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Feeding Ecology of Waterfowl Wintering on Evaporation Ponds in California’

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Feeding Ecology of Waterfowl Wintering on Evaporation Ponds in California’ The Condor 93582-590 0 The Cooper Ornithological Society 1991 FEEDING ECOLOGY OF WATERFOWL WINTERING ON EVAPORATION PONDS IN CALIFORNIA’ NED H. EULISS, JR.~ AND ROBERT L. JARVIS Department of Fisheriesand Wildlife, Oregon State University,Corvallis, OR 97331 DAVID S. GILMER U.S. Fish and Wildlif Service,Northern Prairie WildLyeResearch Center, 6924 Tremont Road, Dixon, CA 95620 Abstract. We examinedthe feedingecology of NorthernPintails (Anas acuta), Northern Shovelers(A. clypeata), and Ruddy Ducks (Oxyura jamaicensis) winteringon drainwater evaporationponds in California from 1982 through 1984. Pintails primarily consumed midges(Chironomidae) (39.3%) and widegeongrass(Ruppia maritima) nutlets (34.6%). Shovelersand RuddyDucks consumed 92.5% and 90.1%animal matter,respectively. Water boatmen(Corixidae) (5 1.6%),rotifers (Rotatoria) (20.4%), and copepods (Copepoda) (15.2%) werethe most importantShoveler foods, and midges(49.7%) and waterboatmen (36.0°@ werethe most important foods ofRuddy Ducks. All threespecies were opportunistic foragers, shiftingtheir dietsseasonally to the mostabundant foods given their behavioraland mor- phologicalattributes. Kev words: Aauatic invertebrates:evaooration ponds; feeding ecology;Northern Pintails; Northern Shovelek: Ruddy Ducks. INTRODUCTION is by evaporation in shallow ponds (hereafter Agricultural development has led to a 94% loss called evaporation ponds). of historic wetlands in the Central Valley of Cal- There are presently about 3,000 ha of evap- ifornia (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 1978). In oration ponds in the Central Valley of California the Tulare Lake and Buena Vista Lake basins, (Barnum and Gilmer 1988). This study was con- located in the southern San Joaquin Valley, about ceived to evaluate the diets of several speciesof 250,000 ha of shallow wetlands have been con- waterfowl that used evaporation ponds. We se- verted to irrigated agriculture(Gilmer et al. 1982). lected Pintails (Anus acuta), Shovelers (A. cly- Historically, the region was a major concentra- peutu), and Ruddy Ducks (Oxyuru jumuicensis) tion area for waterfowl but present use is con- for sampling becausethey commonly used evap- fined to habitats provided by the Kern National oration ponds and each represented a distinct Wildlife Refuge (NWR), private duck clubs, wa- feeding mode (i.e., dabbling, filtering, and diving) ter storagebasins, flooded agricultural fields, and (Bellrose 1980). evaporation ponds. Traditional irrigation prac- STUDY AREA tices cause salts to concentrate in upper soil pro- files, frequently limiting plant growth. As a re- We studied waterfowl on drainwater evaporation sult, farmers have installed subsurfaceirrigation ponds operated by the Tulare Lake Drainage drainage systemsto remove salts from upper soil District (TLDD) in Kings and Kern counties, profiles of irrigated fields. This drainwater is sa- California. This region is characterized by long line and contains heavy metals and other envi- dry summerswith annual rainfall averagingabout ronmental contaminants (Presser and Barnes 15 cm (Kahrl1979). These ponds, built in 1980- 1985). Presently, the only economically accept- 1982, consisted of three separate evaporation able means of disposingof subsurfacedrainwater systems (EPS) that collectively comprised 18 separate ponds. Ponds ranged in size from 22- 104 ha (SZ= 65 ha). EPSs contained 4 or 10 interconnected ponds that allowed drainwater to ’ ’ Received17 September1990. Final acceptance11 flow through interconnected ponds to a terminal March 1991. 2Present address: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, cell. Ponds were generally < 1 m deep with flat Northern Prairie Wildlife ResearchCenter, Route 1, bottoms. Drainwater entering an EPS was about Box 96C, Jamestown,ND 58401-9736. 5-l 0 mS/cm electrical conductivity (EC) but in- [5821 WATERFOWL FEEDING ECOLOGY 583 creasedin successiveponds due to evaporation pond averagesof potential food items were con- to >300 mS/cm EC (TLDD, unpubl. data). sidered as sample replicates. We sorted food items collected from duck METHODS esophagi and pond samples into taxonomic We collected ducks by shooting after observing groups,and dried them to constant weight at 55- them feed for 2 10 min from September through 60°C for 24 hours. Martin and Barkley (196 l), March, 1982-1984. Shotguns were used to col- Grodhaus (1967), Pennak (1978), and Merritt lect birds within 40 m of shore and rifles were and Cummins (1984) were used to identify food used to collect birds foraging >40 m of shore. items. Water depth was recorded (f 0.1 cm) at the feed- We summarized food habits and standing ing location when birds were retrieved. At