Nutrient Deposition in Cattail Stands by Communally Roosting Blackbirds and Starlings

Hayes, Jack Patrick; Caslick, James W.

doi:10.2307/2425439

Cited by 12 publications

(8 citation statements)

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“…More than half of the birds that use a lake may be airborne during the day or difficult to see at night. In previous studies, birds were counted on or near a lake or reservoir by species during the day (a) once per year (Gremillion & Malone, 1986), (b) 1-3 times mo-' for up to 4 y (Paloumpis & Starrett, 1960;Holden & Caines, 1974;Harris et al, 1981), (c) at 10-d intervals for 6 mo (Hayes & Caslick, 1984), and (d) at 2-h intervals, several days wk , for 1 y (Portnoy & Soukup, 1990). For greatest accuracy of nutrient loadings, birds should be counted most frequently during seasonal migrations when largest numbers use the lake or reservoir.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Unfortunately, nutrients added by aquatic birds to lakes and reservoirs have seldom been estimated (Kear, 1963;Manny et al, 1975;Harries etal., 1981;Gremillion & Malone, 1986;Portnoy & Soukup, 1990) because the behavior of aquatic birds is variable (Pirnie, 1935;Johnsgard, 1965). In some regions, populations of aquatic birds have increased, even to nuisance levels (Bellrose, 1976;Hayes & Caslick, 1984;Portnoy & Soukup, 1990;Johnson & Owen, 1992) and the quality of surface waters may be threatened by nutrients in bird droppings.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Nutrient additions by waterfowl to lakes and reservoirs: predicting their effects on productivity and water quality

1994

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Lakes and reservoirs provide water for human needs and habitat for aquatic birds. Managers of such waters may ask whether nutrients added by waterfowl degrade water quality. For lakes and reservoirs where primary productivity is limited by phosphorus (P), we developed a procedure that integrates annual P loads from waterfowl and other external sources, applies a nutrient load-response model, and determines whether waterfowl that used the lake or reservoir degraded water quality. Annual P loading by waterfowl can be derived from a figure in this report, using the days per year that each kind spent on any lake or reservoir. In our example, over 6500 Canada geese (Branta canadensis) and 4200 ducks (mostly mallards, Anas platyrhynchos) added 4462 kg of carbon (C), 280 kg of nitrogen (N), and 88 kg of P y -to Wintergreen Lake in southwestern Michigan, mostly during their migration. These amounts were 69% of all C, 27% of all N, and 70% of all P that entered the lake from external sources. Loads from all external sources totaled 840 mg P m-2 y '. Application of a nutrient load-response model to this concentration, the hydraulic load (0.25 m y -'), and the water residence time (9.7 y) of Wintergreen Lake yielded an average annual concentration of total P in the lake of 818 mg m 3 that classified the lake as hypertrophic. This trophic classification agreed with independent measures of primary productivity, chlorophyll-a, total P, total N, and Secchi disk transparency made in Wintergreen Lake. Our procedure showed that waterfowl caused low water quality in Wintergreen Lake.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nutrient additions by waterfowl to lakes and reservoirs: predicting their effects on productivity and water quality

1994

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“…Finally, although other birds have been shown to influence productivity around their nesting islands within particular ecosystems (e.g. seabirds in the marine environment, Bosman and Hockey 1986; and blackbirds and geese in freshwater systems, Hayes and Caslick 1984, Kitchell et al 1999), we offer new evidence demonstrating how birds can indirectly link marine with freshwater systems (see also Harding et al 2004).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 87%

