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Effects of Environmental Conditions on Spring Arrival, the Timing of Nesting, and the Reproductive Effort of Ross’s Gull (Phodostethia rosea) in the Delta of Lena River, Yakutia

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Data on the spring phenology and reproductive parameters of Ross’s Gull were collected during the period 1980–2013 on the delta of Lena River, northern Yakutia (71°42–74° N, 120°–129°30 E). During this period, significant changes in weather occurred. The mean annual temperature (F1.27 = 7.74, p < 0.04), the mean June temperature (F1.27 = 11.75, p < 0.002), and the summer temperature (F1.27 = 9.13, p < 0.005) increased, and the mean daily air temperatures crossing 0°C shifted to earlier dates (F1.26 = 14.73, p < 0.001). However, the duration of the period with positive temperatures increased only slightly (F1.26 = 3.53, p < 0.07). The arrival of Ross’s gulls to the Lena Delta depended on the dates of snow melting (r = 0.62, p < 0.05), the mean June temperatures (r = –0.48, p < 0.01), and the minimal June daily temperatures (r = –0.70, p < 0.001). The maximum amplitude of fluctuations in egg numbers among all arctic gulls was revealed for complete clutches of Ross’s Gull. In the Lena Delta, this amplitude was higher than in more southerly regions, where the nesting ecology of the species was mainly studied. The clutch size was negatively correlated with the dates of clutch initiation, the females that began to nest earlier showing larger clutch sizes. The reproductive effort of the species depended negatively on the temperature of the prenesting period. In cold years, the dates of nesting initiation shifted to later times (r = –0.75, p < 0.001) and the clutch size declined (F1,172 = 27.31, p < 0.00001). There was a tendency towards a decrease in the egg volume, which is the most noticeable from the dates of snow melting (F1,226 = 33.4, p < 0.00001) and a decrease in the average temperature of the prenesting period (F1,226 = 23.4, p < 0.00001). Despite an increase in the nesting season temperatures in the Lena Delta since 1982 and the earlier arrival of Ross’s Gull (F1.27 = 14.87, p < 0.001), no shift in the dates of nesting initiation was detected. In our opinion, this is because the amplitude of interannual changes has a wider range than the long-term trend. The patterns of variations in the dates of nesting initiation and in the clutch sizes and egg volume are due to the dynamics of environmental conditions, primarily air temperatures.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We are sincerely grateful to D.V. Solovyeva, S.B. Rosenfeld, M.N. Ivanov, A.N. Syromyatnikova, and Yu.N. Sofronov, who helped in the collection of material in different years of field work, as well as to T.V. Sviridova, who made valuable comments on the text of this article.

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  1. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Russian Academy of Sciences, 119071, Moscow, Russia

    S. V. Volkov

  2. Lena Delta Nature Reserve, 678400, Tiksi, Sakha Republic, Russia

    V. I. Pozdnyakov

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Volkov, S.V., Pozdnyakov, V.I. Effects of Environmental Conditions on Spring Arrival, the Timing of Nesting, and the Reproductive Effort of Ross’s Gull (Phodostethia rosea) in the Delta of Lena River, Yakutia. Biol Bull Russ Acad Sci 48, 1332–1341 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1134/S1062359021080318

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