Dynamic conservation for migratory species

Reynolds, Mark; Sullivan, Brian L.; Hallstein, Eric; Matsumoto, Sandra S.; Kelling, Steve; Merrifield, Matthew; Fink, Daniel; Johnston, Alison; Hochachka, Wesley M.; Bruns, Nicholas E.; Reiter, Matthew E.; Veloz, Sam; Hickey, Catherine M.; Elliott, Nathan; Martin, Leslie A.; Fitzpatrick, John W.; Spraycar, Paul; Golet, Gregory H.; McColl, Christopher; Low, Candace; Morrison, Scott

doi:10.1126/sciadv.1700707

Cited by 135 publications

(123 citation statements)

References 46 publications

(68 reference statements)

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“…New data from large‐scale citizen science projects, such as eBird, enable conservation prioritization to be informed by both relative abundance and seasonal dynamics (Reynolds et al. , Schuster et al. ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparing abundance distributions and range maps in spatial conservation planning for migratory species

Johnston

Auer

Fink

et al. 2020

Ecological Applications

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Most spatial conservation planning for wide‐ranging or migratory species is constrained by poor knowledge of species’ spatiotemporal dynamics and is only based on static species’ ranges. However, species have substantial variation in abundance across their range and migratory species have important spatiotemporal population dynamics. With growing ecological data and advancing analytics, both of these can be estimated and incorporated into spatial conservation planning. However, there is limited information on the degree to which including this information affects conservation planning. We compared the performance of systematic conservation prioritizations for different scenarios based on varying the input species’ distributions by ecological metric (abundance distributions versus range maps) and temporal sampling resolution (weekly, monthly, or quarterly). We used the example of a community of 41 species of migratory shorebirds that breed in North America, and we used eBird data to produce weekly estimates of species’ abundances and ranges. Abundance distributions at a monthly or weekly resolution led to prioritizations that most efficiently protected species throughout the full annual cycle. Conversely, spatial prioritizations based on species’ ranges required more sites and left most species insufficiently protected for at least part of their annual cycle. Prioritizations with only quarterly species ranges were very inefficient as they needed to target 40% of species’ ranges to include 10% of populations. We highlight the high value of abundance information for spatial conservation planning, which leads to more efficient and effective spatial prioritization for conservation. Overall, we provide evidence that spatial conservation planning for wide‐ranging migratory species is most robust and efficient when informed by species’ abundance information from the full annual cycle.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparing abundance distributions and range maps in spatial conservation planning for migratory species

Johnston

Auer

Fink

et al. 2020

Ecological Applications

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“…Our results highlight how variation in species responses to climate could further influence which sites are a priority at any one time. Efforts to meet conservation targets for such mobile species could incorporate dynamic conservation approaches (Reynolds et al, 2017) where the priority areas and strategies employed vary in time and space to more efficiently benefit such species.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Opposing responses to drought shape spatial population dynamics of declining grassland birds

Wilson

Smith

Naujokaitis‐Lewis

2018

Diversity and Distributions

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Aim: The joint threats of climate and land-use change require an understanding of how environmental variation influences species abundance and distribution. However, most species distribution models use static data and methods without considering how species respond over multiple temporal and spatial scales. Using a novel analytical approach, we show how multiscalar environmental variation drives spatial population dynamics of mobile species.Location: Great Plains, North America. Methods:We developed a spatial hierarchical model of abundance using long-term citizen science data for two severely declining species (Lark Bunting, Calamospiza melanocorys, Chestnut-collared Longspur, Calcarius ornatus). Specifically, we (a) compared regional variation in range-wide abundance and population trends, (b) evaluated the influence of short-term and long-term drought on range dynamics and (c) tested whether regional population dynamics are spatially autocorrelated by environmental conditions occurring in geographically separated areas.Results: Both species exhibited long-term range-wide declines >70% with contraction towards the range core. Lark Buntings showed opposing responses to environmental variation; regional abundance increased with wetter conditions during arrival on the breeding grounds but also with longer-term (4-year) drought conditions. Chestnut-collared Longspurs showed no response to drought at either temporal scale. We found strong evidence that Lark Bunting abundance in the southern portion of the range increases with favourable environmental conditions leading to subsequent declines in abundance in northern regions. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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“…Such dynamic conservation strategies (Reynolds et al. ) could be effective for providing supplemental habitat, so long as they do not conflict with other considerations. For example, Bird Returns fall migration contracts were limited to two week periods due to weed management and mosquito control concerns (Golet et al.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quantifying shorebird habitat in managed wetlands by modeling shallow water depth dynamics

Schaffer‐Smith

Swenson

Reiter

et al. 2018

Ecological Applications

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Over 50% of Western Hemisphere shorebird species are in decline due to ongoing habitat loss and degradation. In some regions of high wetland loss, shorebirds are heavily reliant on a core network of remaining human-managed wetlands during migration journeys in the spring and fall. While most refuges have been designed and managed to match the habitat needs of waterfowl, shorebirds typically require much shallower water (<10 cm deep). Traditional static habitat modeling approaches at relatively coarse spatial and temporal resolution are insufficient to capture dynamic changes within this narrow water depth range. Our objectives were to (1) develop a method to quantify shallow water habitat distributions in inland non-tidal wetlands, and (2) to assess how water management practices affect the amount of shorebird habitat in Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge Complex. We produced water depth distributions and modeled optimal habitat (<10 cm deep) within 23 managed wetlands using high-resolution topography and fixed-point water depth records. We also demonstrated that habitat availability, specifically suitable water depth ranges, can be tracked from satellite imagery and high-resolution topography. We found that wetlands with lower topographic roughness may have a higher potential to provide shorebird habitat and that strategically reducing water levels could increase habitat extent. Over 50% of the wetlands measured provided optimal habitat across <10% of their area at the peak of migration in early April, and most provided a brief duration of shallow water habitat. Reducing water volumes could increase the proportion of optimal habitat by 1-1,678% (mean = 294%) compared to actual volumes measured at peak spring migration in 2016. For wetlands with a high habitat potential, beginning wetland drawdown earlier and extending drawdown time could dramatically improve habitat conditions at the peak of shorebird migration. Our approach can be adapted to track dynamic hydrologic changes at broader spatial scales as additional high-resolution topographic (e.g., lidar, drone imagery photogrammetry) and optical remote sensing data (e.g., planet imagery, drone photography) become available.

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Dynamic conservation for migratory species

Abstract: Citizen science, big data, and a habitat marketplace enable dynamic habitat for migratory birds in California’s Central Valley.

Cited by 135 publications

References 46 publications

Comparing abundance distributions and range maps in spatial conservation planning for migratory species

Comparing abundance distributions and range maps in spatial conservation planning for migratory species

Opposing responses to drought shape spatial population dynamics of declining grassland birds

Quantifying shorebird habitat in managed wetlands by modeling shallow water depth dynamics

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