Biology subjects

Christie, K.

Publications and source records attributed to Christie, K..

2 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2024

The collective application of shorebird tracking data to conservation

Addressing urgent conservation issues, like the drastic declines of North American migratory birds, requires creative, evidence-based, efficient, and collaborative approaches. Over 50% of monitored North American shorebird populations have lost over 50% of their abundance since 1980. To address these declines, we developed a partnership of scientists and practitioners called the Shorebird Science and Conservation Collective (hereinafter "the Collective"). Here, we present this successful case study as an example for others engaged in translational science. The Collective acts as an intermediary whereby dedicated staff collate and analyze data contributions from scientists to support knowledge requests from conservation practitioners. Data contributions from 74 organizations include over 6.7 million shorebird locations forming movement paths of 3,345 individuals representing 36 species tracked across the Americas. We describe the founding and structure of the Collective and conservation activities we supported in our first two years. As the volume of scientific data on animal movements continues to grow, groups like the Collective can be vital liaisons to rapidly integrate and interpret research to support conservation action.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2022

Temperature and depth dependence of the spatial distribution of snow crab

The cascading effects of rapid climate change is a reality with which all biota are challenged. In this context, we examine the spatiotemporal probability of occurrence of snow crab as a means to express viable habitat. This is attempted for three demographic components, morphometrically mature males and females and immature adolescent crab in the Scotian Shelf region of the northwest Atlantic, Canada. We use a robust approach, known as Conditional AutoRegressive models, to define viable habitat. Further, we focus upon viable habitat, conditioned on the marginal influence of temperature and depth as they are known to be important constraints on snow crab. We observe some niche partitioning in terms of depth and temperature. We also note declines in viable habitat marginal to depth and temperature since 2010 for all demographic groups. This population representing the southern-most distribution of snow crab in the northwest Atlantic are vulnerable to degradation of viable habitat attributable to rapid climate change. One-Sentence SummaryRapid climate change and a decadal scale change in the viable habitat of snow crab of the Scotian Shelf ecosystem.

ecology↗