Measuring habitat quality for waterbirds: A review

Mott, Rowan; Prowse, Thomas A. A.; Jackson, Micha V.; Rogers, Daniel; O’Connor, Jody A.; Brookes, Justin D.; Cassey, Phillip

doi:10.1002/ece3.9905

Cited by 7 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 222 publications

(539 reference statements)

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“…For example, horseshoe crab eggs are an atypical food source for shorebirds globally. There is currently no standard approach to measuring non-breeding habitat quality, and some aspects are likely to be site-specific (Mott et al, 2023). Yet managers require reliable and straightforward indicators of habitat quality to develop strategies for habitat improvement.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Shorebird habitat selection and foraging behaviour have important implications for management at an internationally important non‐breeding wetland

Jackson,

Mott,

Delean

et al. 2024

Ecol Sol and Evidence

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It is imperative to manage wetlands appropriately in the non‐breeding range of migratory shorebirds because their habitat quality impacts survival and reproductive performance. However, it is challenging to measure and relate these parameters to the habitat quality of individual sites because they are influenced by a composite contribution to fitness across all sites used in the annual cycle. Identifying important habitat quality features for shorebirds, and assessing whether management actions aimed at improving habitat quality are effective, poses a substantial challenge. Nonetheless, within a site, shorebird subsite selection and foraging behaviour could reveal variation in habitat quality proxies and suitability. We developed a field study to investigate habitat selection and habitat quality proxies for shorebirds in the Coorong, an internationally important non‐breeding site in Australia. We examined the abundance of shorebirds among multiple subsites in the wetland and their foraging behaviour in relation to multiple variables (potential habitat area, salinity, prey density, wind, temperature), the first three of which can be influenced by management. Larger potential habitat area, defined as the combined area of bare mud/sand and shallow water (<20 cm depth), was associated with higher shorebird abundance across subsites with the same shore length, suggesting this is the most important site feature for habitat selection. Shorebird step rate, which reflects the effort associated with catching prey, was higher at subsites with lower prey density. This suggests that step rate can be used as an indicator of prey availability. Potential habitat area is strongly positively correlated with shorebird abundance. At sites where water levels can be managed, flows should be regulated so that water levels are not too high (limiting habitat area) or too low (drying out mudflats). However, it is critical that large potential habitat areas that attract shorebirds are productive so that they do not become ecological traps. Management should aim to maintain healthy prey abundance on areas attractive for shorebirds, while also minimising predation and disturbance of shorebirds. Monitoring prey abundance directly can be challenging, but our study shows that shorebird step rate provides a low‐cost indicator of relative macroinvertebrate prey abundance.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Shorebird habitat selection and foraging behaviour have important implications for management at an internationally important non‐breeding wetland

Jackson,

Mott,

Delean

et al. 2024

Ecol Sol and Evidence

Self Cite

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Measuring habitat quality for waterbirds: A review

Mott

Prowse

Jackson

et al. 2023

Ecology and Evolution

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Quantifying habitat quality is dependent on measuring a site's relative contribution to population growth rate. This is challenging for studies of waterbirds, whose high mobility can decouple demographic rates from local habitat conditions and make sustained monitoring of individuals near‐impossible. To overcome these challenges, biologists have used many direct and indirect proxies of waterbird habitat quality. However, consensus on what methods are most appropriate for a given scenario is lacking. We undertook a structured literature review of the methods used to quantify waterbird habitat quality, and provide a synthesis of the context‐dependent strengths and limitations of those methods. Our search of the Web of Science and Scopus databases returned a sample of 666 studies, upon which our review was based. The reviewed studies assessed habitat quality by either measuring habitat attributes (e.g., food abundance, water quality, vegetation structure), or measuring attributes of the waterbirds themselves (e.g., demographic parameters, body condition, behavior, distribution). Measuring habitat attributes, although they are only indirectly related to demographic rates, has the advantage of being unaffected by waterbird behavioral stochasticity. Conversely, waterbird‐derived measures (e.g., body condition, peck rates) may be more directly related to demographic rates than habitat variables, but may be subject to greater stochastic variation (e.g., behavioral change due to presence of conspecifics). Therefore, caution is needed to ensure that the measured variable does influence waterbird demographic rates. This assumption was usually based on ecological theory rather than empirical evidence. Our review highlighted that there is no single best, universally applicable method to quantify waterbird habitat quality. Individual project specifics (e.g., time frame, spatial scale, funding) will influence the choice of variables measured. Where possible, practitioners should measure variables most directly related to demographic rates. Generally, measuring multiple variables yields a better chance of accurately capturing the relationship between habitat characteristics and demographic rates.

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A Systematic Review of the Effects of Multi-purpose Forest Management Practices on the Breeding Success of Forest Birds

Cordeiro Pereira,

Mikusiński,

Storch

2024

Curr. For. Rep.

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Purpose of Review We aimed to summarize the evidence linking multi-purpose forest management (MPF) to bird nesting and fledging success in temperate and boreal forests and to identify outstanding research gaps. Forest birds are in decline worldwide, but an ongoing move from production-oriented management towards MPF, integrating biodiversity conservation with other uses, may help counteracting these trends. The effects of MPF on bird diversity and abundance are well-studied, but less is known about effects on bird demographics. Recent Findings We retrieved 101 studies, reporting 342 outcomes of MPF for nesting and fledging success. Due to the heterogeneity of the studies, we opted for a systematic mapping approach, accompanied by vote-counting and narrative review. Studies covered 11 types of MPF and 151 bird species. The most frequently studied interventions were overstorey retention and prescribed burning, but research was markedly biased towards temperate North America. Most outcomes (79.5%) were non-significant, and studies often found that breeding success was driven by ecological processes at both broader and finer scales than management interventions. Thus, managing for breeding success likely requires complementary management actions at various scales. Nonetheless, significant positive and negative outcomes of MPF were also found, inclusively affecting species of conservation concern, highlighting the variability and context-dependence of MPF effects. Summary In order to foster effectiveness of MPF for forest birds, future research should focus on a set of under-researched interventions and regions, as well as on ecosystem-wide experiments accounting for functional links between bird abundance, demographics, nest predation, and food supply.

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Measuring habitat quality for waterbirds: A review

Cited by 7 publications

References 222 publications

Shorebird habitat selection and foraging behaviour have important implications for management at an internationally important non‐breeding wetland

Shorebird habitat selection and foraging behaviour have important implications for management at an internationally important non‐breeding wetland

Measuring habitat quality for waterbirds: A review

A Systematic Review of the Effects of Multi-purpose Forest Management Practices on the Breeding Success of Forest Birds

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