Priorities for Future Research

As climate change advances, the American Golden-Plover will likely face a major loss of nesting habitat. Given some alarming predictions (310 Wauchope, H. S., J. D. Shaw, O. Varpe, E. G. Lappo, D. Boertmann, R. B. Lanctot, and R. A. Fuller (2017). Rapid climate-driven loss of breeding habitat for Arctic migratory birds. Global Change Biology 23:1085–1094. Close ), monitoring programs and baseline studies are needed to assess the impacts of climate warming on essentially all aspects of this species’ breeding biology. Priorities include efforts to track changes in vegetation on arctic and subarctic nesting grounds, measure the abundance and availability (phenology) of trophic resources, determine the influence of changing conditions on the growth and survival of chicks (337 Machin, P., J. Fernández-Elipe, and R. H. G. Klaassen (2018). The relative importance of food abundance and weather on the growth of a sub-arctic shorebird chick. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 72:42. Close ), and estimate annual reproductive success.

Away from the breeding grounds, there are matters awaiting investigation on migration pathways and overwintering grounds. Research on movement ecology is needed to better define important migratory stopover sites and to understand site fidelity on the overwintering grounds. Future advances in GPS technology should obviate the need to recover geolocators and, thus simplify such efforts. Based on robust annual survival of adults at breeding sites (estimated from survival modeling), Weiser et al. (270 Weiser, E. L., R. B. Lanctot, S. C. Brown, H. R. Gates, R. L. Bentzen, J. Bety, M. L. Boldenow, W. B. English, S. E. Franks, L. Koloski, E. Kwon, J-F. Lamarre, D. B. Lank, J. R. Liebezeit, L. McKinnon, E. Nol, J. Rausch, S. T. Saalfeld, N. R. Senner, D. H. Ward, P. F. Woodard, and B. K. Sandercock (2018). Environmental and ecological conditions at Arctic breeding sites have limited effects on true survival rates of adult shorebirds. Auk: Ornithological Advances 135:29–43. Close ) suggested that “conditions at migratory stopovers or overwintering sites might be driving adult survival rates and should be the focus of future studies.” Because of this species’ reliance on food gleaned from agricultural fields, especially during spring migration, we urge further investigation of field management practices that may benefit stopover migrants (see 62 Stodola, K. W., B. J. O'Neal, M. G. Alessi, J. L. Deppe, T. R. Dallas, T. A. Beveroth, T. J. Benson, and M. P. Ward (2014). Stopover ecology of American Golden-Plovers (Pluvialis dominica) in Midwestern agricultural fields. Condor 116:162–172. Close ). Given the vast range of the American Golden-Plover, it is extremely difficult to make accurate population estimates. Nonetheless, systematic monitoring should be done wherever possible to determine population sizes and trends, and identify potential threats. Detailed assessments of research needs are available (106 Clay, R. P., A. J. Lesterhuis, and O. Johnson (2010). Conservation plan for the American Golden-Plover (Pluvialis dominica). Version 1.1. Manomet Center Conservation Science, Manomet, MA, USA. Close ), including gaps in knowledge from a South American perspective (129 Azpiroz, A. B., J. P. Isacch, R. A. Dias, A. S. Di Giacomo, C. S. Fontana, and C. M. Palarea (2012). Ecology and conservation of grassland birds in southeastern South America: A review. Journal of Field Ornithology 83:217–246. Close ).