Demographic response of Louisiana Waterthrush, a stream obligate songbird of conservation concern, to shale gas development

Frantz, Mack W.; Wood, Petra Bohall; Sheehan, James; George, Gregory A.

doi:10.1650/condor-17-130.1

Cited by 20 publications

(44 citation statements)

References 60 publications

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“…3b) Annual territory length increased as territory densities decreased (Frantz et al 2018, Chapter 2), so we expected smaller territories to be indicative of higher quality aquatic prey and stream quality (e.g., ).…”

Section: ) Examine How Shale Gas Development Influenced Demographic mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Prosser and Brooks 1998) and the US EPA Rapid Bioassessment Protocol for high gradient streams (hereafter EPA; Barbour et al 1999) in the same manner as Wood et al 2016and Frantz et al (2018). The HSI is a broad-scale evaluation of waterthrush instream foraging and upland habitat suitability while EPA assesses stream quality based primarily on instream characteristics that relate to the abundance and composition of waterthrush aquatic macroinvertebrate prey ).…”

Section: Nest and Riparian Habitat Monitoringmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Over a six-year waterthrush demography study (2009)(2010)(2011)(2013)(2014)(2015) at Lewis Wetzel Wildlife Management Area (LWWMA) located in northwestern West Virginia, we observed general annual declines in territory density, reproductive success, and riparian habitat quality with increases in shale gas development [28], as well as declines in site fidelity and apparent survival (M. Frantz, pers. comm.).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Our study associated waterthrush response to aquatic prey community changes in relation to shale gas disturbance. All metrics are a subset of those originally reported in Frantz et al [28] excepting % shale gas land cover which is cited from Farwell et al [33]. Variable names are defined in Appendix Table 2……………..91 Table 2.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Significant covariates with non-overlapping confidence intervals are bolded. Covariates included in every model to account for their influence (i.e., Rain, NestAge, TT, and TerrRunoff; [28]) have model-averaged regression coefficients and unconditional SEs. Variable names are defined in S1 Table 2…………………………………………………………………………….96 CHAPTER 5.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Demographic, Spatial, and Epigenetic Response of the Louisiana Waterthrush (Parkesia Motacilla) to Shale Gas Development

Frantz¹

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My study centered on a bioindicator songbird, the Louisiana Waterthrush (Parkesia motacilla), hereafter waterthrush, an organism that co-occurs in both forested and aquatic habitat across the aquatic-terrestrial interface. This enabled the opportunity to quantify demographic, spatial, and epigenetic (i.e., DNA methylation) responses in a highly forested watershed of the Central Appalachians, the areas that have undergone the most rapid transformations over the last decade from unconventional shale gas development and activities. I organized my dissertation into 4 parts (Part 1: Introduction, Part 2: Louisiana Waterthrush Demography, Part 3: Spatial Assessment of Louisiana Waterthrush Foraging, Part 4: Louisiana Waterthrush Molecular Ecology) including 6 chapters that indicate multiple biotic and abiotic factors interacted with or were altered by shale gas development resulting in atypical, negative disturbances that drove a steep decline in a waterthrush population in West Virginia. Part 1 includes Chapter 1 and is an introduction to my dissertation. I introduce the reader to the rationale for my study, the focal species, research objectives, and the study area. I also mention some limitations to my study that can be considered in any future research endeavors. Part 2 comprises Chapters 2-3 which are a comprehensive examination of demographic parameters over a six-year period (2009-2011, 2013-2015). In Chapter 2, I examined demographic response to shale gas development for nest abandonment, nest survival, nest productivity, a source-sink threshold, riparian habitat quality, and territory density and length. Nest productivity was lower in areas disturbed by shale gas where a source-sink threshold suggested these areas were more at risk of being sink habitat. Overall results suggest a decline in waterthrush site quality as shale gas development increased. In Chapter 3, I focused on first-year return rates (site fidelity), site fidelity factors, and apparent survival. I related natal fidelity and pairing rates to territory density, and also compared # of breeding attempts between return and non-returning females with and without territory shale gas disturbance. The study identified potential conflicts between factors that influence adult survival and site fidelity that may affect long-term population persistence. Part 3 includes Chapters 4-5 and focuses on utilizing and accounting for spatial properties intrinsic to stream ecosystems to make informed decisions regarding waterthrush foraging. Chapter 4 was a follow-up to a waterthrush aquatic prey study at our site in 2011 that suggested shale gas development negatively affected waterthrush demography from alterations in their aquatic prey at a watershed scale. During 2013-2014, I quantified waterthrush demographic response and nest survival in relation to potential changes in its aquatic prey due to shale gas development. I utilized spatial generalized linear mixed models that accounted for both spatial and non-spatial sources of variability. I found waterthrush aqu...

