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Life-history and demographic variation in an alpine specialist at the latitudinal extremes of the range

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Population Ecology

Abstract

Alpine environments are unique systems to examine variation in life-history strategies because temperature and seasonality are similar across broad latitudinal gradients. We studied the life-history strategies, demography and population growth of white-tailed ptarmigan Lagopus leucura, an alpine specialist, at the latitudinal extremes of the range in the Yukon (YK, studied from 2004 to 2008) and Colorado (CO, 1987–1996). The two populations were separated by 2,400 km of latitude, and the Yukon site was approximately 2,000 m lower in elevation than the Colorado site. Yukon females bred on average 9 days earlier than those in Colorado, but the latter study was conducted 15 years earlier and breeding dates may have advanced over this period. The length of the breeding season was similar between the two populations, and females had comparable probabilities of re-nesting after failure. The two populations differed in how they allocated effort to the first clutch as Yukon females laid larger clutches (7.1 vs. 5.9 eggs) but smaller eggs (18.8 vs. 20.5 g) than those in Colorado. Demographic rates also differed; nest survival was higher in the Yukon (0.40) than in Colorado (0.24), and the resultant annual fecundity was nearly twice as high in the Yukon (3.92 vs. 1.77 chicks/female). In contrast, annual adult survival was higher in Colorado although the confidence intervals overlapped (females: YK = 0.35, CO = 0.44; males: YK = 0.48, CO = 0.59). Estimates of annual population growth (λ) indicated both populations were declining, especially in Colorado (λ YK = 0.83, λ CO = 0.66), and thus, dispersal movements are likely key to long-term persistence in both cases. Our findings suggest that breeding-season temperature and seasonality affect measures related to timing of reproduction, but not the costs and benefits of clutch and egg size.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the many able field assistants who helped collect data in the field during these two studies, including D. Chalmers, A. Clason, S. Nouvet, G. Pelchat, A. Wilson and M. Wong for the Yukon study, and T. Artiss, L. Robb, K. Wiebe and many undergraduates for the Colorado study. We thank D.S. Hik, A. and S. Williams, and L. Goodwin for providing logistical support at Pika Camp and the Arctic Institute of North America at Kluane Lake, YK, Canada. C.E. Braun, Colorado Division of Wildlife (Fort Collins, CO, USA) provided critical logistical assistance for the duration of the Colorado study, and M. Mossop and L. Robb provided able technical assistance. Funding for the research on both sites was provided by Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC; Discovery Grant, Northern Research Supplement, International Polar Year) and Environment Canada support to KM, and NSERC Postgraduate Scholarship, Northern Scientific Training Program, British Columbia Upland Birds Society, Calgary Bird Banding Society, UBC Department of Forestry, and Izaak Walton Killam and University Graduate Fellowships to SW. We thank Cameron Aldridge and an anonymous reviewer for helpful comments in revising this manuscript.

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  1. Scott Wilson

    Present address: Canadian Wildlife Service, 115 Perimeter Road, Saskatoon, SK, S7N 0X4, Canada

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  1. Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center, 3001 Connecticut Avenue, National Zoological Park, 20008, Washington, DC, USA

    Scott Wilson

  2. Department of Forest Sciences, University of British Columbia, 2424 Main Mall, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z4, Canada

    Kathy Martin

  3. Environment Canada, 5421 Robertson Road, Delta, BC, V4K 3N2, Canada

    Kathy Martin

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Wilson, S., Martin, K. Life-history and demographic variation in an alpine specialist at the latitudinal extremes of the range. Popul Ecol 53, 459–471 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10144-011-0261-x

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