Accuracy of the Missouri River Least Tern and Piping Plover Monitoring Program: considerations for the future

Shaffer, Terry L.; Sherfy, Mark H.; Anteau, Michael J.; Stucker, Jennifer H.; Sovada, Marsha A.; Roche, Erin; Wiltermuth, Mark T.; Buhl, Thomas K.; Dovichin, Colin M.

doi:10.3133/ofr20131176

Cited by 18 publications

(51 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…We returned to nests on days of an expected hatch to mark each chick with a unique combination of plastic color bands. Once all chicks were hatched and marked, we returned to breeding areas every other day (i.e., 2-day observation interval) to monitor habitat use and the movements of the marked broods up to the assumed fledging age (25 days; Murphy et al 1999;Haffner et al 2009;Shaffer et al 2013). We targeted searches of specific broods using a daily-updated expectation list for each segment.…”

Section: Field Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Habitat selection and movements of Piping Plover broods suggest a tradeoff between breeding stages

et al. 2015

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In precocial birds, adults select breeding areas using cues associated with habitat characteristics that are favorable for nesting success and chick survival, but there may be tradeoffs in habitat selection between these breeding stages. Here we describe habitat selection and intra-territory movements of 53 Piping Plover (Charadrius melodus) broods (320 observations) during the 2007-2008 breeding seasons on mainland-and island-shoreline habitats at Lake Sakakawea, North Dakota, USA. We used remotely sensed habitat characteristics to separately examine habitat selection and movements at two spatiotemporal scales to account for potential confounding effects of nest-site selection on brood-rearing habitat used. The scales used were (1) the entire brood-rearing period within available brood-rearing areas and (2) 2-day observation intervals within age-specific discrete habitat selection choice sets. Analyses at both scales indicated that broods selected areas which were non-vegetated, moderately level, and nearer to the shoreline. Rate of brood movement increased with age up to 5 days, then stabilized; broods that hatched [50 m away from the shoreline moved toward the shoreline. Brood movements were greater when they were in vegetated areas, when the brood-rearing area was of greater topographic complexity, and when broods aged 6-25 days were further away from the shoreline. Using inferences from our results and those of previously published work, we postulate how a potential tradeoff in habitat selection between nesting and brood-rearing can contribute to an ecological trap in a novel habitat. This work, in the context of published works, suggests that plover breeding habitat is a complex of both nesting and brood-rearing habitats and provides a basis for making remotely sensed abundance estimates of suitable breeding habitat for Piping Plovers. Keywords Discrete choice analysis Á Habitat use decisions Á Home range Á Parental care Á Shorebird Á Space use Á Territory quality Zusammenfassung Habitatwahl und Ortsbewegungen von Bruten des Gelbfuß-Regenpfeifers zeigen Entscheidungskonflikte zwischen Brutstadien Bei Nestflüchtern wählen die adulten Vögel die Brutgebiete nach Habitateigenschaften, die von Vorteil sind für den Bruterfolg und für das Ü berleben der Küken, aber es könnte Entscheidungskonflikte (Tradeoffs) bei der Habitatwahl geben zwischen diesen verschiedenen Brutstadien. Wir beschrieben Habitatwahl und intraterritoriale Bewegungen von 53 Bruten des Gelbfuß-Regenpfeifers (Charadrius melodus) anhand von 320 Beobachtungen während der Brutsaison

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Section: Field Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Habitat selection and movements of Piping Plover broods suggest a tradeoff between breeding stages

et al. 2015

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“…Habitat availability clearly is an important factor influencing fledging success Ratti 1992b, Krapu et al 2000), but habitat availability can also influence the density of conspecifics and nest success (Johnson and Grier 1988, Stephens et al 2005, Anteau et al 2012b, Shaffer et al 2013. Accordingly, the influence of available habitat is intrinsically linked with the number of hatchlings in a given area, and thus with the potential for density-dependence during brood-rearing .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 95%

“…We used a stratified random sampling design based on historic plover nest counts (Shaffer et al 2013, C. J. Huber personal communication) to allocate our nest survey efforts. We used National Agricultural Imagery Program aerial photographs from 2004 to delineate the shoreline of Lake Sakakawea, because 2004 represented an approximate midpoint between the full reservoir and the lowest observed water levels.…”

Section: Sampling Design and Allocationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, these areas may provide less productive benthic conditions for the invertebrates that plovers eat. Plovers select islands over mainland areas (Shaffer et al 2013, M. J. Anteau personal observation). Although islands may provide better isolation of chicks from predators, they may not provide adequate foraging habitats.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…Since the 1950s, with the construction of dams on large river systems in the Northern Great Plains, plovers have begun nesting on reservoir shorelines, both on mainland and island shorelines (Elliott- Smith and Haig 2004). In 2005, 64% of Missouri River plovers were reported in reservoir habitats (Shaffer et al 2013 There is concern that plovers nesting in manipulated environments may not have access to both quality nesting and foraging habitats (Le Fer et al 2008a, Sherfy et al 2012. Shorelines receiving greater wave action due to prevailing winds (i.e.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

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Assessing trade‐offs in developing a landscape‐scale nest monitoring programme for a threatened shorebird

Ellis,

Anteau,

MacDonald

et al. 2024

Ecol Sol and Evidence

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Effective monitoring of wildlife species requires thorough planning and development of survey programmes that can address management and conservation objectives. Decisions about monitoring programmes include where to survey, survey design and how much effort to allocate at survey sites are typically predicated on limited budgets and available resources. When the scope of inference requires monitoring on a broad spatial scale, predictions of habitat distribution or suitability may be useful for identifying potential survey sites. We focused on a threatened but widely distributed shorebird, the piping plover (Charadrius melodus), which is actively monitored across some, but not all of its range. Our objective was to use piping plover habitat distribution maps, which vary annually, to assess the effectiveness of multiple monitoring programme scenarios and their associated costs. In the breeding range, efforts to improve productivity for species of conservation concern often focus on improving probabilities of nest survival. Consequently, collecting adequate nesting data is crucial for obtaining accurate and precise estimates of nest survival and for evaluating the effectiveness of management actions. By simulating the nest monitoring process, we evaluated how much area, where and how often to survey each site when estimating nest survival and detecting effects of potential management actions. As expected, precision increased and bias decreased around nest survival estimates with greater survey coverage and nest visit frequency. We also identified monitoring programmes with negative net values where survey costs outweighed statistical benefits. Although we applied our simulation framework to evaluate nest monitoring designs for piping plovers, it could be extended to assess whether different monitoring programmes can detect changes in the distribution of other species or occupancy of habitats over time.

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Accuracy of the Missouri River Least Tern and Piping Plover Monitoring Program: considerations for the future

Cited by 18 publications

References 22 publications

Habitat selection and movements of Piping Plover broods suggest a tradeoff between breeding stages

Habitat selection and movements of Piping Plover broods suggest a tradeoff between breeding stages

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Assessing trade‐offs in developing a landscape‐scale nest monitoring programme for a threatened shorebird

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