Skip to main content

Lund University Publications

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Agroecosystems and conservation of migratory waterbirds: importance of coastal pastures and factors influencing their use by wintering shorebirds

Navedo, JuanG. ; Arranz, David ; Herrera, AlejandroG. ; Salmon, Pablo LU ; Juanes, JoséA. and Masero, JoséA. (2013) In Biodiversity and Conservation 22(9). p.1895-1907
Abstract
Coastal pastures are common agroecosystems adjacent to estuarine areas that can provide valuable habitat for wildlife, particularly for migratory shorebirds. Disentangling the factors that influence coastal pasture use by wintering shorebirds will provide new insights into its role for buffering human disturbances and habitat loss in intertidal areas. We examined whether numbers of two shorebirds (Eurasian curlew and Black-tailed godwit) foraging actively on coastal pastures was affected by weather conditions, tidal stage (low/high tide) and number of harvesters at intertidal areas throughout winter. Both species frequently used coastal pastures and most individuals foraged actively there. The average percentage of the total wintering... (More)
Coastal pastures are common agroecosystems adjacent to estuarine areas that can provide valuable habitat for wildlife, particularly for migratory shorebirds. Disentangling the factors that influence coastal pasture use by wintering shorebirds will provide new insights into its role for buffering human disturbances and habitat loss in intertidal areas. We examined whether numbers of two shorebirds (Eurasian curlew and Black-tailed godwit) foraging actively on coastal pastures was affected by weather conditions, tidal stage (low/high tide) and number of harvesters at intertidal areas throughout winter. Both species frequently used coastal pastures and most individuals foraged actively there. The average percentage of the total wintering population of curlews and godwits foraging on coastal pastures was 27.4 and 7.8 %, respectively, and was significantly higher during high tide compared to low tide. The number of harvesters on mudflats also had a positive significant effect in explaining the presence of curlews, and to a lesser extent for godwits, on coastal pastures, and accumulated rainfall had a positive effect for both species too. These supratidal areas were consistently used as alternative foraging grounds during low tide by curlews, as well as supplementary foraging areas during high tide by wintering populations of both large shorebirds. By supplementary foraging, wintering curlews, and probably godwits, seemed to compensate for a negative effect of the presence of harvesters on their foraging activity. We recommend managing of those coastal agricultural fields adjacent to intertidal foraging grounds in order to increase the availability of supratidal foraging habitats for declining shorebird populations. These habitats may thus have a beneficial role in sustaining populations of wintering shorebirds, but further studies are needed to estimate if birds can compensate for any shortfall in daily energy budget by supplementary foraging on coastal pastures, thus providing insights into whether they are involved in large-scale population regulation of migratory birds. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; ; ; ; and
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Curlews, Disturbances, Godwits, Harvesting, Shellfishing, Supplementary foraging
in
Biodiversity and Conservation
volume
22
issue
9
pages
1895 - 1907
publisher
Springer
external identifiers
  • scopus:84881023547
ISSN
0960-3115
DOI
10.1007/s10531-013-0516-2
language
English
LU publication?
no
id
3269fddd-9ff2-40fb-a7d2-2c5c9b1f29c0 (old id 4696783)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 10:47:44
date last changed
2022-04-28 01:28:52
@article{3269fddd-9ff2-40fb-a7d2-2c5c9b1f29c0,
  abstract     = {{Coastal pastures are common agroecosystems adjacent to estuarine areas that can provide valuable habitat for wildlife, particularly for migratory shorebirds. Disentangling the factors that influence coastal pasture use by wintering shorebirds will provide new insights into its role for buffering human disturbances and habitat loss in intertidal areas. We examined whether numbers of two shorebirds (Eurasian curlew and Black-tailed godwit) foraging actively on coastal pastures was affected by weather conditions, tidal stage (low/high tide) and number of harvesters at intertidal areas throughout winter. Both species frequently used coastal pastures and most individuals foraged actively there. The average percentage of the total wintering population of curlews and godwits foraging on coastal pastures was 27.4 and 7.8 %, respectively, and was significantly higher during high tide compared to low tide. The number of harvesters on mudflats also had a positive significant effect in explaining the presence of curlews, and to a lesser extent for godwits, on coastal pastures, and accumulated rainfall had a positive effect for both species too. These supratidal areas were consistently used as alternative foraging grounds during low tide by curlews, as well as supplementary foraging areas during high tide by wintering populations of both large shorebirds. By supplementary foraging, wintering curlews, and probably godwits, seemed to compensate for a negative effect of the presence of harvesters on their foraging activity. We recommend managing of those coastal agricultural fields adjacent to intertidal foraging grounds in order to increase the availability of supratidal foraging habitats for declining shorebird populations. These habitats may thus have a beneficial role in sustaining populations of wintering shorebirds, but further studies are needed to estimate if birds can compensate for any shortfall in daily energy budget by supplementary foraging on coastal pastures, thus providing insights into whether they are involved in large-scale population regulation of migratory birds.}},
  author       = {{Navedo, JuanG. and Arranz, David and Herrera, AlejandroG. and Salmon, Pablo and Juanes, JoséA. and Masero, JoséA.}},
  issn         = {{0960-3115}},
  keywords     = {{Curlews; Disturbances; Godwits; Harvesting; Shellfishing; Supplementary foraging}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{9}},
  pages        = {{1895--1907}},
  publisher    = {{Springer}},
  series       = {{Biodiversity and Conservation}},
  title        = {{Agroecosystems and conservation of migratory waterbirds: importance of coastal pastures and factors influencing their use by wintering shorebirds}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10531-013-0516-2}},
  doi          = {{10.1007/s10531-013-0516-2}},
  volume       = {{22}},
  year         = {{2013}},
}