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

Anteau, Michael J.; Swift, Rose J.; Sherfy, Mark H.; Koons, David N.; Ellis, Kristen S.; Shaffer, Terry L.; Toy, Dustin L.; Ring, Megan M.

doi:10.1002/jwmg.22139

Cited by 11 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 64 publications

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“…Alternatively, our estimate of survival encompassed both the pre-fledging and post-fledging periods, and survival is likely driven by different factors during these two periods (Saunders et al, 2014). Pre-fledging mortality in piping plovers has been linked to predation pressure (Cohen et al, 2009), but generally, the results of other studies and ours do not support strong density dependence (Anteau et al, 2022;Anteau, Wiltermuth, Sherfy, Shaffer, & Pearse, 2014;Cohen et al, 2009). Pre-fledging chick survival in the NGP is also affected by recent flooding events that create habitat and by the presence of heterospecifics that mob predators, which may mask any detectible annual effects (Anteau et al, 2019;Hunt et al, 2018;Swift, Anteau, Roche, et al, 2020).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 60%

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

et al. 2022

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Natal survival and dispersal have important consequences for populations through the movement of genes and individuals. Metapopulation theory predicts either balanced natal dispersal among regions or source-sink dynamics, which can dramatically change population structure. For species reliant on dynamic, early-successional habitats, availability and location of habitat will shift from year to year, requiring primiparous individuals to locate an appropriate breeding habitat. We estimated hatch-year survival to adulthood and natal dispersal rates between two breeding groups of Northern Great Plains piping plovers (Charadrius melodus) from four cohorts (n = 2669 total individuals; 2014-2017). Hatch-year survival to adulthood was slightly higher for individuals hatched on the Missouri River than on the US Alkali Wetlands but declined over time. Individuals hatched on the US Alkali Wetlands were more likely to disperse to breed on the Missouri River (0.33 [0.20, 0.48]) than vice versa (0.17 [0.11, 0.24]). When more habitat was available at the natal site than in the prior year, natal dispersal rates increased. However, despite higher recruitment rates as a result of higher natal fidelity, the Missouri River showed lower total recruitment with a declining trend in the number of recruits, largely due to differences in abundance between breeding groups. Overall, unbalanced, high natal dispersal rates within the Northern Great Plains indicate high connectivity among distinct regions with different water regimes on the Missouri River and on the US Alkali Wetlands driven by fluctuating availability of habitat. Our results suggest that plovers in the Northern Great Plains take advantage of dynamic habitats where they are available in a broad geographic area, which is consistent with a spatially structured panmictic population rather than a true metapopulation, but further research on adult breeding dispersal is needed to clarify population structure.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 60%

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

et al. 2022

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“…Taken together, this justifies our recommendation to use small exclosures and minimize the number of visits to nests to reduce monitoring costs and nest disturbance. Although adult predation was not a concern with our small exclosures (nor for the larger exclosures used in research conducted by Anteau et al, 2021), nests should still be monitored frequently enough to respond to unexpected adult predation episodes (Murphy, Michaud, et al, 2003).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Many jurisdictions promote the use of predator exclosures to assist in the recovery of piping plovers, under the assumption that they protect the eggs and increase fledgling numbers (Larson et al, 2003). However, there is a lack of knowledge as to whether exclosures have benefits beyond increasing DNS (but see Anteau et al, 2021); specifically, is there an increase in the number of chicks hatched and fledglings produced from exclosed nests (Johnson & Oring, 2002)? Removing the effect of nest success, our results indicate there is no difference in the number of chicks or fledglings produced per nest between the three types of exclosures and natural nests; if a nest is successful, the number of eggs that hatch and chicks that survive to 20 days (i.e., fledglings) are similar between natural and exclosed nests.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Even though exclosures do not appear to increase piping plover fledging success, their effectiveness at increasing chick hatching rate results in higher absolute numbers of chicks and consequently more fledglings, justifying our recommendation to use our small exclosure design. In fact, Alberta nests with small exclosures had a probability of surviving to day 35 of 0.96, while exclosed piping plover nests in a long‐term experiment in the Northern Great Plains, United States, had cumulative survival of 0.73 (Anteau et al, 2021).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It has been inferred that exclosures not only increase nest success but also benefit the chicks and/or increase fledging success (Larson et al, 2002). This added benefit has not been tested in Canada (but see Anteau et al, 2021); therefore, we compared the number of chicks and fledglings produced per successful nest for each treatment type and natural nests. In addition, we compared the fledging rates achieved using exclosures to see if exclosing nests allowed us to reach the Alberta recovery goal of a median 1.25 fledglings/pair/year (Alberta Piping Plover Recovery Team, 2010; Environment Canada, 2006).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The effectiveness and cost efficiency of different predator exclosure designs to increase piping plover (Charadrius melodus) nest success and fledging rate in Alberta, Canada

