The Foraging and Habitat Ecology of Black Terns in Maine
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The University of Maine DigitalCommons@UMaine Electronic Theses and Dissertations Fogler Library 5-2001 The orF aging and Habitat Ecology of Black Terns in Maine Andrew Gilbert Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/etd Part of the Natural Resources and Conservation Commons, and the Poultry or Avian Science Commons Recommended Citation Gilbert, Andrew, "The orF aging and Habitat Ecology of Black Terns in Maine" (2001). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 650. http://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/etd/650 This Open-Access Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by DigitalCommons@UMaine. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@UMaine. THE FORAGING AND HABITAT ECOLOGY OF BLACK TERNS IN MAINE By Andrew T. Gilbert B.A. Bowdoin College, 1995 A THESIS Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science (in Wildlife Ecology) The Graduate School The University of Maine May, 2001 Advisory Committee: Frederick A. Servello, Associate Professor of Wildlife Ecology, Advisor Judith Rhymer, Assistant Professor of Wildlife Ecology Aram J. K. Calhoun, Assistant Professor of Wetland Ecology of Plant, Soil, and Environmental Sciences Mark A. McCollough, Threatened and Endangered Species Group Leader, Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife THE FORAGING AND HABITAT ECOLOGY OF BLACK TERNS IN MAINE By Andrew T. Gilbert Thesis Advisor: Dr. Frederick A. Servello An Abstract of the Thesis Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science (in Wildlife Ecology) May, 2001 The population of Black Terns in Maine is small and factors related to the ecology of this species’ foraging and habitat ecology might limit population growth and recovery. The objectives were to (1) determine if diet and provisioning rates are limiting chick growth, (2) identify and rank suitable habitat in Maine, and (3) determine if precipitation patterns and water level dynamics are limiting in Maine. I compared growth rates of chicks in 1998-2000 in Maine to rates from other studies, determined the influence of colony, year, and diet on growth rates and food deliveries and used an energetics model to determine the sensitivity of growth rates to feeding parameters. To identify potential wetland habitat, I used a Geographic Information System analysis of National Wetlands Inventory data from Maine based on the following criteria: wetland complexes were >5 ha total area with >1 ha open water and contained semipermanently flooded emergent wetland. To assess effects of flooding, I determined the probability of occurrence for 3 levels (low, moderate, and catastrophic) of nest losses associated with flooding, based on nest loss data and stream gauge and precipitation data for 1960-1999. Growth rates of Black Tern chicks in Maine (ξ = 4.46 g/d) were similar to other studies (range 4.18-5.18 g/d) and varied with hatch order and brood, but not year or colony. Third-hatched chicks (of 3) grew most slowly (ξ = 4.15 g/d) but at greater rates than one reported estimate (3.32 g/d) for starved chicks. Patterns of food deliveries were complex. The ratio of fish to insects in the diet ranged from 3.4-13.3, and total delivery rates varied widely (9.1-23.7 items/brood-hr), but there was no evidence that growth rates differed among diets. Weight change in chicks was best predicted by delivery rates of large fish, large and small insects, and temperature; however, modeling indicated that growth rates were most sensitive to rates of large insect delivery. My results indicate that diet type did not influence growth rates of chicks at the observed rates of delivery, and overall there was no evidence that food resources limited fledging rates in Black Terns in Maine. I identified 730 potential colony sites for Black Terns in Maine. Potential sites ranged in size from 5-30,864 ha (ξ = 425 ha) and had 0.04-228 ha of semipermanently flooded emergent wetland. However, only 51 sites were classified as high potential sites (>20 ha of semipermanently flooded emergent wetland) The availability of potential sites does not appear to be limiting the population of Black Terns in Maine, but these sites should be ground surveyed because wetland classification data may be out-dated or too coarse-grained. Moderate flooding events have the potential to cause the greatest long-term effect on nesting success in Maine because of a high frequency of occurrence (38% of years) and >50% nest loss in the largest colony and 36% in other colonies. Small flooding events occurred often (70% of years), but resulted in few nest losses and catastrophic flooding events caused extensive nest losses (>94% in the largest colony and 36% in other colonies) but occurred in only 13% of years. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First, I would like to thank my advisor, Dr. Frederick A. Servello, for all of his tireless help with all aspects of this project and for allowing me the opportunity to work with Black Terns. Thank you also to the members of my committee Dr. Aram Calhoun, Dr. Judith Rhymer, and Dr. Mark McCollough for their valuable input and guidance. I would also like to thank Don McDougal for his help with this project and housing during the field season and years of work with Black Terns in Maine. Additionally, I would like to thank the many field assistants that helped me with this work in 1998 and 1999: Arthur Lavoie, Brenda Bilotta, Laura Veilleux, Jeff Corcoran, Ryan Fitzgibbons, Natalie Doel, Kelsey Daigle, Gina Purtell, Katie Wight, as well as other technicians that collected food habits and growth data in 1997 and 1998. William Hanson from FPL Energy generously volunteered time and equipment for this project. Jeff Hepinstall provided invaluable GIS support and data. Thank you also to the graduate students in the Wildlife Ecology Department who provided technical, intellectual, and social support. Finally, I would especially like to thank Deirdre Gilbert for her love and support as a field technician, editor, and wife without whom I could not have completed this work. Funding for this research was provided by The United States Fish and Wildlife Servive (USFWS) Partnerships in Wildlife Program, FPL Energy-Maine Hydro, The Maine Agriculture and Forest Experiment Station, The Department of Wildlife Ecology, Maine Outdoor Heritage Fund, and Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. Sunkhaze Meadows National Wildlife Refuge, USFWS was a cooperator. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................ii LIST OF TABLES .............................................................................................................vi LIST OF FIGURES..........................................................................................................viii INTRODUCTION...............................................................................................................1 Chapter 1. FOOD DELIVERY PATTERNS AND GROWTH OF BLACK TERN CHICKS.......2 Introduction.............................................................................................................2 Study Area...............................................................................................................4 Methods...................................................................................................................6 Chick Growth .....................................................................................................6 Food Delivery Observations...............................................................................7 Insect Sampling ..................................................................................................8 Statistical Analyses.............................................................................................8 Growth rates ................................................................................................8 Feeding observations...................................................................................9 Colony-specific diets.................................................................................11 Relationship between chick growth and food deliveries...........................11 Insect sampling..........................................................................................12 Modeling Growth of Black Terns ....................................................................12 Estimates of daily energy expenditure ......................................................14 Estimates of metabolizeable energy intake...............................................14 Sensitivity analysis....................................................................................16 iv Results...................................................................................................................17 Chick Growth Rate...........................................................................................17 Feeding Observations.......................................................................................19 Accuracy of feeding observations.............................................................20 Assessment of temporal bias.....................................................................21 Patterns of food delivery ...........................................................................21 Chick Growth-Food Provisioning Relationship...............................................29