Priorities for Future Research

Given apparent declines in some populations of Dunlin, monitoring scheme(s) should be initiated in which trends could be followed. Accurate estimates of populations sizes of C. a. arcticola and C. a. hudsonia should also be priorities. This should include better documentation of the breeding range of C. a. hudsonia in Canada. Are the gaps in its distribution within Canada an artifact of insufficient coverage, or are they based on ecological processes? In Alaska and eastern Russia, further morphometric, genetic, and banding work on breeding and staging populations of Dunlin would help clarify relationships of different populations in western North America. In all breeding areas in North America, information is needed on postbreeding ecology, especially that of fledged young between late July and departure on fall migration. On the wintering grounds, dispersal of first-year Dunlin is poorly understood. Studies of how fidelity is established would be profitable. Basic data on the energetics of Dunlin and their susceptibility to various toxins are lacking. Diets of wintering C. a. arcticola and C. a. hudsonia are largely unknown.