Peters

Engley

Rezansoff

et al. 2023

Conservat Sci and Prac

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An estimated 30% of the North American piping plover (Charadrius melodus) breeding population occurs in Canada, where it is Endangered. Predator exclosures are a common management tool across the species' range to increase nest success. Using data from 1998 to 2010 on 820 nests, collected as part of an ongoing management program in Alberta, we compare daily nest survival (DNS), numbers of chicks hatched and fledglings produced, and cost/chick among three treatments (large, medium, small exclosures) and natural nests. During the early period (1998)(1999)(2000)(2001), when all three types of exclosures were applied, there were no significant differences in DNS between exclosed nests and natural nests. During the late period (2002)(2003)(2004)(2005)(2006)(2007)(2008)(2009)(2010), when only small exclosures were applied, nests with small exclosures had a significantly higher DNS rate (x = 0.994, n = 594) compared with natural nests (x = 0.984, n = 88). Nests with small exclosures also hatched more chicks (x = 3.21, n = 598) and produced more fledglings (x = 1.17, n = 337) than natural nests (x = 1.73 chicks, n = 31; x = 0.59 fledglings, n = 21) during the late period. However, considering only successful nests, the differences were not significant for either period, indicating no added benefit of exclosures beyond protecting the nest. The cost/chick rate was lowest using small exclosures (cylindrical, 40 by 60 cm), and this portable design is well-suited for widespread application in the field. We demonstrate increased DNS for nests with small exclosures and a mean fledging rate close to the goal of 1.25 chicks/nest/year, although this did not increase Alberta's piping plover population beyond the timeframe of systematic exclosure application. Long-term, cost-efficient management tools that increase nest success and fledging rates should continue.

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Assessing trade‐offs in developing a landscape‐scale nest monitoring programme for a threatened shorebird

Ellis,

Anteau,

MacDonald

et al. 2024

Ecol Sol and Evidence

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Effective monitoring of wildlife species requires thorough planning and development of survey programmes that can address management and conservation objectives. Decisions about monitoring programmes include where to survey, survey design and how much effort to allocate at survey sites are typically predicated on limited budgets and available resources. When the scope of inference requires monitoring on a broad spatial scale, predictions of habitat distribution or suitability may be useful for identifying potential survey sites. We focused on a threatened but widely distributed shorebird, the piping plover (Charadrius melodus), which is actively monitored across some, but not all of its range. Our objective was to use piping plover habitat distribution maps, which vary annually, to assess the effectiveness of multiple monitoring programme scenarios and their associated costs. In the breeding range, efforts to improve productivity for species of conservation concern often focus on improving probabilities of nest survival. Consequently, collecting adequate nesting data is crucial for obtaining accurate and precise estimates of nest survival and for evaluating the effectiveness of management actions. By simulating the nest monitoring process, we evaluated how much area, where and how often to survey each site when estimating nest survival and detecting effects of potential management actions. As expected, precision increased and bias decreased around nest survival estimates with greater survey coverage and nest visit frequency. We also identified monitoring programmes with negative net values where survey costs outweighed statistical benefits. Although we applied our simulation framework to evaluate nest monitoring designs for piping plovers, it could be extended to assess whether different monitoring programmes can detect changes in the distribution of other species or occupancy of habitats over time.

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

Cited by 11 publications

References 64 publications

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

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

The effectiveness and cost efficiency of different predator exclosure designs to increase piping plover (Charadrius melodus) nest success and fledging rate in Alberta, Canada

Assessing trade‐offs in developing a landscape‐scale nest monitoring programme for a threatened shorebird

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