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Assessment of Peregrine Falcon (Falco Peregrinus Anatum) Nesting Habitat in the San Francisco Bay Area

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Assessment of Peregrine Falcon (Falco Peregrinus Anatum) Nesting Habitat in the San Francisco Bay Area San Jose State University SJSU ScholarWorks Master's Theses Master's Theses and Graduate Research Fall 2018 Assessment of Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus anatum) Nesting Habitat in the San Francisco Bay Area Prabha Venu San Jose State University Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/etd_theses Recommended Citation Venu, Prabha, "Assessment of Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus anatum) Nesting Habitat in the San Francisco Bay Area" (2018). Master's Theses. 4989. DOI: https://doi.org/10.31979/etd.64d6-6c69 https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/etd_theses/4989 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Master's Theses and Graduate Research at SJSU ScholarWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in Master's Theses by an authorized administrator of SJSU ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact [email protected]. ASSESSMENT OF PEREGRINE FALCON (Falco peregrinus anatum) NESTING HABITAT IN THE SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA A Thesis Presented to The Faculty of the Department of Environmental Studies San José State University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Science by Prabha Venu December 2018 © 2018 Prabha Venu ALL RIGHTS RESERVED The Designated Thesis Committee Approves the Thesis Titled ASSESSMENT OF PEREGRINE FALCON (Falco peregrinus anatum) NESTING HABITAT IN THE SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA by Prabha Venu APPROVED FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES SAN JOSÉ STATE UNIVERSITY December 2018 Lynne Trulio, Ph.D. Department of Environmental Studies William Russell, Ph.D. Department of Environmental Studies Douglas A. Bell, Ph.D. East Bay Regional Park District Richard M. Kos, AICP. Department of Urban and Regional Planning ABSTRACT ASSESSMENT OF PEREGRINE FALCON (Falco peregrinus anatum) NESTING HABITAT IN THE SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA by Prabha Venu Human encroachment into natural environments fragments and degrades the habitat for many species and raptors such as the peregrine falcon (Falco peregrinus) have adapted to the urban environment, co-existing with humans and other wildlife. The habitat preference of the American peregrine falcon subpopulation, F. p. anatum was investigated in the densely urbanized San Francisco Bay Area. In this research, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) applications to evaluate ten environmental attributes and their influence on 47 nesting sites were used. Distances from peregrine falcon nesting sites to two federally listed prey species the California least tern (Sterna antillarum browni) and the western snowy plover (Charadrius nivosus nivosus), respectively, were measured. Analysis of average nearest neighbor distance showed that the spatial distribution of nesting sites was not clustered, but more random (z = -1.56, p = 0.120) indicating that the species was occupying any available territories as they found them. Distance to the two federally listed species differed between the 20-natural and 27- anthropogenic peregrine falcon nest sites (natural = 35.37 km, anthropogenic = 16.30 km, p = 0.001). Analysis revealed the following environmental attributes, elevation, wind, precipitation, and solar radiation, to be of primary importance to the peregrine falcon breeding habitat. These results can be used by managers to assess where peregrine falcons are able to nest and may serve as inputs to a predictive model to forecast potential future nest sites. DEDICATION I dedicate this research in honor of my dear father, Aravamudham Venu, who set an incredible example of a life of hard work, determination and perseverance. He soars above like a beautiful falcon catching the wind beneath its wings. August 1, 1933 – June 23, 2015 I sincerely appreciate the tremendous support and help provided by the following people without whom this thesis would not have been brought to fruition: Dr. Lynne Trulio, who took me under her wing and provided such unwavering support for my thesis work and approach; Richard Kos, an outstanding professor and my committee advisor whose help I sought at every step of the way; Dr. Doug Bell for his invaluable feedback and guidance; Ana Rivera, a dear friend for her in-depth knowledge of GIS, insight and direction; Ms. Julie Phillips, a phenomenal human being and environmental steward who planted those seeds early on for me to follow through. Finally, I wish to thank my sweet daughter, Sahana Venu-Solbeck for her patience through our several walks to the university, library, and prolonged days and weekends at the lab. I also want to thank the Urban and Regional Planning (URBP) Department in San José State University for adopting me as an honorary member in their department and providing me a second home as I worked on my thesis. v TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Tables ................................................................................................................... viii List of Figures ................................................................................................................... ix Introduction .......................................................................................................................11 Human-Raptor Relationship ........................................................................................13 The American Peregrine Falcon ..................................................................................15 Pesticide use and post-recovery. ...........................................................................18 Related Research ...............................................................................................................23 Urban Ecology .............................................................................................................23 The Urban Peregrine Falcon ........................................................................................26 Predator-Prey Dynamics ..............................................................................................30 The western snowy plover. ....................................................................................32 The California least tern. .......................................................................................35 Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in Ecology ...................................................42 Similar Research Methods ...........................................................................................43 Objectives ..........................................................................................................................49 Research Questions .....................................................................................................50 Hypotheses ..................................................................................................................50 Methods .............................................................................................................................51 Study Area ...................................................................................................................51 Data Sources ................................................................................................................54 Study Design ...............................................................................................................56 Data Analysis ..............................................................................................................58 Mapping nest locations and related buffers. ..........................................................59 Elevation of nesting sites. ......................................................................................60 Slope. .....................................................................................................................63 Average wind speed. .............................................................................................65 Average solar radiation. ........................................................................................67 Nearest Neighbor Distance (NND) between nest sites. ........................................69 Average precipitation. ...........................................................................................69 Distance to federally listed species. ......................................................................71 Distance to water. ..................................................................................................71 Temperature. ..........................................................................................................71 Land cover. ............................................................................................................74 vi Descriptive and inferential statistics. .....................................................................76 Principal Component Analysis (PCA). .................................................................76 Limitations ...................................................................................................................76 Results ...............................................................................................................................79 Average Nearest Neighbor ..........................................................................................79 Descriptive Statistics ...................................................................................................80 Inferential Statistics .....................................................................................................80
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