Abstract

<dm:abstracts xmlns:dm="http://www.elsevier.com/xml/dm/dtd"><ce:abstract xmlns:ce="http://www.elsevier.com/xml/common/dtd" view="all" class="author" id="aep-abstract-id1"><ce:section-title>Publisher Summary</ce:section-title><ce:abstract-sec view="all" id="aep-abstract-sec-id1"><ce:simple-para id="fsabs014" view="all">Shorebirds or waders are small to medium-sized birds of the order Charadriiformes that frequently are associated with shorelines and wetlands. In northern Alaska, where shorebirds dominate the avifauna in number of individuals and species, two families regularly occur—the plovers (Charadriidae) and the sandpipers (Scolopacidae). Arctic shorebirds have attracted considerable study because of their abundance and diversity, their exceptional migrations, and their variety of mating systems. Northern Alaska has hosted considerable research on arctic shorebirds. Studies of shorebird foraging and breeding biology took place during the 1960s and 1970s in the western Arctic Coastal Plain (ACP), primarily in the Barrow area. In more recent years the major focus of shorebird study has been the oil-field region of the central ACP. Arctic-breeding shorebirds undertake some of the most extreme migrations of any birds, many traveling across continents during their annual movements. During the breeding season, most occur widely in arctic environments and have ranges extending into Canada and/or Russia. The only taxon whose breeding range is restricted to northern Alaska is the dunlin <ce:italic>(Calidris alpina articola)</ce:italic>; other races of this species are found throughout the Arctic.</ce:simple-para></ce:abstract-sec></ce:abstract></dm:abstracts>

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