Consolidation Drainage and Climate Change May Reduce Piping Plover Habitat in the Great Plains

Abstract

Many waterbird species utilize a diversity of aquatic habitats; however, with increasing anthropogenic needs to manage water regimes there is global concern over impacts to waterbird populations. The federally threatened piping plover (Charadrius melodus; hereafter plovers) is a shorebird that breeds in three habitat types in the Prairie Pothole Region of North Dakota, South Dakota, and Canada: riverine sandbars; reservoir shorelines; and prairie wetlands. Water surface areas of these habitats fluctuate in response to wet-dry periods; decreasing water surface areas expose shorelines that plovers utilize for nesting. Climate varies across the region so when other habitats are unavailable for plover nesting because of flooding, prairie wetlands may periodically provide habitat. Over the last century, many of the wetlands used by plovers in the Prairie Pothole Region have been modified to receive water from consolidation drainage (drainage of smaller wetlands into another wetland), which could eliminate shoreline nesting habitat. We evaluated whether consolidation drainage and fuller wetlands have decreased plover presence in 32 wetlands historically used by plovers. We found that wetlands with more consolidation drainage in their catchment and wetlands that were fuller had a lower probability of plover presence. These results suggest that plovers could have historically used prairie wetlands during the breeding season but consolidation drainage, climate change, or both have reduced available shoreline habitat for plovers through increased water levels. Prairie wetlands, outside of some alkali wetlands in the western portion of the region, are less studied as habitat for plovers when compared with river and reservoir shorelines. Our study suggests that these wetlands may have played a larger role in plover ecology than previously thought. Wetland restoration and conservation, through the restoration of natural hydrology, may be required to ensure that adequate habitat exists among the three habitat types in the face of existing or changing climate and to ensure long-term plover conservation.

Decline of novel ecosystems used by endangered species: the case of piping plovers, least terns, and aggregate mines

“…Policy‐ and decision‐makers must consider the shifting habitat dynamics for these two threatened and endangered species that rely on disturbance‐mediated systems in order to implement effective and adaptable management strategies that optimize outcomes. Our results, along with other studies (McCauley et al 2016; Alexander et al, unpublished manuscript ), provide the basis and opportunity to evaluate changes and directional trends in habitat and how future habitat conditions will affect these two species. This and other information should be proactively used when considering what investments and actions should be undertaken at the present time to maintain species' numbers, but more importantly, which investments and actions will be most beneficial to provide a sustainable recovery for both species in the future.…”

“…Plovers and tern populations in the Great Plains presently exist in and respond to a shifting mosaic of habitats produced by an array processes occurring at different rates and time intervals within native and novel ecosystems (McCauley et al 2016; Alexander et al, unpublished manuscript ). Natural and human‐created habitats are a product of different processes, but habitat produced by both have played important roles in supporting plover and tern populations.…”

Dispersal distance is driven by habitat availability and reproductive success in Northern Great Plains piping plovers

“…Overall, our results show that both environmental conditions and individual reproductive success influence interannual breeding distance, both of which will have strong fitness consequences, and natal dispersal distance was primarily associated with habitat type and availability. Since habitat availability is predicted to decline in the alkali wetlands [ 41 ], plovers may have to increase dispersal distances to find suitable nesting habitat. Increased dispersal distances should be of concern for conservation efforts because changing dispersal behavior may affect population vital rates such as higher rates of mortality and/or emigration to other subpopulations.…”

“…We calculated a site-specific index of habitat change by subtracting SPEI values for May, June, and July and selecting the maximum change from the year prior to the year of interest within the breeding season. Negative values indicate drier conditions and subsequent drawdown of water level and an increase in availability of nesting habitat [ 41 , 58 ]. For Garrison Reach, we used the change in maximum monthly Garrison dam outflow (1,000 cubic feet per second) between May and July from the prior year to the focal year (data available from U.S. Army Corps of Engineers: http://www.nwd-mr.usace.army.mil/rcc/information ).…”

Identifying Wetland Consolidation Using Remote Sensing in the North Dakota Prairie Pothole Region

“…Demand for biofuels and livestock feed is known to drive wetland conversion in the states of North and South Dakota (Johnston, 2013) amidst a shift in crop type from small grains such as wheat and barley to soybeans and corn over the past half-century (Johnston, 2014). The mechanisms linking agriculture to wetland decline and disappearance are well explored in the existing literature (Kessler & Gupta, 2015;McCauley, Anteau, & Post van der Burg, 2015;Wiltermuth & Anteau, 2016), and the general consensus is that both surface and subsurface drainage installations cause a decrease in the number of small wetlands in terms of volume and ponded area, with an accompanying increase in the water volume stored in downstream receiving basins (Anteau, 2012). Agricultural drainage is attractive to landowners for a variety of reasons.…”