Scharlemann, J P W (2001) Museum egg collections as stores of long-term phenological data. International Journal of Biometeorology, 45 (4). pp. 208-211. ISSN 0020-7128

PDF - Published Version Restricted to Registered users only Download (131kB)

Abstract

Museum collections hold large amounts of data on collecting dates and localities of eggs collected over the past 150 years. Egg collections hold the longest available time series for a wide range of bird species on a large spatial scale. Using data for two British species I investigate whether egg collection data can be used in phenological research. A method is presented allowing laying dates to be estimated from collecting dates. Problems and biases in the data are highlighted. Both the dipper and song thrush have started laying earlier over the past 150 years. The advance in laying is significantly correlated with mean March temperature.

Item Type:	Article
Schools and Departments:	School of Life Sciences > Evolution, Behaviour and Environment
Subjects:	A General Works > AM Museums (General). Collectors and collecting (General) Q Science > QH Natural history Q Science > QH Natural history > QH0301 Biology > QH0540 Ecology
Depositing User:	Jorn Scharlemann
Date Deposited:	16 Nov 2012 10:07
Last Modified:	13 Mar 2017 12:21
URI:	http://srodev.sussex.ac.uk/id/eprint/42559

View download statistics for this item

📧 Request an update