Winter and Summer Home Ranges of American White Pelicans (<i>Pelecanus erythrorhynchos</i>) Captured at Loafing Sites in the Southeastern United States

King, D. Tommy; Fischer, Justin W.; Strickland, Bronson K.; Walter, W. David; Cunningham, Fred L.; Wang, Guiming

doi:10.1675/063.039.0308

Cited by 14 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…1). We used data from 36 AWPE satellite tracked for one, two or a maximum of three years from 2002 to 2010 (King et al 2016) and analysed the recorded locations in their breeding grounds (only migrants) and non-breeding grounds (including migrants and year round residents). Potential usefulness of satellite tracked animal data in Species Distribution Models (SDMs) has been increasingly addressed in the scienti c literature (Jiguet et al 2011), where even a limited number of tracked individuals can produce accurate and reliable predictive models (Gschweng et al 2012).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Thirty percent of occurrence records were withheld from each model to be used as independent testing data in a cross validation. For our models, background points were selected within the boundaries of the breeding and wintering grounds of the AWPE eastern population, respectively, following King et al (2016). Then we projected the models to Canada, the United States, and the Southern Gulf of Mexico to cover all areas potentially reachable by the eastern metapopulation of the AWPE.…”

Section: Modelling and Statistical Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The aquaculture industry had expanded with an increase in water acreage from 1980 until 2005, when a sharp decline ensued from rising feed prices and declining sh prices. The south-eastern US is the predominant region where AWPE populations have their wintering grounds (King et al 2016). Furthermore, there has been a consistent decline in precipitation for temperate climates (Walther et al 2002, IPCC 2014, which may be exacerbated in the southern part of North America (Seager et al 2007).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Seasonal effects of climate and land use changes on ecological niche of a migratory bird

Illán

Wang

Cunningham

et al. 2020

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Background: The habitat selection strategies followed by migratory populations are a major concern for conservation and management. Consequently, the ability to predict their distribution and potential changes in migratory behaviour is a pressing challenge for ecological modelling in a changing world. There are two main strategies of habitat selection adopted by migratory animals: tracking optimal conditions or acclimatizing to a changing environment between seasons. In this study, we investigate the variations in ecological niche of gps-tracked American White Pelicans (AWPE) associated with their seasonal migration. We also investigated whether recent changes in food resources in their wintering grounds have exerted an impact on the habitat selection behaviour of AWPE. Methods: We developed Maximum Entropy (MAXENT) Species Distribution Models (SDM) using data from GPS-tracked AWPE. We then compared climatic and land-cover niche breadth and overlap between their breeding and wintering grounds in relation to the facultative migratory behaviour of AWPE. Results: Our climatic, land-cover, and combined SDMs obtained a high predictive performance. Several lines of our findings support our hypothesis that AWPE habitat selection strategy follows the “niche switcher” theory. American White Pelicans showed little climatic niche overlap between nesting and wintering seasons. Migrants in the breeding grounds showed broader climatic niche than residents and migrants in the wintering grounds. Finally, declines in availability of food resources provided by commercial aquaculture in their wintering grounds appeared to affect the niche variations of AWPE, with land-cover niche being narrower before than after the decline in aquaculture. Conclusions: If AWPE can effectively adapt and occupy different niches when they migrate instead of tracking suitable climate conditions, this can have important implications in the context of Global Change, since they might respond unexpectedly to anthropogenic changes, like the recent decline in aquaculture as a food resource reported here.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Modelling and Statistical Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Seasonal effects of climate and land use changes on ecological niche of a migratory bird

Illán

Wang

Cunningham

et al. 2020

Preprint

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“…We used presence data from 36 AWPEs which had been tracked with the global positioning system (GPS) transmitters for one, two or a maximum of three years from 2002 to 2010 (King et al 2016). We divided the recorded GPS locations into the AWPE breeding grounds (only migrants) and non-breeding grounds (including migrants and year-round residents).…”

