Data and code from: Environmental drivers of metapopulation dynamics throughout the full annual cycle in a declining Arctic-nesting migratory herbivore

Assessing the impacts of changing environmental conditions on animal
species requires a thorough understanding of population dynamics, which
can be difficult to estimate when animals aggregate into spatially
discrete subpopulations. We used 39 years of fecundity, capture-recapture,
and abundance data in an integrated metapopulation model to study
environmental drivers of demography in a declining migratory bird, the
Greenland white-fronted goose (Anser albifrons flavirostris). We found
that low fecundity due to earlier spring vegetation phenology on staging
areas and increased snow on breeding areas explained metapopulation
decline, though the strength of these effects varied by subpopulation.
Differential immigration and emigration rates affected local wintering
abundance trends, highlighting the importance of quantifying
subpopulation-metapopulation dynamics for understanding fragmented animal
populations. We provide a framework for extending commonly used integrated
population models to a metapopulation framework for testing novel
ecological hypotheses about how changing environmental conditions within
and among subpopulations can drive changes in animal abundance.