Physiological costs of reproduction and carryover effects on fitness-related processes in migratory animals.

My research group will investigate the physiological factors that contribute to the survival and reproductive success of important migratory animals breeding in the Canadian North. Although most researchers have an appreciation for the effects that winter climate has on the behaviour and survival of migratory animals, very little is known about the physiological factors that mediate these events. Over the next five years, I will use a combination of electronic tracking and physiological sampling techniques, and experimental manipulations of physiological state to examine how the condition of animals prior to winter migrations affect their subsequent behaviour and survival, and how this then carries over to affect future breeding performance. Model species will be Common eiders- (an Arctic breeding seabird), and Atlantic salmon (a salmonid fish species that breeds along a latitudinal gradient from sub-Arctic to Arctic areas), two species that are important to the economic, cultural and biological integrity of the Canadian North. My specific aims are to: 1) explore correlations between post-breeding physiological condition with subsequent patterns of winter migration activity and winter environmental conditions; and 2) explore how winter foraging success then affects pre-breeding physiological condition, breeding investment, and breeding success. Ultimately, my research program aims to understand the environmental factors and physiological mechanisms that link behaviour, survival, and breeding success of animals. Through comparative analyses (eiders and salmon), and examination of patterns along latitudinal gradients, I hope to understand, and thus predict, how future climate change impacts might affect population demographics in these important Canadian species. This research will be based at Dalhousie University, will engage researchers at several other Canadian universities and government agencies, and will directly support one postdoctoral fellow, six graduate students, and 10 undergraduate researchers, thus contributing to the training of highly qualified personnel. The long-term goals of our research will yield novel insights to the physiologies controlling life-histories, and the potential impacts of climate change on migratory species breeding in the Canadian North.