Standardized Measures of Coastal Wetland Condition: Implementation at a Laurentian Great Lakes Basin-Wide Scale

Abstract

Since European settlement, over 50 % of coastal wetlands have been lost in the Laurentian Great Lakes basin, causing growing concern and increased monitoring by government agencies. For over a decade, monitoring efforts have focused on the development of regional and organism-specific measures. To facilitate collaboration and information sharing between public, private, and government agencies throughout the Great Lakes basin, we developed standardized methods and indicators used for assessing wetland condition. Using an ecosystem approach and a stratified random site selection process, birds, anurans, fish, macroinvertebrates, vegetation, and physico-chemical conditions were sampled in coastal wetlands of all five Great Lakes including sites from the United States and Canada. Our primary objective was to implement a standardized basin-wide coastal wetland monitoring program that would be a powerful tool to inform decision-makers on coastal wetland conservation and restoration priorities throughout the Great Lakes basin.

Influence of call broadcast timing within point counts and survey duration on detection probability of marsh breeding birds

“…Although it is worth noting that the influence of morning versus evening on detection was much less among broadcast species and American Bittern. Detection of about one-third of these species was significantly higher during morning (Common Gallinule, Pied-billed Grebe), significantly higher during evening (American Bittern, Sora, Virginia Rail), or showed no significant difference (American Coot, Least Bittern), which supports the use of morning as well as evening surveys in monitoring programs targeting elusive marsh bird species (e.g., Tozer 2013, 2016, Uzarski et al 2017. We also found that detection in many of the species was significantly higher for the MMP compared to the CWMP, the reasons for which are unclear, but perhaps related to differences in species abundances and sampling locations.…”

“…Lawrence region (Burton et al 2008, Tozer 2013, 2016, Uzarski et al 2017 Meixler 2008), it might require ~US$112,000-331,000 (estimated in 2017 currency) to survey these additional points using 15-min counts. By using 10-min instead of 15-min point counts, one essentially gains, at almost no additional cost, a ~12-38% increase in sample size and associated statistical power in exchange for small reductions in detection probabilities for some species.…”

“…The MMP started in the Great Lakes and Québec in 1995 and 2004, respectively, and has operated every year since inception at coastal and inland wetlands throughout much of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence region (Tozer 2013(Tozer , 2016. The CWMP started in 2011 and is scheduled to operate until at least 2020 throughout the U.S. and Canadian Great Lakes coastal zones (Uzarski et al 2017). These programs have somewhat different study designs, but since 2008 they have used identical point count protocols in the field.…”

“…The longer 15-min pattern was also presumed to achieve superior detection of elusive species, a bonus for boosting statistical power during trend and habitat analyses. For these reasons, the 15-min point count pattern was also recommended for use by the Great Lakes Coastal Wetland Monitoring Program (Burton et al 2008, Uzarski et al 2017 and is used annually by dozens of organizations to survey breeding marsh birds at hundreds of locations throughout the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence region and elsewhere.…”

“…Note that for clarity, in most cases, each point represents more than one sample point. Tozer 2013, 2016, Uzarski et al 2017. A 5-min reduction in duration for 2500 counts would save 12,500 min or 208 hrs or 26 8-hr work days, which could then yield cost savings or increased sample sizes and associated statistical power if field effort was reallocated to new sample points (Hanowski et al 2007).…”