Population Trends of Atlantic Coast Piping Plovers, 1986–2006

Hecht, Anne; Melvin, Scott M.

doi:10.1675/063.032.0107

Cited by 25 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 10 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Management of Piping Plovers for increased population growth has focused on increasing reproductive rates (Murphy et al 2003, Rezansoff et al 2006) because low reproductive success was considered the primary reason for their endangered status (Murphy et al 2000) and reproductive success was amenable to management. Although fledging rates in our study area would be considered low compared to other areas (Hecht and Melvin 2009), our model suggests that they appear to be either at or above the level needed for a stationary population, even in light of moderate modeled annual variation in survival (CV = 0.09). Adult survival rates do appear to be lower for the Great Lakes population in the United States (Le Dee et al 2010), and probably also for the population in eastern Canada (Calvert et al 2006).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 74%

“…Productivity in our study was generally below the level needed for a stationary population in light of the highest annual variance in survival rates we included in the stochastic models (CV = 0.20, Melvin and Gibbs 1994). This was also the case on the Atlantic Coast, where Piping Plover productivity was usually below the 1.5 needed for a stationary population, given a CV of 0.2 in survival rates (Melvin and Gibbs 1994, Hecht and Melvin 2009). As in our study area, however, the Atlantic Coast population grew rapidly when mean productivity was below the high benchmark, indicating that the CV of survival is probably considerably less than 0.2.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 95%

“…Adult survival rates do appear to be lower for the Great Lakes population in the United States (Le Dee et al 2010), and probably also for the population in eastern Canada (Calvert et al 2006). Although survival rates may vary with latitude in the eastern subspecies (Hecht and Melvin 2009), it is not known whether this difference reflects lower survival on certain breeding grounds, during migration, or during winter because there is some separation of birds by breeding region during the winter (Gratto‐Trevor et al, in press).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Survival, site fidelity, and the population dynamics of Piping Plovers in Saskatchewan

Cohen

Gratto‐Trevor

2011

Journal of Field Ornithology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

To conserve threatened species, managers require predictions about the effects of natural and anthropogenic factors on population growth that in turn require accurate estimates of survival, birth, and dispersal rates, and their correlation with natural and anthropogenic factors. For Piping Plovers (Charadrius melodus), fledging rate is often more amenable to management than adult survival, and population models can be used to estimate the productivity (young produced per breeding female) necessary to maintain or increase populations for given levels of survival. We estimated true survival and site fidelity of adult and subadult (from fledging to second year) Piping Plovers breeding in Saskatchewan using mark‐resight data from 2002 to 2009. By estimating true survival rather than apparent survival (which is confounded with permanent emigration), we were able to provide more accurate projections of population trends. Average adult and subadult survival rates during our study were 0.80 and 0.57, respectively. Adult survival declined over time, possibly due in part to the loss of one breeding site to flooding. Average adult and subadult site fidelity were 0.86 and 0.46, respectively. Adult site fidelity declined during our study at two study sites, most strongly at the flooded site. Male and female Piping Plovers had similar survival rates, but males had greater site fidelity than females in some years. Based on our survival estimates, productivity needed for a stationary population was 0.75, a benchmark used for plover management on the Atlantic Coast, but not previously estimated for Prairie Canada. In stochastic simulations incorporating literature‐based variation in survival rates, productivity needed for a stationary population increased to 0.86, still lower than that previously estimated for western populations. Mean productivity for our study sites ranged from 0.87 to 0.96 fledged young per pair. Our results suggest that fledging rates of Piping Plovers in Saskatchewan were sufficient to ensure a stationary or increasing population during our study period. However, large‐scale habitat changes such as drought or anthropogenic flooding may lead to dispersal of breeding adults and possibly mortality that will increase the fledging rate needed for a stationary population.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 74%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Survival, site fidelity, and the population dynamics of Piping Plovers in Saskatchewan

