Long‐distance migration presents complex conservation challenges, and migratory species often experience shortfalls in conservation due to the difficulty of identifying important locations and resources throughout the annual cycle. In order to prioritize habitats for conservation of migratory wildlife, it is necessary to understand how habitat needs change throughout the annual cycle, as well as to identify key habitat sites and features that concentrate large numbers of individuals and species. Among long‐distance migrants, sea ducks have particularly complex migratory patterns, which often include distinct post‐breeding molt sites as well as breeding, staging and wintering locations. Using a large set of individual tracking data (n = 476 individuals) from five species of sea ducks in eastern North America, we evaluated multi‐species habitat suitability and partitioning across the breeding, post‐breeding migration and molt, wintering and pre‐breeding migration seasons. During breeding, species generally occupied distinct habitat areas, with the highest levels of multi‐species overlap occurring in the Barrenlands west of Hudson Bay. Species generally preferred flatter areas closer to lakes with lower maximum temperatures relative to average conditions, but varied in distance to shore, elevation and precipitation. During non‐breeding, species overlapped extensively during winter but diverged during migration. All species preferred shallow‐water, nearshore habitats with high productivity, but varied in their relationships to salinity, temperature and bottom slope. Sea ducks selected most strongly for preferred habitats during post‐breeding migration, with high partitioning among species; however, both selection and partitioning were weaker during pre‐breeding migration. The addition of tidal current velocity, aquatic vegetation presence and bottom substrate improved non‐breeding habitat models where available. Our results highlight the utility of multi‐species, annual‐cycle habitat assessments in identifying key habitat features and periods of vulnerability in order to optimize conservation strategies for migratory wildlife.

中文翻译：

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在多物种环境中评估迁徙海鸭全年的栖息地使用情况，揭示了栖息地选择和分区的季节性变化

长距离迁移带来了复杂的保护挑战，由于难以确定整个年度周期中的重要地点和资源，迁徙物种的保护经常会不足。为了对栖息地进行优先排序以保护迁徙野生动植物，有必要了解栖息地在整个年度周期中的变化方式，并确定聚集大量个人和物种的重要栖息地和特征。在长途移民中，海鸭的迁徙方式特别复杂，通常包括不同的繁殖后蜕皮地点以及繁殖，分期和越冬地点。利用来自北美东部五种海鸭的大量个体跟踪数据（n = 476个个体），我们评估了多物种生境的适应性，并在繁殖，繁殖后迁移和蜕皮，越冬和繁殖前迁移季节进行了划分。在繁殖过程中，物种通常占据不同的栖息地区域，在哈德逊湾以西的Barrenlands中，多物种重叠的水平最高。物种通常更喜欢平坦的区域，这些区域更靠近湖泊，最高温度相对于平均条件较低，但与海岸，海拔和降水的距离却有所不同。在非育种期间，物种在冬季大量重叠，但在迁徙期间则发散。所有物种都喜欢高生产率的浅水近岸生境，但它们与盐度，温度和底坡的关系各不相同。在繁殖后的迁徙过程中，最优先选择栖息地的海鸭是 种间分配高 但是，在繁殖前期的迁移过程中，选择和分区均较弱。潮流速度的增加，水生植被的存在和底质的改善改善了非繁殖生境模型。我们的结果突出了多物种，年度周期栖息地评估在确定关键栖息地特征和脆弱性时期中的效用，从而优化了迁徙野生动植物的保护策略。