Spatial variation in population dynamics of northern Great Plains piping plovers

Abstract

in formulating the ideas and analyses presented here. The hard work and dedication of greater than 125 seasonal field technicians who collected and archived the data are especially noteworthy. We also want to thank the greater than 700 observers from other Federal and State agencies, nonprofits, and the public that reported banded piping plovers across their entire range. Max Post van der Burg and Brian Tangen provided detailed technical reviews of earlier drafts of this document which greatly improved this report. All capture and handling methods used in this study were in accordance with protocols approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee and within guidelines of an approved study plan by the USGS Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center Animal Care and Use Committee.

Implications of habitat‐driven survival and dispersal on recruitment in a spatially structured piping plover population

“…Our results, in context with those of previous work (Cohen & Gratto‐Trevor, 2011; McGowan et al, 2014; Swift, Anteau, Ellis, Ring, Sherfy, & Toy, 2021; Swift et al, 2021a), do suggest that natal dispersal of this species is frequent and often over long distances with no detectable consequence on survival but with a potentially substantial negative influence on population viability. Furthermore, this dispersal behavior creates linkages among administratively defined “subpopulations,” and distinctly different habitat types, that may be greater than typically associated with the classical metapopulation concept.…”

“…Each year (2014–2019), we searched for appropriate habitat or used behavioral cues of adults to locate plover nests. A nest was defined as a scrape or depression holding at least one egg (see Anteau et al, 2019; Swift et al, 2021a for more information). Once a nest was found, we recorded its location, and we used small video cameras (Toy et al, 2017) or visual observations with binoculars or spotting scopes to identify the uniquely marked adults tending the nest.…”

“…Once a nest was found, we recorded its location, and we used small video cameras (Toy et al, 2017) or visual observations with binoculars or spotting scopes to identify the uniquely marked adults tending the nest. Between 2014 and 2017, nests near the estimated hatch date (determined from egg flotation; see Swift et al, 2021a) were visited frequently to band chicks while in the nest. More mobile older chicks (<5% of banded individuals) were occasionally captured by hand or with butterfly nets (Roche et al, 2014).…”

“…First, if chicks were found in the nest bowl, we counted the number of chicks found. If a nest was presumed successful due to alternate pieces of evidence (e.g., chick droppings and pipping fragments), we used the maximum observed clutch size corrected for the mean hatching rate of eggs (78.5%; Swift et al, 2021a) calculated from 129 successful nests closely monitored from 2014 to 2015. Adult density was calculated as twice the number of nests found on that segment corrected for known renesting probabilities (Swift, Anteau, Ring, et al, 2020) during that breeding season divided by the length of that segment, because conspecific abundance can influence nest survival (Swift, Anteau, Roche, et al, 2020).…”

Experimental evaluation of predator exclosures on nest, chick, and adult survival of piping plovers

“…Barker models produce a true survival estimate; however, the probability of immigration to a breeding site we do not visit is still greater than zero, and thus we interpret all survival as informed apparent survival estimates. Because we had concurrent studies occurring in additional, nearby breeding areas in North Dakota (Garrison River Reach, Lake Sakakawea, Lake Oahe; Anteau et al 2019; Swift et al 2020 a , 2021 a ), we built Barker models (Barker 1999) to include information on live‐ and dead‐encounters from outside our specific study areas. We used package RMark in program R and MARK to estimate the weekly probability of survival ( S ) and detection ( p ) for piping plover adults.…”