Aleksi Lehikoinen

Factors affecting reproductive success in the eider Somateria mollissima

The eider ( Somateria mollissima ) population of the Baltic Sea has been decreasing for the last 10–15 years. My Ph. D. project is concentrated on finding the factors affecting the breeding success of female eiders and relating those to the observed decline in the population. The eider is the most numerous species of breeding waterfowl in the Baltic. Rapid changes in the size of the eider population may affect the whole macrobenthic community, especially the blue mussel ( Mytilus edulis ) population, since it constitutes the main part of the eiders' diet.

The main questions of my thesis are:

1. Does the climate affect the breeding success of eiders?
2. What is the origin of the stored resources of breeding females?
3. What is the role of environmental factors vs. female-specific traits in determining breeding success?.
4. What has caused the shift from a female biased sex ratio to a male biased sex ratio in the Baltic eider population?

The breeding data for the thesis are collected at Hanko, in the Tvärminne archipelago (southwestern Finland ) and the migration data are collected at the Hanko Bird Observatory (http://www.tringa.fi/lintuasemat/hanko_observatory.html), the manager of which I am.

My supervisors are Dr. Markus Öst (markus.os(at)novia.fi) and Dr. Mikael Kilpi (http://www.sydvast.fi/aronia/mc_kilpi.php)

back to the people page >