Christopher J. Latty

In bird species with precocial development, i.e. chicks acquire abilities to leave the nest soon after hatching, the nestling period during which parents warm their young in the nest by brooding them is short but critical to breeding success. The duration of the nestling period (DNP) depends on the hatching synchrony of eggs and the speed at which chicks acquire these abilities but may be indirectly affected by parental behaviour and temporal variations in temperature and predation. We assessed the effects of incubation strategy (bi- or uniparental), hatching start time, incubation initiation date and predation risk on the DNP in Arctic-breeding sandpipers. We found that the DNP was longer in biparental species (29.75 ± 8.95 h) compared with uniparental ones (25.82 ± 6.87 h) and was extended in nests where chicks began hatching during the colder ‘night’ hours. No effect of incubation initiation date or predation pressure was found on the DNP. We suggest that parental investment strategies and constraints related to circadian variations in temperature in chicks drive the DNP in Arctic-breeding sandpipers. These results help us better understand how different species may exhibit different behavioural responses during nesting to impending climate change.

Addressing urgent conservation issues, such as the drastic declines of North American migratory birds, requires creative, evidence‐based, efficient, and collaborative approaches. The abundance of over 50% of monitored North American shorebird populations has declined by over 50% since 1980. To address these declines, we developed a partnership of scientists and practitioners called the Shorebird Science and Conservation Collective (hereafter the collective ). The collective was founded to translate the combined findings of shorebird tracking data into on‐the‐ground conservation action. With advice from an advisory group, the collective acts as an intermediary whereby dedicated staff collate and analyze data contributions from scientists to support knowledge requests from conservation practitioners. In its first three years, data contributions from 75 organizations include over 7.1 million shorebird observations forming movement paths of 3420 individuals representing 36 species tracked across the Americas and have informed 18 conservation projects spanning education, land and species management, land conservation, and policy requests. Others engaged in translational science from big data could consider similar knowledge‐sharing models that prioritize usable data products, foster collaborative engagement between science experts and practitioners, build focused communities around topics or taxonomic groups, and employ a proof‐of‐concept phase to develop scalable solutions while making progress toward long‐term funding to sustain impact. As the volume of scientific data continues to grow, intermediaries, such as the collective, can be vital liaisons to rapidly integrate and interpret research to support conservation action. Dedicated to the memory of Shiloh Schulte and his conservation achievements for shorebirds.

Aim: Site network approaches to waterbird conservation are easily biased towards species that occur in high densities and locations and periods of the annual cycle with dense concentrations of birds, thereby potentially failing to address underlying factors driving certain population declines. Here, for shorebird populations that migrate along the East Asian–Australasian Flyway, we examine the extent to which recent conservation efforts at key sites in the Yellow Sea—that is, sites that are vital for stabilising densely concentrated , rapidly declining shorebird species—might address factors underlying low adult survival and steep population declines in shorebird species that migrate and winter along a broad front (i.e., the East China Sea, Yellow Sea and Japan). Location: East Asia. Methods and Results: Using geolocator‐derived migration tracks, an integrated survival model and a population matrix model to estimate winter‐population‐specific survival rates and population trends in a quintessential East Asian shorebird population—the arcticola subspecies of the Dunlin ( Calidris alpina )—we show that in 2010–2014 differences between arcticola winter populations in the intensity of their declines were most likely linked to conditions on their wintering grounds, with individuals that wintered in the East China Sea or Japan showing the steepest population declines (mean: −12% year ⁻¹ [50% credible interval: −3%, −22%] and −17% year ⁻¹ [−6%, −30%], respectively) and individuals that wintered in the Yellow Sea surprisingly stable (+4% year ⁻¹ [−5%, +14%]). Main Conclusions: For shorebird populations that winter in East Asia and migrate along a broad front, additional conservation efforts in the East China Sea and Japan are likely necessary to reverse population declines.

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.