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Rebecca S Schaftel

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Temperatures are warming fastest at high latitudes and annual temperatures have increased by 2-3˚ C in the Arctic over the second half of the 20th century. Shorebirds respond to cues on theiroverwintering grounds to initiate long migrations to nesting sites throughout the Arctic. Climatedrivenchanges in snowmelt and temperature, which drive invertebrate emergence, may lead to alack of synchrony between the timing of shorebird nesting and the availability of invertebrateprey essential for egg formation and subsequent chick survival. To explore the drivers andpotential magnitude of climate-related shifts in the availability of invertebrate prey, we modeledthe biomass of invertebrates captured in modified Malaise traps...
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Temperatures are warming fastest at high latitudes and annual temperatures have increased by 2-3˚ C in the Arctic over the second half of the 20th century. Shorebirds respond to cues on their overwintering grounds to initiate long migrations to nesting sites throughout the Arctic. Climate-driven changes in snowmelt and temperature, which drive invertebrate emergence, may lead to a lack of synchrony between the timing of shorebird nesting and the availability of invertebrate prey essential for egg formation and subsequent chick survival. We modeled the biomass of invertebrates captured in modified Malaise traps as a function of accumulated temperature and weather variables for eight North American research camps...
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Climate effects on Arctic Food Resources: Modeling the Timing and Duration of Aquatic Insect Emergence from Tundra Ponds
The primary goal of this project was to predict climate-related changes in the timing and duration of insect prey availability for arctic-breeding shorebirds. Researchers coordinated closely with the Arctic Shorebird Demographics Network, whose collaborators sampled aquatic insect emergence, terrestrial insect activity, and associated environmental data at sites across arctic Alaska and Canada. Using ASDN data, they developed mathematical models that relate the timing and duration of insect emergence and activity to accumulated temperature, weather, and other environmental variables. They used these models to predict future changes in the timing of arctic insect availability based on climate change projections....
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