An inventory of montane- and alpine-nesting shorebirds in Alaska

Mountains are the single dominant physiographic feature throughout most of Alaska.  Indeed, mountains are such a defining feature of arctic Alaska and Beringia that they account for over 20% of the land area in the entire Holarctic (excluding the Greenland ice sheet).  Not surprisingly, the avifauna of the region has been strongly influenced by montane landscapes and processes.  In particular, a suite of shorebird species has adapted to this environment: the majority of the world’s populations of Surfbird, Great Knot, Wandering Tattler, and American and Pacific golden-plovers have centers of abundance in Beringia.  But this region has also been the site of unprecedented species differentiation among other shorebirds, particularly of the genus Calidris.  The mountains of Alaska are unique in that they support montane- and alpine-nesting populations of several Calidris species whose nesting elsewhere is confined to interior lowlands or coastal regions (Gill and Tomkovich 2004).  Features common to most of these species—both those with core and peripheral montane-nesting populations—are their globally restricted breeding distributions and comparatively small population sizes.

Alaska’s impressive montane and alpine habitats present many challenges to scientific inquiry.  These regions are rugged, unpopulated, and remote, making access physically and logistically difficult.  Thus, despite a general recognition of the importance of these regions throughout the state, little scientific research has been conducted in these areas.  In 2000, the National Park Service formally implemented the Inventory and Monitoring Program within Alaska to address gaps in knowledge that preclude the effective management of National Park lands.  The goal of the Inventory and Monitoring Program is to document the occurrence and distribution of plants and animals within park lands.  To address the lack of overall knowledge concerning the status and distribution of montane- and alpine-breeding birds, scientists from the USGS Alaska Science Center, with funding from the Inventory and Monitoring Program, designed and implemented a broad-scale inventory across two vast holdings within the NPS system, the Arctic (78,000 km²) and the Southwest Alaska Networks (38,000 km2) of National Parks (Figure 1).

We conducted inventories from 2001–2003 in the Arctic Network (Tibbitts et al. 2005) and from 2004–2006 in the Southwest Alaska Network (Ruthrauff et al. 2007), and these inventories form the basis for subsequent monitoring efforts.  We detected a total of 115 and 116 species of birds in the Arctic and Southwest Alaska Networks, respectively, including over 40 species of conservation concern in each network.  These inventories documented the broad-scale occurrence and habitat associations of species across these regions, providing the first comprehensive assessments of the status and distribution of this little-studied group of birds. 

In 2008, we will finish our inventory of the Southwest Alask Network by sampling sites in Aniakchak National Monument and Preserve. Information from these inventories will enable sound management decisions concerning montane- and alpine-nesting birds in these parks, educate the public, and enhance the overall appreciation of these park’s unique natural resources.

Web links
Arctic Network final report