Section: Study Areas and Gps Tracking American White Pelicansmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Since the 1990's, AWPEs have been known to use commercial aquaculture ponds consistently for feeding primarily on cat sh in the Northern Gulf of Mexico (NGOM; King 2005). Because of the relatively shallow depth and high density of cat sh, these commercial sh ponds have provided an ideal foraging environment for AWPE in Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi, USA (King and Werner 2001, King et al 2010, King et al 2016. Commercial aquaculture in the NGOM expanded with increased water acreage from 1980 to 2004 and has had a sharp decline due to rising feed prices and inexpensive foreign imported sh 2005.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Seasonal variation in climate and landcover niches of a migratory bird

Illán¹,

Wang²,

Cunningham³

et al. 2020

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Background: Resource utilization strategies of avian migrants are a major concern for conservation and management. Consequently, the ability to predict potential shifts in migratory species distribution and migratory behaviour is a pressing challenge for predictive ecology under global changes. There are two main strategies of resource use adopted by migratory birds: niche tracking for similar environmental conditions and niche switching between different environmental conditions between seasons. Our objective was to examine whether the “niche tracker” or “niche switcher” hypothesis would better explain seasonal variations in the ecological niche breadth and overlap of the American White Pelicans (AWPE, Pelecanus erythrorhynchos). We also tested whether recent changes in the non-breeding ground land-use have altered the land-cover niche breadth of AWPE. Methods: We built Maximum Entropy Models (MAXENT) to predict the AWPE breeding and non-breeding ranges using GPS locations, climate variables, and land-cover variables. We then compared the estimated climatic and land-cover niche breadth and the overlap between the breeding and non-breeding grounds. Results: Our climate, land-cover, and combined species distribution models had a good to excellent predictive performance. Our findings supported the hypothesis that AWPE would be climatic niche switchers. American white pelicans showed little climatic niche overlap between nesting and wintering seasons. Migrants on the breeding grounds showed broader climatic niche than both residents and migrants on the non-breeding grounds. Finally, declines in availability of food resources provided by commercial aquaculture on the non-breeding grounds appeared to increase land-cover niche breadth.Conclusions: Climatic niche switching suggests that AWPE may adapt to future climate changes with unexpected spatial distributions under global change. Future declines in wetlands and food resources may restrict AWPE spatial distributions. Future studies need to investigate AWPE demographic consequences of climate and land-use changes.

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Evaluating the waterfowl breeding population and habitat survey for scaup

et al. 2018

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Potential bias in breeding population estimates of certain duck species from the Waterfowl Breeding Population and Habitat Survey (WBPHS) has been a concern for decades. The WBPHS does not differentiate between lesser (Aythya affinis) and greater (A. marila) scaup, but lesser scaup comprise 89% of the combined scaup population and their population estimates are suspected to be biased. We marked female lesser scaup (i.e., marked scaup) in the Mississippi and Atlantic Flyways, Canada and United States, with implantable satellite transmitters to track their spring migration through the traditional and eastern survey areas of the WBPHS, 2005–2010. Our goal was to use data independent of the WBPHS to evaluate whether breeding population estimates for scaup were biased and identify variables that might be used in the future to refine population estimates. We found that the WBPHS estimates of breeding scaup are biased because, across years, only 30% of our marked scaup had settled for the breeding period when the strata in which they settled were surveyed, 43% were available to be counted in multiple survey strata as their migration continued during the WBPHS, 32% settled outside the WBPHS area, the number of times a marked scaup was available to be counted by survey crews varied positively with the latitude that a marked scaup settled on breeding areas, the probability of a marked scaup being in a stratum while it was surveyed varied among years, and these probabilities were positively correlated with the traditional and eastern breeding population estimates for scaup. Annual population estimates derived from banding data provide a less biased and preferable method of monitoring scaup population status and trend. Development of models that include metrics such as survey stratum latitude and annual spring environmental conditions might potentially be used to improve scaup breeding population estimates derived from the WBPHS, but independent estimates from banding data would be important to evaluate such models. © 2018 The Wildlife Society.

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Winter and Summer Home Ranges of American White Pelicans (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos) Captured at Loafing Sites in the Southeastern United States

Cited by 14 publications

References 28 publications

Seasonal effects of climate and land use changes on ecological niche of a migratory bird

Seasonal effects of climate and land use changes on ecological niche of a migratory bird

Seasonal variation in climate and landcover niches of a migratory bird

Evaluating the waterfowl breeding population and habitat survey for scaup

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