Mortality of Parental Mountain Plovers (\u3ci\u3eCharadrius montanus\u3c/i\u3e) during the Post-hatching Stage

Monitoring, management, and conservation of grassland birds are topics of importance because of widespread population declines. Annual estimates of survival are available for many species, however knowledge of how survival varies on a seasonal basis remains poor. Information on the relative effects of breeding, overwintering, and migratory periods on population dynamics is necessary for effective management. Mortality risks often vary with the stage of the breeding cycle. In precocial species, mortality risks of adult birds are often higher during post-hatching care than prehatching. Using a multistate modeling approach, I investigated the influence of both environmental characteristics, measured by habitat, and individual characteristics, measured by sex and body mass, on post-hatching parental mortality of a declining grassland species, the Mountain Plover (Charadrius montanus). I found minimal evidence to support the effect of habitat, sex, or body mass on post-hatching parental mortality. Daily parental mortality was 0.0037 (SE = 0.0007, CI = 0.0026, 0.0053) and survival during the 30-day post-hatching period was 0.8943 (SE = 0.0187, CI = 0.8512, 0.9255). The findings from this study provide an understanding of the associations with today’s grassland habitats and the dynamics of Mountain Plovers during the breeding season. Prior to assessing if alterations in habitats are acting more on post-hatching than the other stages of the annual cycle for the Mountain Plover, information on survival during other breeding stages and during migration is needed to assist in developing effective conservation and management plans

Programas de seguimiento para evaluar los esfuerzos de reintroducción: un componente crítico en la recuperación

Reintroduction is a powerful tool in our conservation toolbox. However, the necessary follow-up, i.e. long-term monitoring, is not commonplace and if instituted may lack rigor. We contend that valid monitoring is possible, even with sparse data. We present a means to monitor based on demographic data and a projection model using the Wyoming toad (Bufo baxteri) as an example. Using an iterative process, existing data is built upon gradually such that demographic estimates and subsequent inferences increase in reliability. Reintroduction and defensible monitoring may become increasingly relevant as the outlook for amphibians, especially in tropical regions, continues to deteriorate and emergency collection, captive breeding, and reintroduction become necessary. Rigorous use of appropriate modeling and an adaptive approach can validate the use of reintroduction and substantially increase its value to recovery programs. Key words: Reintroduction, Monitoring, Adaptive processes, Amphibians, Bufo baxteri.La reintroducción es un utensilio muy potente en nuestra caja de herramientas conservacionista. No obstante, el seguimiento necesario, es decir, el seguimiento a largo plazo, no es un hecho común, y si se da, puede ser poco rigurosa. Sostenemos que el seguimiento válido es posible, incluso cuando los datos son escasos o están dispersos. Presentamos aquí un medio de seguimiento basado en datos demográficos y un modelo de proyección utilizando al sapo de Wyoming (Bufo baxteri) como ejemplo. Usando un proceso repetitivo, se trabajan gradualmente los datos existentes de tal forma que aumente la fiabilidad de las estimas demográficas y sus subsecuentes deducciones. La reintroducción y el seguimiento defendible pueden hacerse cada vez más importantes, dada la problemática de los anfibios, especialmente en las regiones tropicales, donde continua deteriorándose, y se hacen necesarias la captura y la cría en cautividad para la reintroducción posterior. Un uso riguroso de la construcción de modelos apropiada y un punto de vista adaptativo pueden hacer válido el uso de la reintroducción y aumentar sustancialmente su valor en los programas de recuperación. Palabras clave: Reintroducción, Seguimiento, Procesos adaptativos, Anfibios, Bufo baxteri

Monitoring programs to assess reintroduction efforts: a critical component in recovery

Reintroduction is a powerful tool in our conservation toolbox. However, the necessary follow–up, i.e. long–term monitoring, is not commonplace and if instituted may lack rigor. We contend that valid monitoring is possible, even with sparse data. We present a means to monitor based on demographic data and a projection model using the Wyoming toad (Bufo baxteri) as an example. Using an iterative process, existing data is built upon gradually such that demographic estimates and subsequent inferences increase in reliability. Reintroduction and defensible monitoring may become increasingly relevant as the outlook for amphibians, especially in tropical regions, continues to deteriorate and emergency collection, captive breeding, and reintroduction become necessary. Rigorous use of appropriate modeling and an adaptive approach can validate the use of reintroduction and substantially increase its value to recovery programs

The Effects of Beetle-Induced Tree Death on Forest Bird Diversity in Western Montana