night, biomass data as aggregatepercent (Swansonet al. we did not observe feeding behavior, but illu- 1974) dry mass. Statistical analyses were per- minated birds with a 12-volt floodlight and shot formed only with birds that contained I 5 mg of them as they flushed (Euliss 1984). Water depths food in their esophagi.We used aggregatepercent at feeding locations were not determined for birds dry masses of total invertebrates consumed as collected at night because exact foraging loca- the dependent variable in an analysis of variance tions were not observed. Observation of feeding (ANOVA) to evaluate the effect of treatments: behavior prior to collection is not necessaryto month, year, bird age, time of collection (diurnal obtain nocturnal food habits data (Euliss 1984) versus nocturnal), age of EPS, and all possible becauseducks mostly forage at night (Euliss and interactions. An arcsine transformation was re- Harris 1987, Tamisier 1978/79). We removed quired to stabilize the variance of aggregateper- their esophagi immediately and preserved their cent dry massesof food items. Overall differences contents in 80% ethanol (Swanson and Bartonek in use of specificfoods among duck specieswere 1970). Aquatic invertebrates lose dry mass when assessedwith ANOVA, and Student-Newman- stored in ethanol (Howmiller 1972). Hence, the Kuels (SNK) multiple comparison test was used proportions of invertebrates in waterfowl diets to locate differences. Orthogonal contrasts were reportedherein are conservative. Birds were sexed used to evaluate seasonal changesin waterfowl and aged using plumage characteristics(Carney diet. Water depths recorded at each site where 1964). Bursal examinations were also considered birds were collected required a squareroot trans- when plumage characteristics alone were insuf- formation to stabilize the variance. We tested ficient to positively classify age. transformed data for differences among duck Standing biomass of potential waterfowl food species using a SNK multiple comparison test items (aquatic invertebrates and seeds) present after the null hypothesis had been rejected using in evaporation ponds was determined from Oc- ANOVA. tober through March, 1982-1983 and from Sep- tember through March, 1983-l 984. We collect- RESULTS ed samplesfrom nine (18 pondstotal) evaporation ponds throughout the study; study ponds were POND BIOTA selectedacross a gradient (10 to > 70 mS/cm EC) Diversity of aquatic plants and invertebrates was of salt content. Equally spaced transects were low relative to that in surrounding freshwater establishedin each study pond and sampleswere wetlands, but the taxa present were often highly collected at random points along each transect. abundant (Euliss 1989). Widgeongrass (Ruppiu Water column and benthic biota were collected maritima) was common in ponds having 40-75 with samplers modified after those described by mS/cm EC, and horned pondweed (Zannichellia Swanson (1978a, 1978b). Benthic and water col- palustris), occasionally observed in less saline umn sampleswere cleaned by sieving with a self- ponds, was not abundant. Midge larvae and wa- cleaning (0.5 mm mesh) screen(Swanson 1977). ter boatmen composed the bulk of the foods A benthic and a water column sample was col- available (Table 1). We recorded only two species lected from each of 10 transects in 1982-1983. ofmidge larvae; Tanypusgrodhausiwas the most To reduce within sample variance, we increased common. Similarly, the bulk of the water boat- to 20 transects and collected a benthic and a men biomass was formed by Trichocorixa reticu- water column sample per transect in 1983-l 984. lata although Corisella spp. was present during Each pond was sampled every three weeks and the spring. Additionally, copepods (Copepoda), WATERFOWL FEEDING ECOLOGY 585 80- 20- SEP OCT JAN FEB MONTH ta WATER BOATMEN EGGS ix FOG WEED SEEDS jgj IID WATER BOATMEN ALKALI WEED SEEDS a MIDGES isi WIDGEONGRASS NUTLETS OTHER ANIMAL 8 PEPPERGRASS SEEDS q RED BROME CARYOPSES q OTHER PLANTS FIGURE 1. Seasonalfood habits of NorthernPintails collected from agriculturaldrainwater evaporation ponds in the San JoaquinValley, California,during Septemberthrough March 1982-1984. March (t = -4.94, df = 5, P = 0.0001) repre- 4.9 cm for Shovelers,and 9.5 cm for Ruddy Ducks sented declines over previous months. Midges (df = 525, P < 0.05). were consumed most frequently during the later DISCUSSION half of the wintering period with increases over previous months occurring in February (t = 2.83, FOOD HABITS AND FORAGING df = 5, P = 0.0052) and March (t = 4.35, df = STRATEGIES 5, P = 0.0001). Average feeding depths we recorded for Pintails were similar to those reported by Euliss and Har- SELECTION OF FORAGING SITES ris (1987). Thus, feeding in the TLDD ponds (X Water depths at diurnal feeding sites were sig- 60-80 cm depth) was restricted to shallow areas nificantly different for
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