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Prairie Warbler Nest-Site Selection, Nest Survival, and Demographic Response to Management in a Pitch Pine-Scrub Oak Barren Michael E

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Prairie Warbler Nest-Site Selection, Nest Survival, and Demographic Response to Management in a Pitch Pine-Scrub Oak Barren Michael E University of Massachusetts Amherst ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014 2012 Prairie Warbler Nest-site Selection, Nest Survival, and Demographic Response to Management in a Pitch Pine-Scrub Oak Barren Michael E. Akresh University of Massachusetts Amherst Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/theses Part of the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Commons, Forest Management Commons, and the Ornithology Commons Akresh, Michael E., "Prairie Warbler Nest-site Selection, Nest Survival, and Demographic Response to Management in a Pitch Pine- Scrub Oak Barren" (2012). Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014. 887. Retrieved from https://scholarworks.umass.edu/theses/887 This thesis is brought to you for free and open access by ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. It has been accepted for inclusion in Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014 by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. For more information, please contact [email protected]. PRAIRIE WARBLER NEST-SITE SELECTION, NEST SURVIVAL, AND DEMOGRAPHIC RESPONSE TO MANAGEMENT IN A PITCH PINE-SCRUB OAK BARREN A Thesis Presented by MICHAEL E. AKRESH Submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Massachusetts Amherst in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE September 2012 Wildlife and Fisheries Conservation © Copyright by Michael E. Akresh 2012 All Rights Reserved PRAIRIE WARBLER NEST-SITE SELECTION, NEST SURVIVAL, AND DEMOGRAPHIC RESPONSE TO MANAGEMENT IN A PITCH PINE-SCRUB OAK BARREN A Thesis Presented by MICHAEL E. AKRESH Approved as to style and content by: ________________________________________________________ David I. King, Chair ________________________________________________________ Robert T. Brooks, Member ________________________________________________________ Bruce Byers, Member ____________________________________________________ Paul Fisette, Department Head Environmental Conservation DEDICATION To my family. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The U.S. Forest Service, Northern Research Station provided the funding for the project, and I thank MASSWildlife and Dr. Bill Patterson for conducting the management treatments and allowing us to conduct work in the MPWMA. I would like to thank all the field technicians for their tireless work and countless hours of help in the field. These technicians include Carly Chandler, Jen Glagowski, Tyler Maikath, Deysha Rivera, Sam Roberts, Matt Smith, Greta Turschak, Mattie VandenBoom and Jesse Wampler. I am especially grateful to Brodie Kramer for working multiple summers and helping out with related work in the wintering grounds. I’d like to thank my advisor Dave King for his support and the opportunity to conduct this project, as well as his guidance throughout the project. Thanks to my committee as well, Bob Brooks and Bruce Byers, who also provided support and guidance throughout the project. I’m grateful to my lab mates and fellow graduate students in the Environmental Conservation department who were very helpful with feedback and stats guidance with this project. Thanks to my family, friends, and Bethany for your unwavering support. v ABSTRACT PRAIRIE WARBLER NEST-SITE SELECTION, NEST SURVIVAL, AND DEMOGRAPHIC RESPONSE TO MANAGEMENT IN A PITCH PINE-SCRUB OAK BARREN SEPTEMBER 2012 MICHAEL E. AKRESH, B.S., UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN M.S., UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST Directed by: Dr. David I. King Early successional forests occur in a “shifting mosaic”, in which available shrubland habitat changes both spatially and temporally in response to disturbance. Due to suppression of natural disturbances, most shrubland habitat currently consists of habitat deliberately created and maintained in various forms by management: newly created shrubland habitat that matures over time (e.g., clearcuts), habitat that is persistent but disturbed on a periodic basis (e.g., scrub oak barrens), or habitat that is persistent yet minimally disturbed through time (e.g., power line corridors). As shrubland bird populations decline, there is a critical need to understand the effects of habitat creation, succession, and disturbance, and to acquire knowledge of basic demographic parameters such as habitat-specific fecundity and dispersal that are keys to shrubland bird conservation. I studied a population of color-banded prairie warblers (Setophaga discolor) between 2008-2011 in a shifting mosaic ‘meso-landscape’ within a Massachusetts inland, vi pitch pine-scrub oak barren consisting of persistent, newly created, succeeding, and disturbed habitats. In Chapter One, I present data showing that the abundance and population structure at this site appears to be a function of colonization of newly created habitat by second-year birds, which are likely excluded from mature early-successional habitat by site-faithful older birds. Breeding season fecundity did not differ significantly between newly-created and mature habitats. Birds displaced by mowing or fire dispersed to nearby suitable habitat the following year. These displaced individuals did not negatively affect pairing or reproductive success for birds in adjacent areas. My findings that newly created habitat is colonized by second-year birds who enjoy similar reproductive success as older-birds in mature habitat, and that reproductive success was similar for birds displaced by habitat disturbance are novel. Furthermore, these findings show that the short-term effects of shrubland management on shrubland birds are minimal and beneficial in the long- term by maintaining ephemeral shrubland habitat. Understanding nest-site selection and nest survival of declining shrubland birds is important for management as nest survival is considered one of the biggest determinants of passerine reproductive success. Many studies have examined the ways in which birds are adapted to select nest sites that increase nest survival, yet few studies have empirically taken into account interactions with plant leafing phenology. In Chapter Two, I examined nest-site selection and nest survival for a conservation-priority shrubland bird, the prairie warbler, in a managed pitch pine-scrub oak barren in Montague, Massachusetts. I found prairie warblers selected more dense vegetation at the preferred nest heights between 0.5- 1.5 m and selected nest sites close to roads and fire breaks. Frost tolerant plant species were selected as nest substrates early in the season, as late frosts in the study site delayed oak species leaf-out dates. After oak species leaf-out, there was a predominant switch to using oaks as nest substrate in habitats in which oaks were a major component. Nest vii survival rates differed among years, decreased with nest age and distance to road or fire break, increased with nest concealment, and in a delayed leaf-out year, survival rates were lower before leaf-out of the dominant nest vegetation. Few variables significantly affected cowbird parasitism rates. I conclude that nest-site selection is adaptive in the sense that it increased nest survival. Plant phenology influenced nest-site selection and nest survival in this system; its effects on birds should be considered as a potential mechanism by which bird communities can be affected by global climate change. viii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ............................................................................................................................................ v ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................................................................. vi LIST OF TABLES ....................................................................................................................................................... xi LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................................................................... xii CHAPTER 1. DEMOGRAPHIC RESPONSE OF A SHRUBLAND BIRD TO HABITAT CREATION, SUCCESSION, AND DISTURBANCE IN A ‘SHIFTING MOSAIC’ LANDSCAPE ...................................... 1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................................ 1 Methods ........................................................................................................................................................ 7 Study Site ...................................................................................................................................... 7 Bird Sampling ............................................................................................................................. 9 Habitat Sampling .................................................................................................................... 11 Statistical Analysis ................................................................................................................. 12 Results ........................................................................................................................................................ 17 Discussion ................................................................................................................................................. 20 Management Implications .................................................................................................................. 27 ix 2. PLANT PHENOLOGY AND OTHER FACTORS AFFECTING NEST SITE SELECTION
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