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The Demise of a Tropical Coastal Lagoon As Breeding Habitat for Ground-Nesting Waterbirds: Unintended, but Anticipated Consequences of Development

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The Demise of a Tropical Coastal Lagoon As Breeding Habitat for Ground-Nesting Waterbirds: Unintended, but Anticipated Consequences of Development Coastal Management ISSN: 0892-0753 (Print) 1521-0421 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/ucmg20 The Demise of a Tropical Coastal Lagoon as Breeding Habitat for Ground-Nesting Waterbirds: Unintended, but Anticipated Consequences of Development Eric Mellink & Mónica E. Riojas-López To cite this article: Eric Mellink & Mónica E. Riojas-López (2017) The Demise of a Tropical Coastal Lagoon as Breeding Habitat for Ground-Nesting Waterbirds: Unintended, but Anticipated Consequences of Development, Coastal Management, 45:3, 253-269, DOI: 10.1080/08920753.2017.1303766 To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/08920753.2017.1303766 View supplementary material Published online: 14 Apr 2017. Submit your article to this journal Article views: 45 View related articles View Crossmark data Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=ucmg20 COASTAL MANAGEMENT 2017, VOL. 45, NO. 3, 253–269 http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/08920753.2017.1303766 The Demise of a Tropical Coastal Lagoon as Breeding Habitat for Ground-Nesting Waterbirds: Unintended, but Anticipated Consequences of Development Eric Mellinka and Monica E. Riojas-Lopez b aDepartamento de Biologıa de la Conservacion, Centro de Investigacion Cientıfica y de Educacion Superior de Ensenada, Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico; bDepartamento de Ecologıa, CUCBA, Universidad de Guadalajara, Zapopan, Jalisco, Mexico ABSTRACT KEYWORDS Laguna Cuyutlan (Colima, Mexico), an Important Bird Area, used to conservation; Laguna provide breeding habitat for ground-nesting waterbirds. During 2014 Cuyutlan; Laridae; Mexico and 2015, nesting efforts of laughing gull, black skimmer, and royal, gull-billed and Forster’s terns failed almost completely due to inundation, while least terns and snowy plovers fared the same during 2014. No anomalies in rainfall, tidal level, or coseismic subsidence explained such failure. Rather, the inundations were due to the enlarging of Canal Tepalcates that connects the lagoon with the sea, which was widened from 100 to 300 m and dredged to 17-m deep. Before this, the hydrodynamics were regulated by evaporation and runoff. Now, increased seawater volumes dominate the basin’s hydrodynamics. The failure of Laguna Cuyutlan as a breeding habitat for these birds is an important threat for these species, as this lagoon held one of the < 20 colonies known for several of these species along the western coast of North and Central America. Documenting this demise of Laguna Cuyutlan for ground-nesting waterbirds transcends the regional scale as it emphasizes the little consideration still given to biodiversity vs. economic development, and is a warning for coastal projects in other developing areas of the world. Introduction Coastal lagoons are one of the most productive ecosystems on earth, providing a wide range of ecosystem services and resources. However, many of them rank among the most threatened aquatic ecosystems, mostly due to human-caused habitat loss and modification (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MEA) 2005; Kennish and Paerl 2010). Aquatic birds are specially impacted by this, and 21% of all wetland-dependent bird species are globally threatened, especially those in coastal areas (MEA 2005). The 7828 km of the west coast of Mexico include 88 of the country’s 164 coastal lagoons (Ortiz and De la Lanza 2006. As elsewhere in the world (Day et al. 1989;Alongi 1998; Kennish and Pearl 2010), these coastal lagoons provide critical ecosystem services, CONTACT Eric Mellink [email protected]; [email protected] P.O. Box 430222, San Diego, CA 92143-0222, USA. Supplemental data for this article can be accessed on the publisher’s website. © 2017 Taylor & Francis 254 E. MELLINK AND M. E. RIOJAS-LOPEZ including the regulation of biochemical processes, sediment stabilization, coast protec- tion, protein resources for the local population, and nursery habitat for marine fish and invertebrates of commercial importance. These lagoons provide habitat for numerous resident and migratory wildlife species, including at least 40 species of coastal birds, some with conservation problems, which nest in them (Howell and Webb 1995). Despite the overall biological importance of coastal systems, in Mexico they have received little protection beyond being listed as Ramsar sites and the legal protection of mangroves (http://www.ramsar.org/es/humedal/mexico, accessed 13 Jan 2017; SEMARNAT 2003), and many have been deprived of fresh water, suffered hydrological alterations, and received increased sediment volumes, agrochemicals