Terrestrial Vertebrates of Tidal Marshes: Evolution, Ecology, and Conservation
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Marshes Tidal of Vertebrates Terrestrial et al. Greenberg Biology No. 32 Avian Studies in TERRESTRIAL VERTEBRATES OF TIDAL MARSHES: EVOLUTION, ECOLOGY, AND CONSERVATION RUSSELL GREENBERG, JESÚS E. MALDONADO, SAM DROEGE, AND M. VICTORIA MCDONALD, ASSOCIATE EDITORS Cloudy Day, Rhode Island by Martin Johnson Heade Painting © 2006 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston “At low tide the salt marsh is a vast fi eld of grasses with slightly higher grasses sticking up along the creeks…The effect is like that of a great fl at meadow. At high tide…the marsh is still a marsh, but spears of grass are sticking up through water, a world of water where land was before, each blade of grass a little island, each island a refuge for marsh animals which do not lie or cannot stand the submersion of salt water.” John and Mildred Teal. Life and Death of a Salt Marsh. Ballentine Books, 1969. Studies in Avian Biology No. 32 A Publication of the Cooper Ornithological Society TERRESTRIAL VERTEBRATES OF TIDAL MARSHES: EVOLUTION, ECOLOGY, AND CONSERVATION Russell Greenberg, Jesús E. Maldonado, Sam Droege, and M. Victoria McDonald Associate Editors Studies in Avian Biology No. 32 A PUBLICATION OF THE COOPER ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY Cover painting (Saltmarsh Sharp-tailed Sparrow) and black-and-white drawings by Julie Zickefoose Painting on back cover “Cloudy Day, Rhode Island” by Martin Johnson Heade Painting © 2006 Museum of Fine Arts Boston STUDIES IN AVIAN BIOLOGY Edited by Carl D. Marti 1310 East Jefferson Street Boise, ID 83712 Spanish translation by Cecilia Valencia Studies in Avian Biology is a series of works too long for The Condor, published at irregular intervals by the Cooper Ornithological Society. Manuscripts for consideration should be submitted to the editor. Style and format should follow those of previous issues. Price $24.00 including postage and handling. All orders cash in advance; make checks payable to Cooper Ornithological Society. Send orders to Cooper Ornithological Society, ℅ Western Foundation of Vertebrate Zoology, 439 Calle San Pablo, Camarillo, CA 93010 Permission to Copy The Cooper Ornithological Society hereby grants permission to copy chapters (in whole or in part) appearing in Studies in Avian Biology for personal use, or educational use within one’s home institution, without payment, provided that the copied material bears the statement “©2006 The Cooper Ornithological Society” and the full citation, including names of all authors. Authors may post copies of their chapters on their personal or institutional website, except that whole issues of Studies in Avian Biology may not be posted on websites. Any use not specifi cally granted here, and any use of Studies in Avian Biology articles or portions thereof for advertising, republication, or commercial uses, requires prior consent from the editor. ISBN: 0-943610-70-2 Library of Congress Control Number: 2006933990 Printed at Cadmus Professional Communications, Ephrata, Pennsylvania 17522 Issued: 15 November 2006 Copyright © by the Cooper Ornithological Society 2006 Painting on back cover: Cloudy Day, Rhode Island, 1861. Oil on canvas. 29.53 × 64.45 cm (11⅝ × 25⅜ in). Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Gift of Maxim Karolik for the M. and M. Karolik Collection of American Paintings, 1815–1865 47.1158 CONTENTS LIST OF AUTHORS ........................................................................................................... v FOREWORD............................................................................................ David Challinor 1 INTRODUCTION Tidal marshes: Home for the few and the highly selected ............ Russell Greenberg 2 BIOGEOGRAPHY AND EVOLUTION OF TIDAL-MARSH FAUNAS The quaternary geography and biogeography of tidal saltmarshes ............................ ........... Karl P. Malamud-Roam, Frances P. Malamud-Roam, Elizabeth B. Watson, Joshua N. Collins, and B. Lynn Ingram 11 Diversity and endemism in tidal-marsh vertebrates...................................................... ................................................................ Russell Greenberg and Jesús E. Maldonado 32 Evolution and conservation of tidal-marsh vertebrates: molecular approaches ........ .......................................Yvonne L. Chan, Christopher E. Hill, Jesús E. Maldonado, and Robert C. Fleischer 54 ADAPTATION TO TIDAL MARSHES Avian nesting response to tidal-marsh fl ooding: literature review and a case for adaptation in the Red-winged Blackbird........................................Steven E. Reinert 77 Flooding and predation: trade-offs in the nesting ecology of tidal-marsh sparrows.... ........................................Russell Greenberg, Christopher Elphick, J. Cully Nordby, Carina Gjerdrum, Hildie Spautz, Gregory Shriver, Barbara Schmeling, Brian Olsen, Peter Marra, Nadav Nur, and Maiken Winter 96 Osmoregulatory biology of saltmarsh passerines ......................... David L. Goldstein 110 Social behavior of North American tidal-marsh vertebrates ........................................ ............................................................ M. Victoria McDonald and Russell Greenberg 119 Trophic adaptations in sparrows and other vertebrates of tidal marshes................... ...................................................................... J. Letitia Grenier and Russell Greenberg 130 REGIONAL STUDIES Breeding birds of northeast saltmarshes: habitat use and conservation...................... ..................................................................... Alan R. Hanson and W. Gregory Shriver 141 Impacts of marsh management on coastal-marsh birds habitats.................................. ............... Laura R. Mitchell, Steven Gabrey, Peter P. Marra, and R. Michael Erwin 155 Environmental threats to tidal-marsh vertebrates of the San Francisco Bay estuary...... .............John Y. Takekawa, Isa Woo, Hildie Spautz, Nadav Nur, J. Letitia Grenier, Karl Malamud-Roam, J. Cully Nordby, Andrew N. Cohen, Frances Malamud-Roam, and Susan E. Wainwright-De La Cruz 176 Are southern California’s fragmented salt marshes capable of sustaining endemic bird populations?.................................................................................Abby N. Powell 198 CONSERVATION BIOLOGY The diamondback terrapin: the biology, ecology, cultural history, and conservation status of an obligate estuarine turtle .................. Kristen M. Hart and David S. Lee 206 High tides and rising seas: potential effects on estuarine waterbirds.......................... ......R. Michael Erwin, Geoffrey M. Sanders, Diann J. Prosser, and Donald R. Cahoon 214 The impact of invasive plants on tidal-marsh vertebrate species: common reed (Phragmites australis) and smooth cordgrass (Spartina alternifl ora) as case studies....... ............................................................ Glenn R. Guntenspergen and J. Cully Nordby 229 Tidal saltmarsh fragmentation and persistence of San Pablo Song Sparrows (Melospiza melodia samuelis): assessing benefi ts of wetland restoration in San Francisco Bay.................................John Y. Takekawa, Benjamin N. Sacks, Isa Woo, Michael L. Johnson, and Glenn D. Wylie 238 Multiple-scale habitat relationships of tidal-marsh breeding birds in the San Francisco Bay estuary ..........Hildie Spautz, Nadav Nur, Diana Stralberg, and Yvonne Chan 247 The Clapper Rail as an indicator species of estuarine-marsh health............................. .......................................... James M. Novak, Karen F. Gaines, James C. Cumbee, Jr., Gary L. Mills, Alejandro Rodriguez-Navarro, and Christopher S. Romanek 270 A unifi ed strategy for monitoring changes in abundance of birds associated with North American tidal marshes..................... Courtney J. Conway and Sam Droege 282 An agenda for research on the ecology, evolution, and conservation of tidal-marsh vertebrates ....................................................................The Symposium Contributors 298 LITERATURE CITED ......................................................................................................... 300 LIST OF AUTHORS DONALD R. CAHOON STEVEN GABREY BARC-East, Building 308 Biology Department 10300 Baltimore Avenue Northwestern Louisiana State University Beltsville, MD 20705 Natchitoches, LA 71497 YVONNE CHAN KAREN F. GAINES Department of Biological Sciences Department of Biology Stanford University University of South Dakota 371 Serra Mall Vermillion, SD 57069 Stanford, CA 94305 (Current address: Department of Biological Sciences, (Current address: PRBO Conservation Science, Eastern Illinois University, Charleston IL 61920) 3820 Cypress Drive #11, Petaluma, CA 94954) CARINA GJERDRUM Ecology and Evolutionary Biology ANDREW N. COHEN University of Connecticut San Francisco Estuary Institute, 75 N. Eagleville Road 7770 Pardee Lane, Storrs, CT 06269-3043 Oakland, CA 94621 DAVID L. GOLDSTEIN JOSHUA N. COLLINS Department of Biological Sciences San Francisco Estuary Institute Wright State University 7770 Pardee Lane Dayton, OH 45435 Oakland, CA 94621 RUSSELL GREENBERG JAMES C. CUMBEE, JR. Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center Savannah River Ecology Laboratory National Zoological Park P.O. Drawer E Washington, DC 20008 Aiken, SC 29802 and J. LETITIA GRENIER, Institute of Ecology Department of Environmental Science, Policy and University of Georgia Management Athens, GA 30602 University of California 151 Hilgard Hall #3110 COURTNEY J. CONWAY Berkeley, CA 94720-3110 U.S. Geological Survey (Current address: San Francisco Estuary Institute, Arizona Cooperative Fish and