Bird species that migrate to the Arctic coasts and wetlands arrive from nearly every corner of the planet. During the summer, the sun never or nearly never sets, resulting in a short but intensive breeding season when millions of migratory birds arrive in the Arctic to breed. The majority of these birds seek the wetlands and coastal shores of the tundra plains. No other place on Earth receives so many migratory species from nearly all corners of...

Bird species that migrate to the Arctic coasts and wetlands arrive from nearly every corner of the planet. During the summer, the sun never or nearly never sets, resulting in a short but intensive breeding season when millions of migratory birds arrive in the Arctic to breed. The majority of these birds seek the wetlands and coastal shores of the tundra plains. No other place on Earth receives so many migratory species from nearly all corners of...

In northwestern North America, recent warming has led to a dramatic increase in the number of days of above freezing temperatures during the migration period for the caribou (Rangifier tarandus). Thawing and subsequent re-freezing of snow results in ice layers in the snow pack which hinder travel of Rangifer and make it harder to cater for food. There have been catastrophic declines in the Peary caribou on the Arctic islands of North America and ...

Bird species that migrate to the Arctic coasts and wetlands arrive from nearly every corner of the planet. During the summer, the sun never or nearly never sets, resulting in a short but intensive breeding season when millions of migratory birds arrive in the Arctic to breed. The majority of these birds seek the wetlands and coastal shores of the tundra plains. No other place on Earth receives so many migratory species from nearly all corners of ...

Bird species that migrate to the Arctic coasts and wetlands arrive from nearly every corner of the planet. During the summer, the sun never or nearly never sets, resulting in a short but intensive breeding season when millions of migratory birds arrive in the Arctic to breed. The majority of these birds seek the wetlands and coastal shores of the tundra plains. No other place on Earth receives so many migratory species from nearly all corners of ...

The Red Knot is a migratory shorebird that travels up to 20,000 km twice a year from its breeding grounds on the high Arctic tundra to its southern non-breeding sites. Along with having one of the longest total migrations of any bird, some populations also fly as much as 8,000–9,000 km between stopover sites in a single flight. As a shellfish-eating specialist avoiding pathogen-rich freshwater habitats, the Red Knot relies on the few large ti...

Acknowledging ecological networks and how their disruption may have an impact populations of migratory species is essential for the survival of these species and for fostering international collaboration. This is an overview of migratory routes for selected marine animals.

The grasslands of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay in southern South America represent important habitat to numerous migratory and resident bird species. These birds play vital roles in the ecosystem by dispersing seeds and controlling insect populations. Some species, such as the Buff-breasted Sandpiper (Tryngites subruficollis), migrate some 20,000 km from their breeding grounds along the Arctic coast to their non-breeding rang...

Red Knots set off in April with large fat reserves (fuel) from the airport “West Coast National Park” (the Langebaan Lagoon tidal flats in South Africa) to fly 7,000–8,000 km until they reach the tidal flats of Guinea Bissau, the airport “Banc d’Arguin National Park” in Mauritania or another appropriate refuelling site. They recover the resources they lost and intensively feed for three weeks on protein-rich shellfish allowing them to almost do...

A spatial configuration of an Ecological Network, showing how various resources are connected in the landscape

This graph shows proposed commercial roads across the Serengeti and surrounding region in 2010. However, following intense international pressure, the Tanzanian Government announced in 2011 that it will favour an alternative route to the South, outside the park. Some projections suggest that if the road were built, numbers may fall to less than 300,000 (Dobson and Borner, 2010), others that the herd could decline by a third (Holdo et al., 2011), ...

Mortality due to entanglement and collisions with ships has been reported within the Southern Hemisphere. To varying degrees these threats are all present in both the Oceania region and the Southern Ocean. The International Whaling Commission’s Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary and temporary moratorium against commercial whaling offers limited protection to Humpback Whales from commercial whaling, but scientific whaling remains a threat. There is...

The globally threatened Lesser White-fronted Goose is a Palearctic migrant, breeding discontinuously in forest- or shrub tundra and mountainous shrubby wetlands from Fennoscandia to easternmost Russia. The species has declined rapidly since the 1950s leading to a fragmentation of its breeding range. Many key stop-over and wintering sites are still unknown. Today, three distinct wild sub-populations remain, of which the two Western Palearc...

Parties and non-parties to the Convention of Migratory Species. Severe gaps exist in the north and east and are urgently needed for protecting the ecological networks and migrations of many endangered species

The Snow Leopard inhabits the alpine and sub-alpine regions of Asia’s most spectacular mountain ranges. Occupying nearly 2 million km2, the snow leopard’s range extends across 12 range states from Russia and Mongolia to Nepal and Bhutan. Unfortunately this magnificent predator had to be listed as Endangered by the World Conservation Union (IUCN). As few as 3,500–7,000 cats may remain in the wild and the population is thought to be dwindling acr...

The East Asian-Australasian flyway for migratory birds

The tiny Nathusius’ Pipistrelle, weighing only 6–10 grams, travels almost 2000 km from its breeding grounds in north-eastern Europe to its main hibernation areas in south-west Europe. Populations in Russia are thought to winter in the eastern Caucasus and the Volga Delta. Recently, the breeding range of Nathusius’ Pipistrelle has expanded towards the west and the south. New nursery colonies have been found in Ireland, the Netherlands, France, and...

Acknowledging ecological networks and how their disrup-tion may have an impact populations of migratory species is essential for the survival of these species and for fostering international collaboration. This is an overview of selected migratory routes for birds.

Acknowledging ecological networks and how their disruption may have an impact populations of migratory species is essential for the survival of these species and for fostering international collaboration. This is an overview of selected migratory ranges for ungulates.