Shorebirds
Ninety
percent of the migratory species (n = 53) in the Western Hemisphere have
breeding populations in Alaska; 37 of these, plus three additional races,
regularly breed there. The North Pacific, including Alaska and the
Russian Far East, host fully one-third of the world's shorebird
fauna. For almost all of the shorebirds occurring in Alaska, coastal
habitats are critical during some phase of their annual cycle,
particularly during the nonbreeding period. Many coastal areas are being
altered at an alarming rate, not only in East Asia where broad-scale
reclamation of intertidal habitats persists, but also in the Western
Hemisphere where the problem is much more localized, but nevertheless
ongoing. Effective conservation of any natural resource requires an
understanding of population dynamics and habitat requirements. For
many arctic breeding shorebirds such parameters as population size, annual
productivity, rates of adult and juvenile mortality, feeding habits, and
migration strategies, including habitat dependence and timing and routes
of migration, are largely unknown. The overriding focus of this program
has been to fill in these information needs for as many taxa as possible
in order that as many species as possible can be included in a
comprehensive monitoring effort.
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