Performing Department
Environmental & Forest Biology
Non Technical Summary
Atlantic Coast piping plovers were listed in 1986, and since then recovery has proceeded via reducing human disturbance, controlling predators, and in a few cases restoring habitat. Due to these proactive and protective measures, the population has increased by 140% (USFWS 2015). However, the Atlantic coast population continues to hover below the species recovery goal and the NY-NJ recovery unit has seen little to no growth since listing. New adaptive management approaches are needed to establish proven methods for recovery and to instill confidence in cause and effect of management. Recovery depends on identifying and managing limiting factors in this recovery unit. We will take advantage of recent habitat restoration, habitat alteration due to beach renourishment, and predator management inaddition to two prior years of band resightings and predator data for piping plovers in New Jersey to provide recommendations for more informed habitat restoration, better assessment of predation risk, and more targeted predator management practices.In the New York-New Jersey recovery unit, piping plover abundance declined 36 percent between 2007 and 2014, and productivity in 2012 and 2013 was far below the replacement rate (NJ DEP, unpubl. data).The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has set at target for the New York-New Jersey Recovery Unit of 575 pairs (USFWS 1996), and in 2014 abundance was estimated at 378 pairs with the New Jersey portion reaching an all-time low of 92 pairs (USFWS 2015). Habitat loss due to human development and high recreational beach use are elevated threats in the NY-NJ recovery unit due to the proximity of largemetropolitan areas. Beach renourishment and stabilization projects have focused on maintaining adequate beach areas to prevent erosion, protect human development and promote recreation, but the effects of such actions on piping plovers are largely unknown. In some parts of the species' range, mass gain of chicks has been shown to be lower when nesting pairs are attracted to sites without access tohigh-quality foraging areas than when they do have access (Loegering and Fraser 1995). When restoration or natural events create new foraging habitat, human disturbance may reduce the benefits by preventing broods from reaching foraging areas. Given that piping plovers in New Jersey have not exhibited a sustained upward trend despite decades of intensive protection and monitoring, the best way to alleviate limiting factors is uncertain. Habitat restoration projects have aimed at increasing the amount of nesting and foraging habitat for piping plovers in New Jersey, but the response by piping plovers using marked individuals has not yet been measured. Understanding limiting factors while proceeding with management is a critical need, and we are proposing an adaptive approach to management for plovers in this imperiled Recovery Unit. We propose a one-year extension to a Ph.D. project to study factors limiting piping plover reproductive success.Depredation of nests and chicks is a major threat that is likely to increase with populations of human commensal predators. Predator management techniques including predator removal and the use of predator exclosures have proven to be crucial to growth of the Atlantic Coast piping plover population; however, a diverse and increasing predator community continues to lead to high levels of nest and chickloss. From 2013-2015 predation was the leading known cause of nest failure statewide in New Jersey (Pover and Davis 2013, Pover and Davis 2014, Pover and Davis 2015). In 2015, of the nests that failed due to predators, 60% were attributed to mammals such as red fox and 24% to avian predators such as laughing gull. Major et al. (1999) found that nest predation was significantly higher (62% predation rate) in linear strips of habitat than large, open patches (34% predation rate) suggesting that landscape-level features may affect risks within breeding habitat. Furthermore, causes of piping plover chick loss are largely unknown, and chick survival does not benefit from nest exclosures. Knowledge gained throughmonitoring the predator community and determining sources of nest and chick loss can lead to arigorous evaluation of the effects of predator management at sites with varying levels of lethal and nonlethal predator control as well as sites with no predator management practices.The information gained from this project can be applied across the species range. We will evaluate the effects of beach renourishment on nesting piping plovers at two sites and the effects of habitat restoration at one site along the New Jersey coast. Insight into the factors that affect the success of habitat restoration can be applied not only for future restoration projects, but also where natural habitat creation from storms has occurred and storm damage reparation that may affect habitat is planned, as for the Fire Island to Montauk Point Reformulation Study in New York. Additionally,renourishment is widespread in the NY-NJ recovery unit, and in highly developed areas can lead to short term attraction of nesting pairs but long term declines in chick foraging habitat (Cohen et al. 2009); down-drift effects in more pristine areas such as Forsythe are not well known and are likely to continue into the future.Our project will have several incidental benefits. Refining mortality rates of adults at exclosures will complement a concurrent USFWS-funded project on the costs and benefits of exclosure use that is currently planned for range wide application. Applying well-informed management techniques that protect habitat and reduce predator pressures for piping plovers will also have positive effects for otherbeach nesting shorebirds such as American Oystercatchers, Least Terns, Common Terns, and Black Skimmers as well as migrating shorebirds such as Red l<nots which share similar habitat during fall migration. Moreover, the telemetry towers established for this project to monitor piping plover movement and predation can provide information on other nano-tagged migratory birds such as thenewly listed Red Knot.Awarded Start Date: 4/12/17Sponsor: US Fish & Wildlife Service
Animal Health Component
0%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
100%
Applied
(N/A)
Developmental
(N/A)
Goals / Objectives
