A Review of the Current Situation of Dotterel <I>Eudromias Morinellus</I

A review of the current situation of Dotterel Eudromias morinellus in the central Alps of Austria

Peter Sackl

Sackl, P. 1993. A review of the current situation of Dotterel Eudromias morinellusin the central Alpsof Austria. WaderStudy GroupBull. 71: 39-40. Sackl, P., Steierm•rkischesLandesmuseum Joanneum, Abteilung for Zoologie, Forschungsst•tteFurtnerteich, Raubergasse 10, A - 8010 Graz, Austria.

The Palearcticbreeding range of DotterelEudromias open and unvegetatedor sparselyvegetated ground, mor/nellusis confinedto opentundra habitatsin northern regularlyintermingled with patches of grit or bare rock. Eurasiaand the arctic-alpinezone of the mountainsof The sparsevegetation cover of the alpinebreeding centralAsia, i.e. Mongolia,southern Siberia and habitatsis dominatedby Carex curvula,Loiseleuria Kazakhstan,separated from the mainarctic distribution procumbens,Cladonla rangiferina, Thamniola vermicularis area. Furthersmall, and fragmentedpopulations exist in and severalspecies of Cetraria.(Hable 1973; Hablein mountainousareas of continentaland southernEurope. Glutz von Blotzheimet al. 1975; Brunner1992). Whereasmost of these Europeanbreeding areas were usedjust erraticallyand are now abandoned,breeding of The numberof breedingpairs for the alpinepopulation is the Dotterelin the centralAlps of Austriahas been givenin Spitzenberger(1988) with 12 pairsfor the years documentedcontinuously since the second half of the 1953 - 1963, 22 in 1971 and 9 - 11 pairs in 1986. 19thcentury (Glutz von Blotzheimet al. 1975; Cramp Becausethe area covered by this data Esnot clearly 1983). The first breedingrecord was reportedin 1852 by definedthe best estimationfor the long-termpopulation Hanf (1884) for the SeetalerAlps near the Styrian- trend is givenprobably by Hable & Pr•sent's(1990) data Carinthian border, and since the 1880s Dotterels have for the main alpinebreeding site in the c. 25 sqkm also been found also in a few other locations in the conservationarea in the SeetalerAlps. As shownin Saualpeand GurktalAlps in northernCarinthia (Keller Figure2, the numberof breedingpairs in this area has 1890; detailsin Glutz von Blotzheimet al. 1975). declined graduallyfrom 3 - 9 in the 1970s to a lower level with a maximumof 3 pairs at the end of the 1980s. Excludingold recordsfrom the CarnicAlps in southern Carinthia not confirmedsince the 1880s, the current To obtain more detailed information on the current breeding range since the 1950s is restrictedto some 12 distribution and numbers of Dotterels in Austria in co- locationsof flat spaciousplateaux or smoothmountain operationwith G. Bierbaumer,G. Brunner,H. Brunner,I. ridgesin the centralAlps of Styria,Oarinthia and Salzburg Brunner,M. Dumpelnik,E. Hable, A. Hlebaina,I. Pr•.sent, (E. Hable pets. comm.; Figure 1). The breedinghabitats S. Presentand J. Spreitzer,seven historicallyknown in the arctic-alpinezone above the treeline between breedingsites have been surveyedannually and five (1750) 2000 - 2300 metres asl are characterizedby flat, additionalones sporadicallysince 1991 (cf. Figure1 ). Financialsupport has been grantedby the Nature Figure1• Breedingdistribution of the DotterelEudromias ConservationAuthorities of Styria in Graz. morinellusin the AustrianAlps, O = historicalbreeding sites not confirmedsince the 19thcentury; (3 = confirmedbreeding site since Althoughthe highvariability of weather and habitat 1950surveyed at leastonce during 1991-93; ß = breedingsite controlledregularly during 1991-93. conditionsat the alpinebreeding sites give riseto strong annualfluctuations of breedingnumbers and success,the resultsof our surveysfor the period1991 - 1993, summarizedin Table 1, showevidence of a significant declinein comparisonto populationnumbers given for the 1970s. Ignoringthe vague possibilityof substantial undetectedbreeding sites in remote areas of the Austrian Alpsnot visited by ornithologists,the alpinepopulation of Dotterelsseems currentlyon the brinkof extinction.

Table1. Resultsof surveysof breedingDotterel in thecentral Alps, Austria, 1991-93.

