Of Shorebirds, Alexandra M. Anderson, Christian Friis, Cheri L. Gratto-Trevor, Christopher M. Harris, Oliver P. Love, R. I.Guy Morrison, Sean W.J. Prosser, Erica Nol, Paul A. Smith

Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research Publications

Droughts can affect invertebrate communities in wetlands, which can have bottom-up effects on the condition and survival of top predators. Shorebirds, key predators at coastal wetlands, have experienced widespread population declines and could be negatively affected by droughts. We explored, in detail, the effects of drought on multiple aspects of shorebird stopover and migration ecology by contrasting a year with average wet/dry conditions (2016) with a year with moderate drought (2017) at a major subarctic stopover site on southbound migration. We also examined the effects of drought on shorebird body mass during stopover across 14 years (historical: 1974–1982 and present-day: …