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Section: ) Examine How Shale Gas Development Influenced Demographic mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Nest and Riparian Habitat Monitoringmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Demographic, Spatial, and Epigenetic Response of the Louisiana Waterthrush (Parkesia Motacilla) to Shale Gas Development

Frantz¹

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Territory and population attributes affect Florida scrub‐jay fecundity in fire‐adapted ecosystems

Breininger

Stolen

Carter

et al. 2023

Ecology and Evolution

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Fecundity, the number of young produced by a breeding pair during a breeding season, is a primary component in evolutionary and ecological theory and applications.Fecundity can be influenced by many environmental factors and requires long-term study due to the range of variation in ecosystem dynamics. Fecundity data often include a large proportion of zeros when many pairs fail to produce any young during a breeding season due to nest failure or when all young die independently after fledging. We conducted color banding and monthly censuses of Florida scrub-jays (Aphelocoma coerulescens) across 31 years, 15 populations, and 761 territories along central Florida's Atlantic coast. We quantified how fecundity (juveniles/pair-year) was influenced by habitat quality, presence/absence of nonbreeders, population density, breeder experience, and rainfall, with a zero-inflated Bayesian hierarchical model including both a Bernoulli (e.g., brood success) and a Poisson (counts of young) submodel, and random effects for year, population, and territory. The results identified the importance of increasing "strong" quality habitat, which was a mid-successional state related to fire frequency and extent, because strong territories, and the proportion of strong territories in the overall population, influenced fecundity of breeding pairs. Populations subject to supplementary feeding also had greater fecundity.Territory size, population density, breeder experience, and rainfall surprisingly had no or small effects. Different mechanisms appeared to cause annual variation in fecundity, as estimates of random effects were not correlated between the success and count submodels. The increased fecundity for pairs with nonbreeders, compared to pairs without, identified empirical research needed to understand how the proportion of low-quality habitats influences population recovery and sustainability, because dispersal into low-quality habitats can drain nonbreeders from strong territories and decrease overall fecundity. We also describe how long-term study resulted in reversals in our understanding because of complications involving habitat quality, sociobiology, and population density.

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Collocating pipelines to minimize fragmentation: evaluating ecological costs of a shale gas mitigation practice

2023

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Shale gas development occurs in forests of the Appalachian Basin within breeding habitat for forest songbirds. Development requires linear infrastructure (e.g., pipelines, gas access roads) that fragments habitat and reduces core forest. Collocation is a mitigation practice that sites new pipelines adjacent to existing surface disturbance such as forest roads; it reduces core forest loss but may have associated ecological costs, defined as negative effects on native species and ecosystems. We conducted a paired sampling design between forest roads and collocated pipelines (expanded gas access roads collocated with pipelines) to evaluate ecological costs to forest songbirds in 2013 in Pennsylvania, USA. We surveyed 4 focal songbird species: 3 territorial species that varied in habitat requirements and the non‐territorial brown‐headed cowbird (Molothrus ater), an obligate brood parasite. We used spot mapping to survey focal species within linear corridors and the adjacent mature forest. Territory density of forest interior ovenbirds (Seiurus aurocapilla) was significantly lower on collocated pipelines (5.1 fewer territories per 10 ha) compared to forest road sites. We found no effect of collocation on territory density for the early successional species, eastern towhee (Pipilo erythrophthalmus) and chestnut‐sided warbler (Setophaga pensylvanica). Territories of all 3 territorial focal species crossed collocated pipeline sites less frequently than forest roads (ovenbird: 16%, eastern towhee: 14%, chestnut‐sided warbler: 31%) and the barrier effect increased with increasing corridor width. In contrast, brown‐headed cowbird abundance was 15 times greater at collocated pipelines compared to forest roads, suggesting that wider gas corridors provide enhanced access routes for cowbirds. Our study indicates the expansion of forest roads to collocated pipelines exacerbates the negative ecological effects already present with the existing road including increased edge avoidance by a forest interior species, greater barrier effects for all 3 territorial forest songbirds, and increased access for brown‐headed cowbirds into core forest. We support collocation as a mitigation strategy but emphasize restricting overall corridor width to reduce the additional ecological costs associated with this practice.

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Demographic response of Louisiana Waterthrush, a stream obligate songbird of conservation concern, to shale gas development

Abstract: U . S . D e p a r t m e n t o f E n e r g y • O f f i c e o f F o s s i l E n e r g y N a t i o n a l E n e r g y Te c h n o l o g y L a b o r a t o r y DISCLAIMER

Cited by 20 publications

References 60 publications

Demographic, Spatial, and Epigenetic Response of the Louisiana Waterthrush (Parkesia Motacilla) to Shale Gas Development

Demographic, Spatial, and Epigenetic Response of the Louisiana Waterthrush (Parkesia Motacilla) to Shale Gas Development

Territory and population attributes affect Florida scrub‐jay fecundity in fire‐adapted ecosystems

Collocating pipelines to minimize fragmentation: evaluating ecological costs of a shale gas mitigation practice

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