1991 1992 1993

Numberof breedingplaces 10 8a 10a surveyed

Numberof breedingpairs 1-2 3-4 5 a surveyedareas in Carinthia not exactly known

39 Figure2. Populationsize (broods and nests)of DotterelEudrornias collectiveinformation available concerning the numbers, morinellusinthe Seetaler Alps, Austria, 1969-93 according to Hable habitatsand conservation of Dotterelswintering in NW & Pr'•sent(1990), supplemented by recentdata. Africa. The collectionof such informatior•is of the utmost importancefor an urgentlyneeded conservation strategy in orderto savethe smallalpine population.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT 5-

4- I thankmy colleagueR. Turk(Graz) for the correctionof 3- an earlyversion of the manuscript. 2-

0 REFERENCES

Brunner,H. 1992.Der Mornellregenpfeifer (Eudromias morinellus) Beforeeffective conservation strategies can be imalpinen Raum. Thesis, Univ. Graz, 78 pp. establishedwe haveto findout the factors responsible for the declineof populationnumbers. Generally, these Cramp,S. (Ed.)1983. Handbookof theBirds of Europe,the Middle factorsmay originally operate either (1) at the alpine Eastand North Africa. TheBirds of the WesternPalearctic, breedingsites itself, or (2) on migrationroutes and in the Vol.3. OxfordUniversity Press, Oxford, 913 pp. winteringareas. Glu•zvon BIo•zheim,U. N., Bauer,K. M. & Bezzel,E. 1975. Handbuchder VOgel Mitteleuropas. Bd. 6. Akad.Verlagsges. Concerningthe breedingareas there is clear evidence Wiesbaden.839 pp. thatthe numberof hikersand sportsmen has increased Hable,E. 1973. DerMornellregenpfeifer (Eudromias morinellus)in dramaticallysince the 1960s. Furthermorea numberof Karnten. Carinthia II 163/83:603 - 608. breedingsites have become more accessible to peopleby Hable,E. 1980. Beringungsergebnissean der alpinen Population vehicletracks. In at leastthree areas, ski developments des Mornellregenpfeifers,Eudromias morinellus (L.). Mitt. andchair lifts have been in operationsince the 1970s. Abt. Zool. Landesmus. Joanneurn 9:81 - 85. Watson(1988) has shown that the density and breeding success of Scottish Dotterels does not correlate with Hable,E. & Pr'•sent,I. 1990. DieForschungsstatte "Pater Blasius Hanf"am Furtnerteich(Gemeinde Mariahof, Bezirk Murau). humanimpact. For the alpine population it is at present SchwarzenbergischeArchive, 181 - 257, Murau. unclearwhether tourism, trekking and ski developments haveany influence on population numbers. Hypothetically Hanf,B. 1884.Die VOgel des Furtteiches und seiner Umgebung (2. humansmay have a detrimentaleffect on breeding Theil). Mitt.naturwiss. Ver. Steiermark20:3 - 94. successby disturbing birds directly on their breeding Keller,F. C. 1890. OrnisCarinthiae. Naturhist. Landesmus, groundsand making them more vulnerable to predators K•rnten,Klagenfurt, 332 pp. such as Ravens Corvus corax. Furthermore human Pulliainen,E. & Saari,L. 1992. Breedingbiology of the Dotterel impactmay influence population numbers more subtly by Eudromiasmorinellus ineastern Finnish Lapland. Ornis reducingnesting habitat and food supply through Fennica69:101 - 107. vegetationdamage, soil erosion or eutrophication.Since allbreeding sites in the Austrian Alps are managedas Spi•zenberger,F. 1988. Artenschutz in (•sterreich. Gr(•ne Reihe 8, pastures,increasing grazing pressure by domestic cattle - BMf. Umwelt,Jugend und Familie, Wien, 335 pp. or evengame like Red Deer Cervuselaphus - may Watson,A. 1988. DotterelEudromias morinellus numbers in producethe same effects. However,even the careful relationto humanimpact in Scotland.Biol. Conserv. 43:245 - guardingof breedingsites during the 1980s could not stop 256. the declineof the populationin the conservationarea of the SeetalerAlps.

Thewinter quarters of European Dotterels are the stony steppes and semi-deserts of northernAfrica. Birdsfrom westernpopulations show a tendencyto winterin more westernwintering areas in Morocco,Algeria and Tunisia IREQUEST FORINFORMATION I (cf.Cramp 1983). According to Hable(1980), so far three Austrian-ringedDotterels were recovered inwintering areas north of the Atlas mountainsin Morocco and one in In view of the uncertain situation of Dotterels on their Tripolitania,Libya. Habitat destruction, the widespread wintering and migrationareas, the author would use of pesticidesfor pest controlas well as the appreciateany informationconcerning numbers, persecutionin northern Africa and the Mediterranean may behaviour,habitat and conservation of thespecies in havean important impact on all European populations• north Africa and the Mediterranean. All information Thisis indicatedby the decrease of breedingnumbers at collectedwill be acknowledgedin a future article. a Finnishstudy site (Pulliainen & Saari 1992) simultaneouslywiththe decline of the Austrian population. Contact: Peter Sackl, Stmk. Landesmuseum Accordingto ToPiersma (in litt.) at presentthere is no Joanneurn,Raubergasse 10, A - 8010Graz, Austria.