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Diet of the Purple Swamphen in South Florida and Invasion

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Diet of the Purple Swamphen in South Florida and Invasion DIET OF THE PURPLE SWAMPHEN IN SOUTH FLORIDA AND INVASION PATHWAYS OF NONNATIVE AVIAN SPECIES IN FLORIDA by Corey Callaghan A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of The Charles E. Schmidt College of Science In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science Florida Atlantic University Boca Raton, FL August 2015 Copyright 2015 by Corey T. Callaghan ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I wish to express the utmost gratitude to those who have helped me through the process of writing this thesis. In particular I would like to thank my advisor, Dr. Dale Gawlik for his persistence and encouragement throughout the writing process. He helped me realize that you truly do only “get out of it what you put into it”. He also forced me to “get in the weeds” on various portions of analysis and writing and I am very grateful for this as I feel I come away with a greater understanding. Not only did he foster my help in writing this manuscript, but also helped push and challenge my thinking about ecology as a whole. I am grateful to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission for providing funding for the Purple Swamphen work. Lastly, I thank members of the Gawlik lab who were willing to help any step of the way, share their expertise, and some of whom were willing to read various drafts of this thesis. iv ABSTRACT Author: Corey Callaghan Title: Diet of the Purple Swamphen in South Florida and Invasion Pathways of Nonnative Avian Species in Florida Institution: Florida Atlantic University Thesis Advisor: Dr. Dale Gawlik Degree: Master of Science Year: 2015 The spread of nonnative invasive species has become the second greatest threat to global biodiversity, making management of invasive species a critical component of the conservation of biodiversity worldwide. Managers and conservation biologists often lack basic life history data, as well as quantitative and theoretical models to predict risk of invasion or other negative effects. I contribute information to both categories by providing life history information (diet and morphology) of the Purple Swamphen (Porphyrio porphyrio) and by characterizing the invasion pathways that nonnative avian species in Florida follow. I found Purple Swamphens are predominantly eating and selecting for Eleocharis cellulosa. Additionally, there is a large amount of variation in nonnative avian species’ propensity to colonize natural habitat and the time it takes to do so. Nine out of 15 species investigated colonized natural habitat and the time it took them to do so ranged from 8 to 41 years. It is through a combination of various techniques that ecologists will begin to fully understand the importance of studying nonnative species as well as reducing the impact that nonnatives have on native ecosystems. v DIET OF THE PURPLE SWAMPHEN IN SOUTH FLORIDA AND INVASION PATWHAYS OF NONNATIVE AVIAN SPECIES IN FLORIDA List of Tables ................................................................................................................... viii List of Figures ......................................................................................................................x Chapter 1: Introduction ........................................................................................................1 Chapter 2: Diet and Selectivity of the Purple Swamphen in South Florida.........................3 Background ....................................................................................................................3 Methods..........................................................................................................................6 Study Area ...............................................................................................................6 Food Item Abundance ..............................................................................................6 Selectivity ................................................................................................................8 Physical Characteristics .........................................................................................10 Results ..........................................................................................................................11 Food Item Abundance ............................................................................................12 Selectivity ..............................................................................................................13 Physical Characteristics .........................................................................................13 Discussion ....................................................................................................................14 Food Item Abundance ............................................................................................14 Selectivity ..............................................................................................................17 Physical Characteristics .........................................................................................18 vi Conclusion .............................................................................................................18 Chapter 3: Invasion Pathways of Nonnative Avian Species in Florida .............................31 Background ..................................................................................................................31 Methods........................................................................................................................35 Study Species .........................................................................................................35 Data Analysis .........................................................................................................35 Spatial Extent ...................................................................................................35 Average Count .................................................................................................36 Habitat Classification .............................................................................................37 Statistical Analysis .................................................................................................37 Spatial Extent ...................................................................................................37 Average Count .................................................................................................38 Results ..........................................................................................................................38 Discussion ....................................................................................................................40 Conclusions ............................................................................................................43 Chapter 4: Synthesis ..........................................................................................................56 Appendices .........................................................................................................................58 Appendix A ..................................................................................................................59 Appendix B ..................................................................................................................63 Appendix C ..................................................................................................................64 References ..........................................................................................................................65 vii LIST OF TABLES Chapter 2: Diet and Selectivity of the Purple Swamphen in South Florida Table 1. A modified Braun-Blanquet Scale showing the cover class used for the corresponding range of cover. .............................................................................24 Table 2. A summary of the morphological characteristics collected from a total of 85 Purple Swamphens from the three different study sites in south Florida, 2014. ............................................................................................25 Table 3. ANOSIM test for differences in morphology between Stormwater Treatment Area 1W, Water Conservation Area 2B, and Lake Okeechobee across all sex groups in south Florida, 2014. The global R statistics is accounting for all three sites while the pairwise groups demonstrates that STA1W is most different than WCA2B...............................................................................................................26 Table 4. Biomass estimates of food items in Purple Swamphen stomachs from Stormwater Treatment Area 1W, Water Conservation Area 2B, and Lake Okeechobee in south Florida, 2014. The numbers in parantheses indicate the sample size from the corresponding area. ...........................................................27 Table 5. ANOSIM test for differences in Purple Swamphen diet among Stormwater Treatment Area 1W, Water Conservation Area 2B, and Lake Okeechobee in south Florida, 2014. ............................................................................................28 Table 6. Dissimilarity between study sites in diets. Pairwise groups into contributions from each food item recorded for Stormwater Treatment Area 1W, Water viii Conservation Area 2B, and Lake Okeechobee in south Florida, 2014. Food items are listed in order of decreasing contribution. ...........................................29 Table
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