Arctic environments are changing rapidly and if we are to understand the resilience of species to future changes, we need to investigate alterations in their life histories. Egg size and egg shape are key life-history traits, reflecting parental investment as well as influencing future reproductive success. Here we focus on egg characteristics in two Arctic shorebirds, the Dunlin (Calidris alpina) and the Temminck's stint (Calidris temminckii). Using egg photos that encompass their full breeding ranges, we show that egg characteristics exhibit significant longitudinal variations, and the variation in the monogamous species (Dunlin) is significantly greater than the polygamous species (Temminck's stint). Our finding is consistent with the recent "disperse-to-mate" hypothesis which asserts that polygamous species disperse further to find mates than monogamous species, and by doing so they create panmictic populations. Taken together, Arctic shorebirds offer excellent opportunities to understand evolutionary patterns in life history traits.

All Russian Research Institute for Environmental Protection 36 km MKAD Moscow 117628 Russia

Department of Evolutionary Zoology and Human Biology Faculty of Science University of Debrecen Egyetem tér 1 Debrecen Hungary

Department of Zoology and Centre for Polar Ecology Faculty of Science University of South Bohemia Branišovská 1760 České Budejovice 37005 Czech Republic

Ecology and Evolutionary Biology School of Biosciences University of Sheffield Alfred Denny Building Western Bank Sheffield S10 2TN UK

Institute of Ecology College of Urban and Environmental Sciences and Key Laboratory for Earth Surface Processes of the Ministry of Education Peking University Beijing 100871 China

Key Laboratory for Biodiversity Science and Ecological Engineering College of Life Sciences Beijing Normal University Beijing 100875 China

Milner Centre for Evolution University of Bath Claverton Down Bath BA2 7AY UK

Timiryazev State Biological Museum Malaya Grusinskaya 15 Moscow 123242 Russia

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