Using feathers to map continental‐scale movements of waterbirds and wetland importance

Abstract

Waterbirds are highly mobile, moving over large distances to access resources.Although consistent migration routes are observed in highly seasonal and predictable environments, movement patterns to utilize ephemeral resources in dryland environments are largely unknown. This makes conservation planning and water policy challenging as the relative importance of widely dispersed wetlands is difficult to rank. We addressed this challenge by combining a citizen science project with the novel application of X-ray fluorescence of feathers to detect continental scale movement of waterbirds using elemental signatures. By doing so, we gained important insight into the movements of 24 waterbird species, including the significance of the Murray-Darling basin as a key source of waterbirds across the continent. Our approach highlights the benefits of elemental signatures to identify key areas of habitat use and priorities for wetland management.

Passive acoustic monitoring detects new records of globally threatened birds in a high-elevation wetland (Free State, South Africa)

“…The unpredictable and unmanaged burns in this eastern part of the park in the winter–spring months have a major impact on the wetland; these times are critical for Wattled Crane breeding success, and fire management around the wetland should become a park priority as soon as possible (Wamiti et al 2020). Increasing El Niño intensity also leaves the wetland vulnerable to fire for a much longer period (May–November/December, compared with the usual May–September/October fire season), potentially filtering out the White-winged Flufftail, which is believed to breed in early summer (Maphisa et al 2016; Prowse et al 2017; Smith et al 2017; Matteson et al 2020; Brandis et al 2021).…”

“…Wetlands are dynamic habitats that supply and store water for local and downstream ecosystems (Brandis et al 2021), while serving as transition zones between terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems (Zedler and Kercher 2005; Erwin 2009). Healthy wetlands with limited degradation provide ecosystem services, including water purification, carbon storage, and flood attenuation (Finlayson and Rea 1999).…”

Explicit incentives increase citizen science recordings

“…Citizen science data have been used to document global processes such as biodiversity loss (Eichenberg et al., 2021), land‐use change (Liu et al., 2022), invasive species (Negrete et al., 2020), and distribution shifts due to climate change (Champion et al., 2018; Masto et al., 2022). Recent examples of studies with concrete local policy implications are the assessment of a vulnerable shark population (Madigan et al., 2021) or the mapping of priorities for wetland protection (Brandis et al., 2021). In order to take decisions based on broad evidence, policymakers may want to increase the use of citizen‐science data and encourage its production.…”

The reuse of avian samples: opportunities, pitfalls, and a solution

“…Species, sex and age of sampled individuals are documented and the information is used to estimate harvests, geographical distributions of species or population structure (Saunders et al 2019). Similarly, the Feather Map of Australia project (Brandis et al 2021) engages the broader public to collect feathers of waterbird species across Australian wetlands. These samples help inform about water bird movements, habitat use and wetland importance for targeted management actions (https:// feathermap.ansto.gov.au/ResultsOverview/index.htm).…”

“…Similarly, the Feather Map of Australia project (Brandis et al . 2021) engages the broader public to collect feathers of waterbird species across Australian wetlands. These samples help inform about water bird movements, habitat use and wetland importance for targeted management actions (https://feathermap.ansto.gov.au/ResultsOverview/index.htm).…”