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Spatial synchrony of prairie ducks: roles of wetland abundance, distance, and agricultural cover

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Abstract

Populations exhibit spatial synchrony when their numbers rise and fall in concert at several sites over their distribution. I examined the relationship between synchrony, abundance of wetlands (ponds), distance, and agricultural cover using count data of ten duck species counted in 23 aerial survey strata on the mid-continental prairies of North America. Expansion of agriculture may have resulted in increased synchrony of duck populations through increased foraging efficiency of nomadic predators and/or if the homogenization of nesting habitat has removed habitat features that allow differential local responses to large-scale population drivers such as precipitation. As a measure of synchrony, I calculated all pair-wise cross-correlation coefficients based on population growth rates (r t ) at each survey stratum, and then regressed these correlation coefficients against measures of cross-correlation of pond (wetland) counts, distance between strata, and mean percent area of strata seeded to row crops. Synchrony for most species was most strongly related to synchrony of wetland availability among sites, and decreased with distance between sites. Synchrony of ducks that nest over water showed little effect of agricultural cover, whereas the effect of agricultural cover on synchrony of upland nesting ducks differed by species. Mobile large-bodied species showed evidence of increased synchrony due to agricultural cover, whereas smaller-bodied, more philopatric species showed evidence of decreased synchrony due to agricultural cover.

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Acknowledgements

Mark Koneff of the US Fish and Wildlife Service provided pond data when they were otherwise unavailable, and Mark Miller provided data on agricultural land use. Bob Clark, Ben Dalziel, Ronnie Drever, Dan Haydon, Kevin McCann, Tom Nudds, Scott Robinson, Neil Rooney, Bernt-Erik Sæther, John Simpson, and two anonymous reviewers improved an earlier version of this manuscript. Funding was provided by the National Science and Engineering Research Council, University of Guelph, and the Delta Waterfowl Foundation.

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  1. Mark C. Drever

    Present address: Department of Forest Sciences, University of British Columbia, 3rd Floor-2424 Main Mall, V6T 1Z4, Vancouver, BC, Canada

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  1. Department of Zoology, University of Guelph, N1G 2W1, Guelph, ON, Canada

    Mark C. Drever

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Correspondence to Mark C. Drever.

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Communicated by Scott Robinson

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Drever, M.C. Spatial synchrony of prairie ducks: roles of wetland abundance, distance, and agricultural cover. Oecologia 147, 725–733 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-005-0308-9

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