Energy Constraints on Incubating Common Eiders in the Canadian Arctic (East Bay, Southampton Island, Nunavut)

Abstract

Common eider ducks have a circumpolar distribution. Several populations that occur in polar areas during the summer move to northern or temperate coastal areas during winter. All eider species have delayed reproductive maturity, low rates of recruitment, and high rates of adult survival (often 15 + years). These characteristics, coupled with their gregarious nature, render eider ducks highly vulnerable to the effects of hunting, lead poisoning, contaminants, and oil pollution. Even slight reductions in adult survival rates can cause populations to decline. Low annual rates of recruitment and successive years of reproductive failure can also affect populations and slow their recovery. ... Concern within the scientific community has recently generated several conservation policy documents. These include the Circumpolar Eider Conservation Strategy and Action Plan of the Circumpolar Seabird Working Group ..., the Seaduck Joint Venture (revised North American Waterfowl Management Plan, 1999) and the Cooperative Research Strategy for Eider Ducks Breeding in Northern Canada of the Canadian Wildlife Service .... All of these documents stress the need for research and monitoring of eider ducks. Information regarding the population dynamics of common eiders breeding in the Canadian Arctic is limited and out of date .... The CWS East Bay project was established to research these issues. Research topics at the colony include predator-prey interactions, the influence of ice cover and snowmelt on nest initiation, levels of heavy metal contamination and internal parasite loads, population ecology (e.g. adult survival rates), and sources of annual variation in reproductive success. ... My individual project examines the costs of incubation among arctic common eiders: specifically, how variation in energy reserves and annual environmental conditions (e.g., temperature, precipitation) influence female incubation behaviour and reproductive success. ...