Resilience of Breeding Boreal Waterbirds to Harsh Wintering Conditions: Could Climate Warming Smooth Population Declines?
Hannu Pöysä, Esa Lammi, Veli‐Matti Väänänen · 2026
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Description
Hannu Pöysä, Esa Lammi, and Veli-Matti Väänänen ask whether milder winters can rescue declining boreal waterbirds in a 2026 study. Shorter ice seasons should ease wintering for lake birds, yet many northern breeding populations keep falling under other human pressures, so the team tested whether winter cold actually drives their numbers.
Counts spanning 1977 to 2022 covered fifteen species breeding on European boreal lakes. Winter severity barely influenced population growth for most species, with the common coot a clear exception that suffered after cold winters. Six species bounced back strongly after three harsh winters in a row. Body size, thermal niche, and life history did not explain resilience, so warming alone looks unlikely to offset other stressors.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Hannu Pöysä, Esa Lammi, Veli‐Matti Väänänen |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 58 KB |
| VERSION | 1.0 |
| LICENSE | CC BY 4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |