Grasshopper Sparrows, Baird's, Vesper, and Savannah and Brewer's Sparrows

Community ecology and management of wintering grassland sparrows in Arizona Item Type text; Dissertation-Reproduction (electronic) Authors Gordon, Caleb Edward Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 28/09/2021 23:27:18 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/283995 INFORMATION TO USERS This manuscript has been reproduced from the microfilm master. UMI films the text directly from the original or copy submitted. Thus, some thesis and dissertation copies are in typewriter face, while others may be from any type of computer printer. The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. 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Bell & Howell Informatnn and Learning 300 North Zeeb Road, Ann AriMr, Ml 48106-1346 USA 800-521-0600 COMMUNITY ECOLOGY AND MANAGEMENT OF WINTERING GRASSLAND SPARROWS IN ARIZONA by Caleb Edward Gordon A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the DEPARTMENT OF ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY In Partial FulHllment of the Requirements For the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY In the Graduate College THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA 1999 UMI Number 9957931 Copyright 2000 by Gordon, Caleb Edward All rights reserved. UMI* UMI Microform9957931 Copyright 2000 by Bell & Howell Information and Learning Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. Bell & Howell Information and Leaming Company 300 North Zeeb Road P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor. Ml 48106-1346 2 THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA « GRADUATE COLLEGE As members of the Final Examination Committee, we certify that we have read the dissertation prepared by Caleb Edward Gordon , , . Community ecology and management of wintering grassland entitled sparrows in Arizona. and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy R.k/od-f) Date T^oUij' li, %JLJLiuuj^ Oct ^ Date Date Date Final approval and acceptance of this dissertation is contingent upon the candidate's submission of the final copy of the dissertation to the Graduate College. I hereby certify that I have read this dissertation prepared under my direction and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement. Hi ctt Dissertation Director Date 3 STATEMENT BY AUTHOR This dissertation has been submitted in partial fulfillment of requirements for an advanced degree at The University of Arizona and is deposited in the University Library to be made available to borrowers under rules of the Library. Brief quotations from this dissertation are allowable without special permission, provided that accurate acicnowledgment of source is made. Requests for permission for extended quotation from or reproduction of this manuscript in whole or in part may be granted by the head of the major department of the Dean of the Graduate College when in his or her judgment the proposed use of the material is in the interests of scholarship. In all other instances, however, permission must be obtained from the author. SIGNED: 4 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This work was supported by grants from The Research Ranch Foundation, the US Fish and Wildlife Service, the NSF research training group in the analysis of biological diversification at the University of Arizona, the department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Arizona, the American Ornithologists' Union, the James R. Silliman Foundation, and a predoctoral fellowship firom NSF. I would like to thank Robert Robichaux, Michael Rosenzweig, Stephen Russell, R. William Mannan, H. Ronald Pulliam, and Michael Morrison for helpful comments in the design of this study and/or on prior versions of this manuscript. I also thank the 600+ people who helped flush sparrows, especially Canny Clark, Nigel Crook, Erv Davis, Bill Flack, Chris Hanus, Ron Hummel, Matt Kaplan, Andre Lehovich, Wade Leimer, Tom Locascio, Jenine McCabe, Lou McMurray, Aaron and Danetta Mecikalski, Charles Pope, Bob Shank, Karen Short, Jay Taylor, and Bob Whitcomb. 5 TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES AND HGURES 7 ABSTRACT 8 CHAPTER I: MOVEMENT PATTERNS OF WINTERING GRASSLAND SPARROWS IN ARIZONA 10 SUMMARY 10 INTRODUCTION II MATERIALS AND METHODS 15 Study sites 15 Vegetation 16 Study species 16 Flush-netting 17 Radiotelemetry 19 Recapture analysis 19 Simulation tests 20 Net learning test 20 Test for non-uniformity among individuals 21 RESULTS 22 Flush-netting 22 Net learning 22 Random wandering vs. fixed home range 23 Non-uniformity of movement behavior among individuals 24 Radiotelemetry 24 DISCUSSION 25 Among individual variation 25 Extent of movement......................... 26 Random wandering vs. fixed home range movement 26 Plasticity of movement patterns 28 Movement patterns and community structure 28 Significance of movement patterns in a fragmented landscape 30 CHAPTER 2: FACULTATIVE MIGRATION STRATEGIES IN BIRDS: A CASE STUDY FROM WINTERING GRASSLAND SPARROWS 33 SUMMARY 33 INTRODUCTION 34 MATERIALS AND METHODS 37 Study sites 37 Vegetation 37 Study species 37 Flush-netting 38 RESULTS 39 DISCUSSION 40 Examples of, and evidence for facultative migration 40 Ultimate causes offacultative migration 46 6 TABLE OF CONTENTS - Continued Implications for large scale habitat selection and habitat matching 50 CHAPTER 3: EFFECTS OF FIRE AND CATTLE GRAZING ON WINTERING SPARROWS IN ARIZONA 53 SUMMARY 53 INTRODUCTION 53 MATERIALS AND METHODS 57 Sparrow flushing 57 Fire effects 58 Grazing effects 59 Statistical analyses 60 RESULTS 61 Effects of fire 61 Effects of grazing 61 DISCUSSION 62 Effects of fire 62 Effects of grazing 64 Management implications 65 APPENDDC D: TABLES AND HGURES 67 REFERENCES 80 7 LIST OF TABLES Table LL Number of individual birds captured and within-season recapture events for six grassland sparrow species in five data sets 67 Table 1.2, Literspecific differences in sedentariness of sparrows as measured by recapture event rate (RER) 68 Table 1.3, Intraspecific variation in RER between years and study sites 69 Table 1.4, Estimated binomial parameters and x~ goodness of Ht tests for a net learning effect in sparrows 70 Table 2.1, Total numbers of birds and between-year returning birds (second number separated by space) capmred in three years of flush-netting at The Research Ranch, and two years at Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge 71 Table 2.2, Total numbers of birds and between-year returns captured in three sampling dates per study site in January-March, 1999 at The Research Ranch and the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge 72 Table 3.1, Mean (± SE) capmres per plot per day for eight species of sparrow on fire study plots at Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge 73 Table 3.2, Mean (± SE) capmres per plot per day for four species of sparrow on grazed (Davis Pasture) and ungrazed (The Research Ranch) study plots in the Sonoita Valley, Arizona 74 LISTOFRGURES Fig. 1.1, Recapture Event Rate (RER) plotted as a function of the time interval between first and subsequent recapture events 75 Fig. 1.2, Trends of net distance moved with time for four species of grassland sparrow 76 Fig. 1.3, Relationships between summer rainfall and sparrows capmred in the subsequent winter 77 Figure 3.1, Schematic representation of a standard sparrow flushing plot 79 8 ABSTRACT This dissertation presents a four year Held study on the movement patterns, community dynamics, and management of granivorous wintering grassland sparrows in Arizona. Chapter one focuses on within winter, local scale movement patterns. Recapture statistics and radiotelemetry both showed strong interspecific differences in movement, consistent with the idea that these species may partition niche space according to the regional coexistence mechanism. Both techniques ranked species from most to least sedentary as follows: Cassin's and Grasshopper sparrows, Baird's, Vesper, and Savannah and Brewer's sparrows. Data also indicated that fixed home range movements, and within-species constancy of movement behavior across years and study sites are generally the rule in this group. Correlations between bird abundance and summer rainfall suggest that movement may constrain large scale habitat selection processes. Chapter two presents larger scale movement data from grassland sparrows, along with a general discussion of facultative migration in birds. High between-year abundance fluctuations and low and variable rates of

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