Distribution and Habitat Associations of Breeding Secretive Marsh Birds in Louisiana’s Mississippi Alluvial Valley

Valente, Jonathon J.; King, Sammy L.; Wilson, Ryan R.

doi:10.1007/s13157-010-0138-3

Cited by 26 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…Marshbirds encompass a group of wetland-dependent birds including rails, bitterns and moorhens [4] that are generally inconspicuous and tend to inhabit wetlands with robust, perennial vegetation, making them difficult to detect [5]. Overall, limited distributions combined with low detection probability have resulted in marshbirds being among the least studied avian groups [6] and, for most species of marshbirds, there is limited information on population levels, breeding ecology, migration patterns and overall habitat requirements [7]. …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sora (Porzana carolina) autumn migration habitat use

2018

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Palustrine wetland management across the USA is often conducted under a moist soil management framework aimed at providing energetic resources for non-breeding waterfowl. Moist soil management techniques typically include seasonal water-level manipulations and mechanical soil disturbance to create conditions conducive to germination and growth of early successional, seed-producing wetland plants. The assumption is that providing stopover and wintering habitat for non-breeding waterfowl will also accommodate life-history needs of a broader suite of migratory waterbirds including shorebirds, wading birds and marsh birds. Although studies of wetlands provide some evidence to support this assumption for shorebirds and wading birds, there is less information on how other marshbirds respond. Sora (Porzana carolina) are a species of migratory rail that depend on wetlands year round as they migrate across North America. It is a species for which the consequences of wetland management decisions directed towards non-breeding waterfowl are unknown. We conducted nocturnal surveys on 10 public properties in Missouri, USA during autumn migration during 2012–2016 to examine sora habitat use in wetland impoundments managed to enhance the production of moist soil vegetation. We found a positive relationship with sora presence and mean water depth and annual moist soil vegetation; sora used, on average, deeper water than was available across surveyed impoundments and used locations with a higher percentage of annual moist soil vegetation than was available. We found a negative relationship with sora use and upland vegetation, woody vegetation and open water. We found sora using deeper water than have previously been reported for autumn migration, and that moist soil management techniques used on Missouri's intensively managed public wetland areas may be compatible with sora autumn migration stopover habitat requirements.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sora (Porzana carolina) autumn migration habitat use

2018

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“…Other marsh bird species may also be positively associated with wetlands surrounded by agriculture (e.g., least bittern [ Ixobrychus exilis ]; Valente et al. , Quesnelle et al. ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example, our results indicate that a 100-m buffer is not the most appropriate scale for modeling relationships between remotely sensed wetland data and wetland bird occupancy. However, a ≤ 100-m buffer is often used to assess specieshabitat relationships for wetland birds (Winstead and King 2006, Conway and Sulzman 2007, Darrah and Krementz 2009, Harms and Dinsmore 2013, and field-collected habitat variables at this spatial scale (e.g., vegetation structure and composition) are good predictors of wetland bird occupancy (Rush et al 2009, Valente et al 2011, Glisson et al 2015a). This may indicate that fieldcollected data more accurately reflect wetland conditions at a given location, but not necessarily that the 100-m scale is optimal for assessing species-habitat relationships, because a comparison with similarly collected data at larger scales is not often included in these studies.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The influence of agriculture is generally considered a threat to wetland-dependent birds (Naugle et al 2001, Wires et al 2010), but our results indicate a positive relationship between Yuma Ridgway's rail and agriculture. Other marsh bird species may also be positively associated with wetlands surrounded by agriculture (e.g., least bittern [Ixobrychus exilis]; Valente et al 2011, Quesnelle et al 2013. Breeding king rails and gallinules are well documented in agricultural rice fields in the southeastern United States (Czech and Parsons 2002, Pierluissi and King 2008, Valente et al 2012).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Habitat models to predict wetland bird occupancy influenced by scale, anthropogenic disturbance, and imperfect detection

et al. 2017

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Abstract. Understanding species-habitat relationships for endangered species is critical for their conservation. However, many studies have limited value for conservation because they fail to account for habitat associations at multiple spatial scales, anthropogenic variables, and imperfect detection. We addressed these three limitations by developing models for an endangered wetland bird, Yuma Ridgway's rail (Rallus obsoletus yumanensis), that examined how the spatial scale of environmental variables, inclusion of anthropogenic disturbance variables, and accounting for imperfect detection in validation data influenced model performance. These models identified associations between environmental variables and occupancy. We used bird survey and spatial environmental data at 2473 locations throughout the species' U.S. range to create and validate occupancy models and produce predictive maps of occupancy. We compared habitatbased models at three spatial scales (100, 224, and 500 m radii buffers) with and without anthropogenic disturbance variables using validation data adjusted for imperfect detection and an unadjusted validation dataset that ignored imperfect detection. The inclusion of anthropogenic disturbance variables improved the performance of habitat models at all three spatial scales, and the 224-m-scale model performed best. All models exhibited greater predictive ability when imperfect detection was incorporated into validation data. Yuma Ridgway's rail occupancy was negatively associated with ephemeral and slow-moving riverine features and high-intensity anthropogenic development, and positively associated with emergent vegetation, agriculture, and low-intensity development. Our modeling approach accounts for common limitations in modeling species-habitat relationships and creating predictive maps of occupancy probability and, therefore, provides a useful framework for other species.

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“…Furthermore, federal accountability initiatives require that federal agencies demonstrate the effectiveness of their programs in meeting program objectives and goals. Recent studies indicate that on-site habitat characteristics and management of restored wetlands impact occupancy and suitability for birds [9,10]. On-site features such as emergent vegetation height, presence of woody vegetation and water depth influence wetland suitability for specific avian guilds [9,11,12].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Climate, Management and Habitat Associations of Avian Fauna in Restored Wetlands of California’s Central Valley, USA

et al. 2012

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Abstract:The Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP) is one of several programs implemented by the United States Department of Agriculture to facilitate natural resource management on private lands. Since the WRP's inception approximately 29,000 ha in California's Central Valley (CCV) have been restored. However until now, actual benefits of the program to wildlife have never been evaluated. Hydrology in the CCV has been heavily modified and WRP wetlands are managed primarily to support wintering waterfowl. We surveyed over 60 WRP easements in 2008 and 2009 to quantify avian use and categorized bird species into 11 foraging guilds. We detected over 200 bird species in 2008 and 119 species in 2009, which is similar to or higher than numbers observed on other managed sites in the same area. We found that actively managed WRP wetlands support more waterfowl than sites under low or intermediate management, which is consistent with intended goals. Despite reported water shortages, greater upland and un-restored acreage in the southern CCV, WRP wetlands support large numbers of waterfowl and shorebirds, particularly in the early fall months. This is probably due to the severe lack of alternative habitat such as wildlife friendly crops at appropriate stages of the migration cycle. Improved access to water resources for hydrological management would greatly enhance waterfowl use in the southern CCV. OPEN ACCESSDiversity 2012, 4 397

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Distribution and Habitat Associations of Breeding Secretive Marsh Birds in Louisiana’s Mississippi Alluvial Valley

Cited by 26 publications

References 24 publications

Sora (Porzana carolina) autumn migration habitat use

Sora (Porzana carolina) autumn migration habitat use

Habitat models to predict wetland bird occupancy influenced by scale, anthropogenic disturbance, and imperfect detection

Climate, Management and Habitat Associations of Avian Fauna in Restored Wetlands of California’s Central Valley, USA

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