Mobile scavengers create hotspots of freshwater productivity

Payne

Moore²

2006

Oikos

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Adjacent communities and ecosystems often differ in underlying productivity but are connected by flows of nutrients, energy, and matter. Pacific salmon (Oncorhynchus spp.) transport substantial quantities of nutrients from marine ecosystems to coastal freshwater habitats when they return to spawn and die. Nutrients from their carcasses are initially concentrated in spawning streams and lakes, but are subsequently dispersed by abiotic (floods, hyporheic flow) and biotic processes (predators and scavengers). In southwest Alaska, mobile avian scavengers (gulls; Larus spp.) breed on small islands within salmon nursery lakes and consume large quantities of spawning salmon during the chick‐rearing period. However the role of birds as vectors of salmon‐derived nutrients remains unknown. We examined how gulls – by transporting salmon tissues to their chicks – create hotspots of biological productivity in the aquatic habitats surrounding their nesting colonies. We found that algal production was ∼10× higher at islands with high gull densities compared to islands without nesting gulls, but was concentrated within 40 m of island shorelines. Carbon stable isotopes (δ13C) confirmed that gulls enhance primary production in local benthic communities and demonstrated that this production was transferred up the food web to grazers (snails) and carnivores (blackfish). Nitrogen stable isotopes (δ15N) confirmed that salmon dominated the diet of gulls and that nutrients from gull guano were incorporated into algae and passed up the food web. By relocating and concentrating salmon‐derived nutrients into new and distant locations, gulls alter and magnify production in local aquatic communities. We offer the first evidence that the avian community can move salmon‐derived nutrients great distances, enriching otherwise isolated habitats.

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“…This short-term experiment not only underscores the grouping nature of marine fauna in an estuarine environment, but also shows that the bottom-up effects of this grouping are largely determined by the existing state of nutrient limitation. Nutrient cycling in terrestrial systems as affected by faunal movement and aggregation is wellstudied (Joblin 1981, Hayes and Caslick, 1984, Kitchell et al 1999, Day and Detling, 1990. With the increasing prevalence of use of artificial reefs in the marine environment for management (Stone 1985, Briones-Fourzan and Lozano Alvarez 2001, Campos and Gamboaa, 2006, W atanuki and Gonzales 2006 and recreational purposes (Leeworthy et al 2006) Error bars represent standard error.…”

Section: Thalassia Heightmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Of these processes, defecation has been shown to produce greater changes in nutrient concentration in substrates and among primary producers. Quantification and analysis of the impact of concentrated animal feces has been recorded for such diverse animals such as colonial birds (Lindeboom 1984, Bildstein et al 1992, Post et al 1998, Powell et al 1991, Hayes and Caslick 1984, Allaway and Ashford 1984, McColl and Burger 1976, herding bison (Day and Detling 1990, Frank and McNaughton 1992, Lock 1971) and nesting ants (Wagner 1997, Lugo et. al 1973, Frouz et al 2002, Wagner and Jones 2004.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Artificially induced aggregation of fauna and their effects on nutrient regimes and primary producers in an oligotrophic subtropical estuary

Dewsbury¹

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Dewsbury, Bryan M., "Artificially induced aggregation of fauna and their effects on nutrient regimes and primary producers in an oligotrophic subtropical estuary" (2006 In order to investigate the role of faunal aggregations in concentrating nutrients in the oligotrophic landscape of Florida Bay, I manipulated faunal densities in Florida Bay sea grass beds by constructing artificial reefs. The effects of reefs and faunal aggregations on nutrient availability and benthic community structure were assessed.Over a year-long sampling period, artificial reefs had an average population of 50 fishes and crustaceans of various species. Faunal aggregation resulted in significant sediment organic matter decreases and sediment phosphorus increases. Plots with high fauna populations also had shorter seagrass blades presumably due to the effects of grazing.Chlorophyll-a concentrations in the sediment and periphyton samplers were mainly affected by reef presence or exclosure type and not due to the presence of aggregating fauna. Our results suggest that faunal aggregation may have more top-down effects on primary producers than bottom-up effects over smaller temporal scales.111

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Nutrient Deposition in Cattail Stands by Communally Roosting Blackbirds and Starlings

Cited by 12 publications

References 11 publications

Nutrient additions by waterfowl to lakes and reservoirs: predicting their effects on productivity and water quality

Nutrient additions by waterfowl to lakes and reservoirs: predicting their effects on productivity and water quality

Mobile scavengers create hotspots of freshwater productivity

Artificially induced aggregation of fauna and their effects on nutrient regimes and primary producers in an oligotrophic subtropical estuary

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