Flooding: Mortality and Habitat Renewal for Least Terns and Piping Plovers

Sidle, John G.; Carlson, David E.; Kirsch, Eileen M.; Dinan, John

doi:10.2307/1521363

Cited by 42 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 1 publication

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…We conclude that the proximity of the Od nesting colony to water provides additional evidence for this view of aquatic enantiornithines. Nesting in close proximity to water brings the danger of flooding (Kharatinov and Siegel-Causey 1988); this is a major cause of nest mortality in extant waterfowl (Whitehead and Tschimer 1990;Flint and Grand 1996), terns (Sidle et al 1992;Ludwig et al 1993), plovers (Espie et al 1998), flamingos (Brown 1957) and other birds, and can cause destruction of an entire Fig. 4 Eggshell, some adult and neonate avialan bones from the Od accumulation: a SEM image of sample eggshell section with two main structural layers indicated with arrows.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Neonate avialan proximal tibiotarsus (i) and scapula (j) (scale bars are 2 mm) Naturwissenschaften colony (Brown 1957;Peresbarbosa and Mellink 2001;Poiani 2006), on occasion repeatedly during the same breeding season (Peresbarbosa and Mellink 2001). Birds continue to select these sites in future nesting seasons, partly because floods remove vegetation and increase the amount of barren ground suitable for near-water nesting (Sidle et al 1992).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

A drowned Mesozoic bird breeding colony from the Late Cretaceous of Transylvania

Dyke

Vremir²,

Kaiser

et al. 2012

Naturwissenschaften

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Despite a rapidly improving fossil record, the reproductive biology of Mesozoic birds remains poorly known: only a handful of undisputed, isolated Cretaceous eggs (some containing embryonic remains) are known. We report here the first fossil evidence for a breeding colony of Mesozoic birds, preserved at the Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) Oarda de Jos (Od) site in the Sebeş area of Transylvania, Romania. A lens of calcareous mudstone with minimum dimensions of 80 cm length, 50 cm width and 20 cm depth contains thousands of tightly packed, morphologically homogenous eggshell fragments, seven near-complete eggs and neonatal and adult avialan skeletal elements. Eggshell forms 70-80 % of the matrix, and other fossils are entirely absent. The bones exhibit clear characters of the Cretaceous avialan clade Enantiornithes, and the eggshell morphology is also consistent with this identification. Both taphonomy and lithology show that the components of this lens were deposited in a single flood event, and we conclude that it represents the drowned remains of a larger enantiornithine breeding colony, swamped by rising water, washed a short distance and deposited in a shallow, low-energy pond. The same fate often befalls modern bird colonies. Such a large concentration of breeding birds suggests aquatic feeding in this species, augments our understanding of enantiornithine biology and shows that colonial nesting was not unique to crown birds.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A drowned Mesozoic bird breeding colony from the Late Cretaceous of Transylvania

Dyke

Vremir²,

Kaiser

et al. 2012

Naturwissenschaften

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The detrimental effects of summer flood events that inundate tern nesting habitat and destroy nests and chicks have been well documented (e.g. Dryer and Dryer, 1985;Sidle et al, 1992;Schwalbach et al, 1993;Smith and Renken, 1993;Dugger, 1997). However, close examination of river elevation during this study discounts the effect of late season water stage increases in all but two years.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Least tern reproductive success on interior river systerns has been shown to vary in response to predation, flooding, human disturbance, weather (Thompson et al, 1997) and food availability (Dugger, 1997). A relationship between water levels and causes of nest and chick loss such as predation (Smith and Renken, 1990), flooding (Sidle et al, 1992;Smith and Renken, 1993), human disturbance (Smith and Renken, 1993) and food availability (Dugger, 1997) has been observed for least terns nesting on the LMR. Thus, we might expect to observe a relationship between certain hydrologic variables and tern productivity.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reproductive success of the interior least tern (Sterna antillarum) in relation to hydrology on the Lower Mississippi River

Dugger

Ryan

Galat

et al. 2002

River Research & Apps

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The annual hydrograph of large rivers, including flood pulses and low-flow periods, is believed to play a primary role in the productivity of biota associated with these ecosystems. We investigated the relationship between river hydrology and Interior least tern (Sterna antillarum) reproductive success on the Lower Mississippi River from April to July 1986-1993. The number of fledglings produced per adult pair was negatively correlated with July mean (r= −0.95, p=0.0004) and July maximum river elevation (r= −0.97, p=0.0001), but no other aspects of river hydrology were related to tern reproduction. Low-water elevations in July may benefit least tern reproductive success by increasing sand island area or the area of shallow-water habitat that surrounds islands. Loss of deep-water habitats in conjunction with an increase in shallow habitat during stage decreases may concentrate fish prey in shallow-water habitats and backwater areas, thereby increasing food availability during chick-rearing.

show abstract

“…Inundation from flooding and loss of eggs and chicks can greatly reduce Least Tern and Piping Plover productivity (Faanes 1983, Sidle et al 1992, Dugger et al 2000, Szell and Woodrey 2003. The number of fledglings produced per adult pair was negatively correlated with mean and maximum river elevations during July on the Mississippi River (Dugger et al 2002).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Interior Least Tern and Piping Plover nest and brood survival at managed, off-channel sites along the central Platte River, Nebraska, USA 2001-2015

Farrell¹,

Baasch²,

Farnsworth³

et al. 2018

ACE

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Flooding: Mortality and Habitat Renewal for Least Terns and Piping Plovers

Cited by 42 publications

References 1 publication

A drowned Mesozoic bird breeding colony from the Late Cretaceous of Transylvania

A drowned Mesozoic bird breeding colony from the Late Cretaceous of Transylvania

Reproductive success of the interior least tern (Sterna antillarum) in relation to hydrology on the Lower Mississippi River

Interior Least Tern and Piping Plover nest and brood survival at managed, off-channel sites along the central Platte River, Nebraska, USA 2001-2015

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About