In forest ecosystems, climate change can hinder management success by increasing the frequency and intensity of fire and insect outbreaks that cause massive tree die-offs and abrupt habitat change. Resource managers often use ecological indicators to gain insight into the health and status of ecosystems due to the challenge of monitoring all aspects of any ecosystem. Birds are increasingly identified as appropriate taxa for predicting changes in biodiversity and ecological integrity around the globe. We assessed the effects of bark beetle induced forest die-off on patterns of avian diversity in western Montana. We used songbirds, which are ubiquitous and possess attributes capturing the complexity of forests as ecological indicators. In addition to assessing the effects of bark beetle forest die-off on bird diversity we also sought to examine the relative importance of the “conspecific neighborhood” in influencing species-level occurrence rates at a given survey location. This approach is motivated by the idea that individuals of a species aggregate around resources. It follows, that a species is more likely to occur in a patch surrounded by other occupied patches (the conspecific neighborhood). Incorporating measures of spatial autocorrelation in ecological studies is not new. However, this topic is only just beginning to be applied in the context of more recent analytical advances such as Bayesian multi-species hierarchal models used to estimate species abundance and occurrence rates

Possible Use of Wading Birds as Beaters by Snail Kites, Boat-Tailed Grackles, and Limpkins

Foraging in single- or mixed-species flocks is common among many bird species, and the advantages of being in these flocks have been the focus of several investigations (reviewed by Moynihan 1962, Bertram 1978). It has been hypothesized that birds occurring in mixed-species flocks gain advantages from (1) reduced predation risk (e.g., Moynihan 1962, Morse 1970), (2) increased foraging efficiency (e.g., Moynihan 1962, Morse 1970), or (3) social learning (e.g., Ward and Zahavi 1973). Here, we report the anomalous occurrence of flocks consisting of species not typically found in the types of aggregations we describe and suggest the possible function of these aggregations with respect to these hypotheses

An Assessment of Current Statewide Avian Monitoring Programs in Montana

Birds are a highly diverse group consisting of species that use a wide-range of available resources. Therefore bird communities are thought to represent the natural complexity of ecosystems. In recent years, groups of birds and individual species have been recognized as indicators of environmental change. Even with all the potential benefits of conserving bird populations, considerable declines of avian populations in the US have been well documented. These losses highlight the need for continued large-scale monitoring programs. The North American Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) and the Integrated Monitoring in Bird Conservation Regions (IMBCR) are independent large-scale programs conducted within the US to monitor populations of birds. Each of these programs is uniquely designed to provide different types of information to resource managers within the state of Montana. We examined the current products available from BBS and IMBCR programs and the methodology employed. We also compared how each monitoring program assesses population change at the Montana state level across a variety of species to investigate potential program inconsistencies. If programs work equivalently we would expect abundance trend estimates to be in the same direction (positive or negative) and of similar magnitudes. Preliminary results suggest 94% (104/111) of species analyzed exhibited some difference in their abundance trend estimates between monitoring programs. Inconsistencies found within our species comparisons reflect inherent differences in the programs. Our results reiterate the importance for users to carefully consider the unique design, intention, and sources of bias ascribed to each program before applying monitoring data to ecological questions

Assessing Grazing as a Conservation Tool in Sagebrush and Grassland Ecosystems

Grazing is a powerful tool to address wildlife declines associated with land use conversion in the western United States. Grazing systems can be manipulated to achieve desired vegetation outcomes, preserve native habitat and economically benefit multiple stakeholders. As a result, systems designed to benefit native ecosystems are being widely implemented. However, the benefits of these grazing systems on many wildlife communities remain relatively unexplored. Songbirds provide an ideal study system to test these benefits because they continue to use landscapes that are currently grazed. We compared songbird communities between two grazing systems in eastern Montana: rest-rotation systems and season-long systems. Our results suggest grassland and sagebrush (Artemsia spp.) associated species, many of which are of conservation concern, exhibit a mixed response to these two grazing types. Grassland associated species are more abundant in season-long grazing systems than rest-rotation grazing systems. In contrast, sagebrush associated species show no difference in abundance between the two grazing systems. These results suggest that grazing management may have the largest impact on grassland associated species. In contrast to the idea that different grazing management can have effects on a wide variety species with similar life history traits, such as birds, we found that differences in grazing management only affected a small subset of species. Our findings provide essential information for assessing the suitability of grazing as a conservation tool

The Occurrence of Snail Kite Nests with Four Fledglings in Florida

During 1997 we monitored Snail Kite nests throughout their range in central and southern Florida as part of a larger, ongoing study of demography of Snail Kites in Florida. We monitored 345 nests of which 7 (2.0%) contained 4 eggs. Of these large clutch nests, two nests successfully fledged four young. These nests were located 0.34 km apart in Water Conservation Area-3A (WCA-3A), which is a 23,700 ha impoundment located in Dade and Broward counties 25 km west of Miami to the north of Highway 41 and to the south of Interstate-75