Atlantic Coast piping plovers were listed in 1986, and since then recovery has proceeded via reducing human disturbance, controlling predators, and in a few cases restoring habitat. Due to these proactive and protective measures, the population has increased by 140% (USFWS 2015). However, the Atlantic coast population continues to hover below the species recovery goal and the NY-NJ recovery unit has seen little to no growth since listing. New adaptive management approaches are needed to establish proven methods for recovery and to instill confidence in cause and effect of management. Recovery depends on identifying and managing limiting factors in this recovery unit. We will take advantage of recent habitat restoration, habitat alteration due to beach renourishment, and predator management inaddition to two prior years of band resightings and predator data for piping plovers in New Jersey to provide recommendations for more informed habitat restoration, better assessment of predation risk, and more targeted predator management practices.In the New York-New Jersey recovery unit, piping plover abundance declined 36 percent between 2007 and 2014, and productivity in 2012 and 2013 was far below the replacement rate (NJ DEP, unpubl. data).The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has set at target for the New York-New Jersey Recovery Unit of 575 pairs (USFWS 1996), and in 2014 abundance was estimated at 378 pairs with the New Jersey portion reaching an all-time low of 92 pairs (USFWS 2015). Habitat loss due to human development and high recreational beach use are elevated threats in the NY-NJ recovery unit due to the proximity of large metropolitan areas. Beach renourishment and stabilization projects have focused on maintaining adequate beach areas to prevent erosion, protect human development and promote recreation, but the effects of such actions on piping plovers are largely unknown. In some parts of the species' range, mass gain of chicks has been shown to be lower when nesting pairs are attracted to sites without access tohigh-quality foraging areas than when they do have access (Loegering and Fraser 1995). When restoration or natural events create new foraging habitat, human disturbance may reduce the benefits by preventing broods from reaching foraging areas. Given that piping plovers in New Jersey have not exhibited a sustained upward trend despite decades of intensive protection and monitoring, the bestway to alleviate limiting factors is uncertain. Habitat restoration projects have aimed at increasing the amount of nesting and foraging habitat for piping plovers in New Jersey, but the response by piping plovers using marked individuals has not yet been measured. Understanding limiting factors while proceeding with management is a critical need, and we are proposing an adaptive approach tomanagement for plovers in this imperiled Recovery Unit. We propose a one-year extension to a Ph.D. project to study factors limiting piping plover reproductive success.Depredation of nests and chicks is a major threat that is likely to increase with populations of human commensal predators. Predator management techniques including predator removal and the use of predator exclosures have proven to be crucial to growth of the Atlantic Coast piping plover population; however, a diverse and increasing predator community continues to lead to high levels of nest and chickloss. From 2013-2015 predation was the leading known cause of nest failure statewide in New Jersey (Pover and Davis 2013, Pover and Davis 2014, Pover and Davis 2015). In 2015, of the nests that failed due to predators, 60% were attributed to mammals such as red fox and 24% to avian predators such as laughing gull. Major et al. (1999) found that nest predation was significantly higher (62% predation rate) in linear strips of habitat than large, open patches (34% predation rate) suggesting that landscape-level features may affect risks within breeding habitat. Furthermore, causes of piping plover chick loss are largely unknown, and chick survival does not benefit from nest exclosures. Knowledge gained through monitoring the predator community and determining sources of nest and chick loss can lead to arigorous evaluation of the effects of predator management at sites with varying levels of lethal and nonlethal predator control as well as sites with no predator management practices.The information gained from this project can be applied across the species range. We will evaluate the effects of beach renourishment on nesting piping plovers at two sites and the effects of habitat restoration at one site along the New Jersey coast. Insight into the factors that affect the success of habitat restoration can be applied not only for future restoration projects, but also where natural habitat creation from storms has occurred and storm damage reparation that may affect habitat is planned, as for the Fire Island to Montauk Point Reformulation Study in New York. Additionally, renourishment is widespread in the NY-NJ recovery unit, and in highly developed areas can lead to short term attraction of nesting pairs but long term declines in chick foraging habitat (Cohen et al. 2009);down-drift effects in more pristine areas such as Forsythe are not well known and are likely to continue into the future.Our project will have several incidental benefits. Refining mortality rates of adults at exclosures will complement a concurrent USFWS-funded project on the costs and benefits of exclosure use that is currently planned for range wide application. Applying well-informed management techniques that protect habitat and reduce predator pressures for piping plovers will also have positive effects for otherbeach nesting shorebirds such as American Oystercatchers, Least Terns, Common Terns, and Black Skimmers as well as migrating shorebirds such as Red Knots which share similar habitat during fall migration. Moreover, the telemetry towers established for this project to monitor piping plover movement and predation can provide information on other nano-tagged migratory birds such as the newly listed Red Knot.
Project Methods
The study will take place between Barnegat Light State Park and Cape May Point State Park and will contain up to 50 pairs of plovers, depending on the number included from EB Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge which is supplying supplemental funding. The field component of the study will take place for 17 weeks between 15 April and 15 August 2017.