Measuring and predicting abundance and dynamics of habitat for piping plovers on a large reservoir

Michael J. Anteau, Mark T. Wiltermuth, Mark H. Sherfy and Terry L. Shaffer

Ecological Modelling, 2014, vol. 272, issue C, 16-27

Abstract: Measuring habitat and understanding habitat dynamics have become increasingly important for wildlife conservation. Using remotely-sensed data, we developed procedures to measure breeding habitat abundance for the federally listed piping plover (Charadrius melodus) at Lake Sakakawea, North Dakota, USA. We also developed a model to predict habitat abundance based on past and projected water levels, vegetation colonization rates, and topography. Previous studies define plover habitat as flat areas (<10% slope) with ≤30% obstruction of bare substrate. Compared to ground-based data, remotely-sensed habitat classifications (≤30/>30% bare-substrate obstruction) were 76% correct and omission and commission errors were equal. Due to water level fluctuations, habitat abundance varied markedly among years (1986–2009) ranging from 9 to 5195ha. The proportion bare substrate declined with the number of years since a contour was inundated until 5 years (βˆ=−0.65, SE=0.05), then it stabilized near zero, and the decline varied by shoreline segment (5, 50, and 95 percentile were βˆ=−0.19, SE=0.05, βˆ=−0.63, SE=0.05, and βˆ=−0.91, SE=0.05, respectively). Years since inundated predicted habitat abundance well at shoreline segments (R2=0.77), but it predicted better for the whole lake (R2=0.86). The vastness and dynamics of plover habitat on Lake Sakakawea suggest that this is a key area for conservation of this species. Model-based habitat predictions can benefit resource conservation because they can (1) form the basis for a sampling stratification, (2) help allocate monitoring efforts among areas, and (3) help inform management through simulations or what-if scenarios.

Keywords: Breeding population; Density; Remote sensing; Reservoir; Shorebird; Waterbird (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304380013004225
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ecomod:v:272:y:2014:i:c:p:16-27

DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2013.08.020

Access Statistics for this article

Ecological Modelling is currently edited by Brian D. Fath

More articles in Ecological Modelling from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().