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Multiscale Habitat Selection of Wetland Birds in the Northern Gulf Coast

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Abstract

The spatial scale of habitat selection has become a prominent concept in ecology, but has received less attention in coastal ecology. In coastal marshes, broad-scale marsh types are defined by vegetation composition over thousands of hectares, water-level management is applied over hundreds of hectares, and fine-scale habitat is depicted by tens of meters. Individually, these scales are known to affect wetland fauna, but studies have not examined all three spatial scales simultaneously. We investigated wetland bird habitat selection at the three scales and compared single- and multiscale models. From 2009 to 2011, we surveyed marsh birds (i.e., Rallidae, bitterns, grebes), shorebirds, and wading birds in fresh and intermediate (oligohaline) coastal marsh in Louisiana and Texas, USA. Within each year, six repeated surveys of wintering, resident, and migratory breeding birds were conducted at >100 points (n = 304). The results revealed fine-scale factors, primarily water depth, were consistently better predictors than marsh type or management. However, 10 of 11 species had improved models with the three scales combined. Birds with a linear association with water depth were, correspondingly, most abundant with deeper fresh marsh and permanently impounded water. Conversely, intermediate marsh had a greater abundance of shallow water species, such as king rail Rallus elegans, least bittern Ixobrychus exilis, and sora Porzana carolina. These birds had quadratic relationships with water depth or no relationship. Overall, coastal birds were influenced by multiple scales corresponding with hydrological characteristics. The effects suggest the timing of drawdowns and interannual variability in spring water levels can greatly affect wetland bird abundance.

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Acknowledgments

Funding was provided by the US Geological Survey/US Fish and Wildlife Service with support from Gulf Coast Joint Venture. We are grateful for the advice of M. Kaller, P. Stouffer, and F. Rohwer. T. Cooper (USFWS) and two anonymous reviewers provided useful comments on the manuscript. Texas Parks and Wildlife, Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, and the US Fish and Wildlife Service provided housing, logistical support, and personnel time. For field assistance, we thank K. Leuenberger, A. Bevill, C. Faller, M. Oliver, M. Huber, E. Dancer, and S. Sears. Any use of trade, firm, or product names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the US Government. This study was conducted under the auspices of Louisiana State University protocol AE2009-09.

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  1. School of Renewable Natural Resources, Louisiana State University AgCenter, Rm. 227, RNR Building, Baton Rouge, LA, 70803, USA

    Bradley A. Pickens

  2. US Geological Survey, Louisiana Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, Louisiana State University AgCenter, Baton Rouge, LA, 70803, USA

    Sammy L. King

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  1. Bradley A. Pickens
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Correspondence to Bradley A. Pickens.

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Communicated by Bob Christian

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Pickens, B.A., King, S.L. Multiscale Habitat Selection of Wetland Birds in the Northern Gulf Coast. Estuaries and Coasts 37, 1301–1311 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12237-013-9757-2

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