Preprint Article Version 1 Preserved in Portico This version is not peer-reviewed

Evaluating the Impacts of Headstarting on the Critically En-Dangered Spoon-Billed Sandpiper Calidris pygmaea

Egor Y. Loktionov
* ORCID logo ,
Roland A. Digby
,
Nickolay N. Yakushev
,
Ivan A. Shepelev
,
Jodie P. Clements
,
Pavel S. Tomkovich
,
Nigell S. Jarrett
,
Nigel A. Clark
,
Rhys E. Green
,
Elena G. Lappo
,
Evgeny E. Syroechkovskiy
Version 1 : Received: 23 January 2023 / Approved: 24 January 2023 / Online: 24 January 2023 (07:40:29 CET)

A peer-reviewed article of this Preprint also exists.

Loktionov, E.Y.; Digby, R.A.; Yakushev, N.N.; Shepelev, I.A.; Clements, J.P.; Tomkovich, P.S.; Jarrett, N.S.; Clark, N.A.; Green, R.E.; Lappo, E.G.; Syroechkovskiy, E.E. Evaluating the Impact of Headstarting on the Critically Endangered Spoon-Billed Sandpiper Calidris pygmaea. Diversity 2023, 15, 584. Loktionov, E.Y.; Digby, R.A.; Yakushev, N.N.; Shepelev, I.A.; Clements, J.P.; Tomkovich, P.S.; Jarrett, N.S.; Clark, N.A.; Green, R.E.; Lappo, E.G.; Syroechkovskiy, E.E. Evaluating the Impact of Headstarting on the Critically Endangered Spoon-Billed Sandpiper Calidris pygmaea. Diversity 2023, 15, 584.

Abstract

Headstarting is a conservation approach that suggests offering an advantage to a population by improving egg production, survival of embryos and/or juveniles. In this article, we are providing the quantitative data obtained during 10-years for different stages of headstarting (production of eggs per pair, hatching and fledging rates) and the resulting impact (survival to maturity, philopatry rate, sex ratio, apparent survival, growth/decline rate) on the local population of the critically endangered spoon-billed sandpiper. We have shown that headstarting gain is reduced over time from fledging to long-term recruitment to the local breeding population. The possible reasons for this reduction are suggested and discussed. The unexpected finding was a drastic difference in sex ratios of the new recruits which was about even for headstaring, but strongly male-biased for wild reared birds. We suggest that to happen due to increased mortality of female chicks in nature. We have also shown only headstarting could stop the global decline of the species, particularly once the suggested improvements are implemented and the number of pairs involved is scaled up. Headstarting also had a significant social effect due to involvement of in-creasing numbers of people both in the local communities in Chukotka and from many countries on the flyway into searching for marked birds and learning about waders, raising awareness about ecological problems on the East Asian-Australasian Flyway, thus, making the need for conservation actions on the flyway more obvious and sensible.

Keywords

artificial incubation; captive rearing; apparent survival; hatching rate; fledging rate; conservation

Subject

Biology and Life Sciences, Animal Science, Veterinary Science and Zoology

Copyright: This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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