Fort Hays State University FHSU Scholars Repository Master's Theses Graduate School Spring 2011 Breeding Habitat Structure And Use By Kansas- Occurring Black Rail Stephanie A. Kane Fort Hays State University Follow this and additional works at: https://scholars.fhsu.edu/theses Part of the Biology Commons Recommended Citation Kane, Stephanie A., "Breeding Habitat Structure And Use By Kansas-Occurring Black Rail" (2011). Master's Theses. 150. https://scholars.fhsu.edu/theses/150 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at FHSU Scholars Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Master's Theses by an authorized administrator of FHSU Scholars Repository. BREEDING HABITAT STRUCTURE AND USE BY KANSAS-OCCURRING BLACK RAIL being A Thesis Presented to the Graduate Faculty of the Fort Hays State University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science by Stephanie A. Kane B.S., Colorado State University Date. ____________ Approved,_______________ _ Major Professor Approved,______________ _ Chair, Graduate Council This Thesis for The Master of Science Degree By Stephanie A. Kane Has Been Approved Supervisory Committ e ef_::_ ~-" Supervisory Committee cSvLi, -,~, ,\LQ'--\..1-0 1 This thesis is written in the style appropriate for publication in The Wilson Journal of Ornithology. 11 ABSTRACT Two subspecies of Black Rail Laterallus jamaicenis occur in the United States, and neither has been studied extensively. Of the two, the Eastern subspecies L. j. jamaicenis has a larger range, but has been studied to a lesser degree than the California subspecies (L. j. coturniculus Eastern Black Rail are known to breed at several locations in Kansas, but as in other inland populations, precisely where these individuals overwinter is unknown. Additionally, little information is available on characteristics of breeding habitat for inland Eastern Black Rail populations, and few studies have investigated the effect of habitat management techniques on these populations. Eastern Black Rail are rnost often observed in Kansas at Quivira National Wildlife Refuge NWR and private lands surrounding it. Call playback surveys were conducted in the summers of 2009 and 2010 to locate breeding individuals and identify nesting habitat. Drift-fences and traps were set in locations where individual Black Rail were detected, and sound samples were used to attract individuals for capture. Rectrices and body coverts were plucked from similar regions on two captured individuals and used for deuterium stable isotope analysis. Coverts had average deuterium values of -86.2 and -77.8 per mil, respectively. These values are more typical for southern Canada and portions of the western United States. These feather values suggest that Kansas- occurring Black Rail either winter away from the Gulf Coast, in contrast to current understanding, or grow feathers during or soon after spring migration. Quivira NWR and surrounding private lands use prescribed burning, grazing and haying to manage vegetation in the wet-meadow habitat that the rails typically occupy. To characterize breeding habitat, I quantified vertical vegetation structure, water presence and depth, and plant height in areas where Black Rail responded during playback surveys. A Kruskal-Walis one-way analysis of variance was used to compare these variables among 13 treatment types. Although test iii results indicated these variables were significantly different among treatment types, a non- parametric Tukey's post-hoc test could not detect where the differences occurred. A backward stepwise (Wald) logistic regression indicated higher percentages of dead vegetation in upper vertical layers and plant height positively influenced rail presence, whereas a higher percentage of living vegetation at lower layers negatively influenced rail presence (Nagelkerke R Square 0.57, p < 0.001). Black Rail were most often detected in sections witl1 moderate levels of disturbance (e.g., burned annually, burned and grazed), while areas with higher levels of disturbance (e.g., annual haying, haying and burning) did not appear to possess suitable habitat, as no rails were detected in these locations. J:vloderately disturbed areas, such as those burned every two years, might contain the mosaic of living and dead vegetation necessary for Black Rail nesting habitat in this portion their breeding range. IV ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I thank the Department of Biological Sciences and Fort Hays State University for giving me the opportunity to conduct this research. I also thank the Kansas Department of Wildlife Parks Chickadee Checkoff Small Grants Program and the Kansas Ornithological Society for helping fund my research. I thank the staff at Quivira National Wildlife Refuge for allowing me to work on refuge land, and private landowners Keith Widener, Ron Rougan, and Allen Sleeper for allowing me to survey on their land. My thanks to Dr. Raymond Lee of Washington State University for his time and effort while running the deuterium stable isotope analyses. "Thank you" to my colleagues in the Department of Biological Sciences, particularly Eleanor Hudson, Elita Baldrige, and Kristen Polacik for maintaining cheerful dispositions while slogging through mosquito-ridden marshes, and Victoria Cikanek for her thoughts on vegetation structure. I thank the faculty in the department for their help and input; in particular Dr.Jordana LaFantasie for her novel ideas on habitat descriptions and measurements, Dr. Robert Channell for extensive assistance and time with statistical analyses, and my committee members, Dr. Brian Maricle, Dr. William Stark, and Suzanne Fellows. Last, I thank my advisor, Dr. Greg Farley, whose valuable guidance, feedback, and advice kept me focused and thinking about my research and career. V TABLE OF CONTENTS Page GRADUATE COMMITTEE APPROVAL. ................................................................................... i PREFACE............................................................................................................................................. ii ABSTRACT ......................................................................................................................................... iii Acknoledgments ................................................................................................................... V TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................................................................. vi LIST OF Tables ............................................................................................................................ viii LIS'f OF FIGURES ............................................................................................................................ X INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................. 1 METHODS Surveying .................................................................................................................................. 6 Trapping ................................................................................................................................. 10 Vegetative Structure............................................................................................................. 14 Stable Isotope Analyses ....................................................................................................... 15 Statistical Anal}'ses ................................................................................................................ 16 RESULTS Surveying and Trapping ..................................................................................................... 17 Stable Isotope Analysis ...................................................................................................... 19 Habitat Analyses .................................................................................................................. 19 DISCUSSION Chronology and Breeding Habitat ..................................................................................... 23 vi Trapping................................................................................................................................. 24 Stable Isotope Analysis ........................................................................................................ 26 Habitat Structure .................................................................................................................. 28 Management Effects ............................................................................................................ 29 The Disturbance Continuum .............................................................................................. 32 Conclusions ........................................................................................................................... 34 LITERATURE CITED .................................................................................................................... 37 vii LIST OF TABLES Table Page 1 Treatment types with corresponding management regime, number of surveys, and number of birds detected at Quivira NWR and bordering private lands in 2009 and 2010. The number of surveys (n = 585) in each treatment type was calculated by taking the number of sample points in each treatment area, and multiplying that by the number of surveys. Points on borders between treatments were used in calculations