Cohen

Gratto‐Trevor

2011

Journal of Field Ornithology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In the majority of cases, these individuals conducted comprehensive surveys of their sites, meaning that 95–100% of known or recently occupied breeding locations as well as locations that appeared suitable for breeding were surveyed repeatedly in May through July. In instances where sites could not be visited repeatedly, sites were surveyed at least once (at all known or suspected breeding locations) during a nine-day period standardized for the entire Atlantic coast population [10]. The specific number of random points visited each year at a given site was determined by the number of nests observed at that site in the previous year (minimum 5 points).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As part of the species’ recovery plan [9], piping plovers are observed by a large number of trained monitors throughout their geographic distribution [10]. Monitors represent federal and state agencies, nongovernmental organizations, and land-owning trusts and possess varying levels of expertise in environmental assessment and use of specialized equipment (e.g., global navigation satellite system receiver, GNSS).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Smartphone-Based Distributed Data Collection Enables Rapid Assessment of Shorebird Habitat Suitability

et al. 2016

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Understanding and managing dynamic coastal landscapes for beach-dependent species requires biological and geological data across the range of relevant environments and habitats. It is difficult to acquire such information; data often have limited focus due to resource constraints, are collected by non-specialists, or lack observational uniformity. We developed an open-source smartphone application called iPlover that addresses these difficulties in collecting biogeomorphic information at piping plover (Charadrius melodus) nest sites on coastal beaches. This paper describes iPlover development and evaluates data quality and utility following two years of collection (n = 1799 data points over 1500 km of coast between Maine and North Carolina, USA). We found strong agreement between field user and expert assessments and high model skill when data were used for habitat suitability prediction. Methods used here to develop and deploy a distributed data collection system have broad applicability to interdisciplinary environmental monitoring and modeling.

show abstract

Spatiotemporal and weather effects on the reproductive success of piping plovers on Prince Edward Island, Canada

Guild,

Wang,

Hirtle

et al. 2024

Ecology and Evolution

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Piping plovers (Charadrius melodus sp.) rank among North America's most endangered shorebird species, facing compounding environmental challenges that reduce habitat availability and suppress recruitment and survival rates. Despite these challenges, research on the direct effects of climate variability and extremes on their breeding ecology remains limited. Here, we employ a spatiotemporal modelling approach to investigate how location, nest timing and weather conditions influence reproductive success rates in a small breeding population of C. m. melodus in Prince Edward Island (PEI), Canada from 2011 to 2023. Analysis of 40 years of monitoring records from a subset of nesting sites revealed that flooding and predation have been persistent sources of reproductive failures in this population, with unexplained losses increasing in recent years. Contrary to our hypotheses, our modelled results did not support a negative impact of extreme high temperatures and strong precipitation events on reproductive outcomes. Instead, we identified a positive effect of TMAX and no effect of strong precipitation, perhaps due to limited exposure to extreme high temperatures (>32°C) and context‐specific risks associated with precipitation‐induced flooding. However, trends in regional climate change are likely to increase exposure to—and the influence of—such factors in the near future. Our models also identified spatiotemporal variability in apparent hatch success over the study period, as well as worse hatch outcomes across popular beachgoing regions and for delayed nesting attempts. While our results offer preliminary insights into factors affecting breeding success in this population, further research will be imperative to enhance understanding of constraints on recruitment. To this end, we encourage the collection and analysis of additional time‐series data of prey populations, human activities, fine‐scale weather data and predator/flood risks associated with each nest on PEI.

show abstract

Population Trends of Atlantic Coast Piping Plovers, 1986–2006

Abstract: BioOne Complete (complete.BioOne.org) is a full-text database of 200 subscribed and open-access titles in the biological, ecological, and environmental sciences published by nonprofit societies, associations, museums, institutions, and presses.

Cited by 25 publications

References 10 publications

Survival, site fidelity, and the population dynamics of Piping Plovers in Saskatchewan

Survival, site fidelity, and the population dynamics of Piping Plovers in Saskatchewan

Smartphone-Based Distributed Data Collection Enables Rapid Assessment of Shorebird Habitat Suitability

Spatiotemporal and weather effects on the reproductive success of piping plovers on Prince Edward Island, Canada

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About