or urban pollutants, and alien species (v.gr. Mellink and Riojas-Lopez 2009). As a result of reduced freshwater flows, pollution, and transformation to shrimp aquaculture, urbanization and tourist development along the coasts, >62% of Mexican wetlands have been lost (Lara-Lara et al. 2008; Landgraveand and Moreno-Casasola 2012). Some anthropogenic impacts on coastal wetlands in Mexico are irreversible, and the remediation of significant area of wetlands would incur large economic, political, and/ or social costs, and is therefore unlikely. Hence, reversal, or even reduction of impacts upon coastal systems is not foreseen in the near future; rather, it seems that human- induced deterioration is accelerating. Even further, in addition to local anthropogenic stressors upon these systems, they will be impacted strongly by the global climate change currently developing, largely through rising sea levels (Galbraith et al. 2002; Poff,Brinson,andDay2002;Erwin2009). The study of the ecological processes in coastal wetlands, and the documentation of human impacts upon them should be a pri- ority as such knowledge should be the base for designing management actions that help them continue to provide environmental services. This is imperative in view of the large-scale environmental changes anticipated due to aggressive development pressures. The impact of these large-scale changes can often be counteracted by local solutions, which reinforces the importance of generating information at the local scale. Laguna Cuyutlan (Figure 1), on Mexico’ssouthernPacificcoast,isan80£ 14-km long coastal lagoon in the middle of a long stretch of coast lacking other major coastal lagoons. It is highly relevant for waterbird conservation (Mellink and Riojas-Lopez 2009), and has been recognized as an “Area de Importancia para la Conservacion de las Aves” (Important Bird Area) (AICA Technical Committee in. lit. 2014). Culturally, it has been important since pre-Hispanic times for the production of salt, which is still done today (Ewald 1985). The eastern section of this lagoon (Basins III and IV; Figure 1) has been designated as a Ramsar site, but its western part (Basins I and II) has not, coinciding with strong governmental interests in developing a large, industrial port in them. Indeed, the Land Management Plan for the area (2003) that did not allow for such development was modified in 2007 to do so. The new development focused on the expansion of the port of Manzanillo into Basin II of the lagoon. The first step of this port expansion was the construction of a liquefied natural gas facility. It would have a storage capacity of 559,325.89 barrels/ month, and a distribution capacity of 10,000 barrels/day; the gas would be provided from tanker ships anchored offshore through marine tubes, and distributed by tanker trucks (Environmental Impact Statement, January 2004). A subsequent liquefied gas terminal was proposed in 2005–2006 (Environmental Impact Statement, undated). It COASTAL MANAGEMENT 255 Figure 1. Laguna Cuyutlan, Colima, and its environs (Image source: Google Earth, © 2014 DigitalGlobe. Reproduced by permission of DigitalGlobe. Permission to reuse must be obtained from the rightsholder.). included the dredging and widening of Canal Tepalcates, an artificial, clogged connec- tion between the lagoon and the sea, to allow entrance of gas-carrying tankers. One of the three options for this project, option “Omega,” which required the construction of a levee between the enlarged canal and gas terminal and the lagoon, was authorized (Letter S.G.P.A./DGIRA.DG.0465.08, signed by the director of the Direccion General de Impacto y Riesgo Ambiental, SEMARNAT, 11 February 2008). Canal Tepalcates was widened and deepened in 2011–2012, but the levee was not built. Hydrology of Laguna Cuyutlan Laguna Cuyutlan has suffered many anthropogenic modifications since the late 19th century (Mellink and Riojas-Lopez 2007), but their effect on the hydrological attributes of the lagoon have not been studied. Even the environmental impact assessment required for the approval of the opening of Canal Tepalcates is quite poor on this subject. From maps drawn in the 19th century and early 20th century (Haroort 1834;Banda 1848;Garcıa y Cubas 1858;MatuteandOrozco1865; Matute 1862;Harivel1900;Santa- Cruz 1900) it is clear that at that time the lagoon functioned like a typical, pristine, trop- ical coastal lagoon in which the main hydrological driver was the summer rains, which 256 E. MELLINK AND M. E. RIOJAS-LOPEZ Figure 2. Climograph of the Colima coast (Manzanillo airport weather station). account for >90% of the annual rainfall of 800–864 mm (Figure 2). During the dry sea- son a wave-induced sand bar would close the mouth of the lagoon, preventing water interchange with the sea. During the rainy season, floodwater would pile up inside the lagoon until finally breaking through the mouth, lowering water levels and salinity, and scouring sediments
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