DOI: 10.5061/dryad.k98sf7mjt
title: Data from: Short-billed Dowitcher (Limnodromus griseus hendersoni) nesting habitat preferences in Churchill, Manitoba, Canada: Habitat modelling and climate change implications

description: Climate change poses a threat to subarctic ecosystems and subarctic
 breeding shorebirds may already be experiencing loss of breeding habitat
 due to the changing landscape. In this study, we focus on the Short-Billed
 Dowitcher Limnodromus griseus hendersoni (Rowan, 1932), a species of
 shorebird that breeds in the subarctic tundra of Canada, around Churchill,
 Manitoba. We use Maxent, a presence-only species distribution model, to
 identify its breeding habitat preferences and visualize its distribution.
 We also estimate the impact of climate change on its breeding habitat
 distribution. At a local scale, nest sites were mostly predicted by
 vegetation structure, suggesting that this parameter is associated with
 nesting requirements. A regional scale analysis highlighted that terrain
 roughness and elevation are associated with breeding habitat requirements
 of the species as well as climatic conditions throughout the year.
 Different climate change scenarios predicted significant modification in
 potential breeding habitat. Modelling was based on a relatively small
 number of observations because Short-billed Dowitcher nests are both
 uncommon on the landscape and highly cryptic. Thus, our findings should be
 interpreted with caution. Nonetheless, this study provides valuable
 insights into the breeding biology of a poorly studied shorebird species
 at one of their few monitored breeding sites.
description: # Data from: Short-billed Dowitcher (*Limnodromus griseus hendersoni*)
 nesting habitat preferences in Churchill, Manitoba, Canada: Habitat
 modelling and climate change implications Dataset DOI:
 [10.5061/dryad.k98sf7mjt](10.5061/dryad.k98sf7mjt) ## Description of the
 data and file structure Data were collected through intensive nest surveys
 conducted from 2021 to 2023 near Churchill, Manitoba, Canada, to identify
 nesting habitat preferences of the Short-Billed Dowitcher, a subarctic
 breeding shorebird. Presence data were then used with remote sensing
 terrain data in a species distribution model (Maxent) to assess and
 visualize suitable nesting habitat in the region. ### Files and variables
 #### File: SBDO_nest_locations.csv **Description:** Short-billed Dowitcher
 nest locations near Churchill, Manitoba, Canada, from 2021 to 2023. #####
 Variables * species: Short-billed Dowitcher * long: longitude (meters) *
 lat: latitude (meters) Coordinate reference system : UTM Zone 15N
 (EPSG:32615) #### File: DEM.asc **Description:** Digital Elevation Model
 (meters) #### File: NDVI.asc **Description:** Normalized Difference
 Vegetation Index #### File: TRI.asc **Description:** Topographic Roughness
 Index #### File: TWI.asc **Description:** Topographic Wetness Index ####
 File: ENMeval_biasfile_script.R **Description:** R script to determine
 which settings to use on Maxent and create the bias file. #### File:
 biaslayer1.asc **Description:** Bias file  ### Code/software R Core Team.
 (2021). *R: A Language and Environment for Statistical Computing*
 [Computer software]. R Foundation for Statistical Computing.
 [https://www.R-project.org/](https://www.R-project.org/) RStudio Team.
 (2021). *RStudio: Integrated Development Environment for R* [Computer
 software]. RStudio, PBC.
 [http://www.rstudio.com/](http://www.rstudio.com/) QGIS Development Team.
 (2022). *QGIS Geographic Information System* (Version 3.24.1) [Computer
 software]. QGIS Association. [http://qgis.org](http://qgis.org) Phillips,
 S. J., Dudík, M., & Schapire, R. E. (2006). *Maxent software for
 modeling species niches and distributions *(Version 3.4.1) [Computer
 software].
 [http://biodiversityinformatics.amnh.org/open_source/maxent/](http://biodiversityinformatics.amnh.org/open_source/maxent/)