Abstract
All birds were counted along six permanent routes (total length 90 km) located in the low alpine zone (800–1,000 m.a.s.l.) at Ammarnäs, southern Lapland, during forty years, 1972–2011. Eighty-three species were recorded; average 41 species and 1,677 birds per year. Number of species as well as population size increased for waterfowl, waders and other non-passerines but not for passerines. Thirteen of the thirty-eight most regular species had significant population trends, twelve of them positive. The route counts correlated well with the number of pairs in two adjacent territory mapping plots. The trends also correlated positively with those found in all mountain routes of the Swedish Bird Survey. Although not quite significant this similarity indicates that common large-scale factors are involved in governing the local population changes. Several of the species that have their main distribution at lower levels are expanding their ranges into the alpine zone. Despite the predominance of positive trends some species have more or less severe problems, requiring deeper studies or conservation measures: Melanitta fusca, Aythya marila, Philomachus pugnax, Eremophila alpestris and Plectrophenax nivalis.
Highlights
All birds were counted along six permanent routes located in the low alpine zone (800–1000 m.a.s.l.) at Ammarnäs, southern Lapland, during fortyyears, 1972–2011
As late as in the Red List of 2000 (Gärdenfors 2000), two out of four bird species that were classified in the DD category belonged to the alpine region (Long-tailed Duck Clangula hyemalis and Red-throated Pipit Anthus cervinus)
Apart from surveys of bird abundance, numerous studies of the ecology and biology of species have been completed; a list of publications from the project can be found at www.luvre.org
Summary
Eight routes were established in 1972 within an area of about 30×40 kilometres with Ammarnäs village approximately in the centre. (1) The first was the local data set from the two small plots that had been surveyed during all forty years in the same alpine habitats at Ammarnäs (Svensson 2006, and unpublished); ten species had sufficient data in both samples. (4) The fourth source was the recently published data on waterfowl changes in the mountain range between the early 1970s and 2009 (Nilsson & Nilsson 2012); eight species In this waterfowl study two different samples were surveyed by aerial counts.
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