Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Agroecosystems and conservation of migratory waterbirds: importance of coastal pastures and factors influencing their use by wintering shorebirds

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Biodiversity and Conservation Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Coastal pastures are common agroecosystems adjacent to estuarine areas that can provide valuable habitat for wildlife, particularly for migratory shorebirds. Disentangling the factors that influence coastal pasture use by wintering shorebirds will provide new insights into its role for buffering human disturbances and habitat loss in intertidal areas. We examined whether numbers of two shorebirds (Eurasian curlew and Black-tailed godwit) foraging actively on coastal pastures was affected by weather conditions, tidal stage (low/high tide) and number of harvesters at intertidal areas throughout winter. Both species frequently used coastal pastures and most individuals foraged actively there. The average percentage of the total wintering population of curlews and godwits foraging on coastal pastures was 27.4 and 7.8 %, respectively, and was significantly higher during high tide compared to low tide. The number of harvesters on mudflats also had a positive significant effect in explaining the presence of curlews, and to a lesser extent for godwits, on coastal pastures, and accumulated rainfall had a positive effect for both species too. These supratidal areas were consistently used as alternative foraging grounds during low tide by curlews, as well as supplementary foraging areas during high tide by wintering populations of both large shorebirds. By supplementary foraging, wintering curlews, and probably godwits, seemed to compensate for a negative effect of the presence of harvesters on their foraging activity. We recommend managing of those coastal agricultural fields adjacent to intertidal foraging grounds in order to increase the availability of supratidal foraging habitats for declining shorebird populations. These habitats may thus have a beneficial role in sustaining populations of wintering shorebirds, but further studies are needed to estimate if birds can compensate for any shortfall in daily energy budget by supplementary foraging on coastal pastures, thus providing insights into whether they are involved in large-scale population regulation of migratory birds.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price includes VAT (France)

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

References

  • Altmann J (1974) Observational study of behavior: sampling methods. Behaviour 49:227–267

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Barbosa A, Moreno E (1999) Evolution of foraging strategies in shorebirds: an ecomorphological approach. Auk 116:712–725

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boere GC, Taylor D (2004) Global and regional governmental policy and treaties as tools towards the mitigation of the effect of climate change on waterbirds. Ibis 146(Suppl 1):111–119

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bruschi VM, Bonachea J, Remondo J, Gómez-Arozamena J, Rivas V, Méndez G, Naredo JM, Cendrero A (2012) Analysis of geomorphic systems’ response to natural and human drivers in northern Spain: implications for global geomorphic change. Geomorphology. doi:10.1016/j.geomorph.2012.03.017

    Google Scholar 

  • Burnham KP, Anderson DR (2002) Model selection and multimodel inference: a practical information-theoretic approach, 2nd edn. Springer, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Burnham KP, Anderson DR, Huyvaert KP (2011) AIC model selection and multimodel inference in behavioral ecology: some background, observations, and comparisons. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 65:23–35

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Caldow RWG, Goss-Custard JD, Stillman RA, Durell SEALD, Swinfen R, Bregnballe T (1999) Individual variation in the competitive ability of interference-prone foragers: the relative importance of foraging efficiency and susceptibility to interference. J Anim Ecol 68:869–878

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cresswell W (1994) Age-dependent choice of redshank (Tringa totanus) feeding locations: profitability or risk? J Anim Ecol 63:589–600

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cumming GS, Barnes G, Perz S, Schmink M, Sieving KE, Southworth J, Binford M, Holt RD, Stickler C, Van Holt T (2005) An exploratory framework for the empirical measurement of resilience. Ecosystems 8:975–987

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Delany S, Scott D, Dodman T, Stroud D (2009) An atlas of wader populations in Africa and Western Eurasia. Wetlands International, Wageningen

    Google Scholar 

  • Dias MP, Pestea F, Granadeiro JP, Palmeirim JM (2008) Does traditional shellfishing affect foraging by waders? The case of the Tagus estuary (Portugal). Acta Oecol 33:188–196

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Drent R, Both C, Green M, Madsen J, Piersma T (2003) Pay-offs and penalties of competing migratory schedules. Oikos 103:274–292

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Durell S (2000) Individual feeding specialization in shorebirds: population consequences and conservation implications. Biol Rev 75:503–518

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Durell S, McGrorty S, West AD, Clarke RT, Goss-Custard JD, Stillman RA (2005) A strategy for baseline monitoring of estuary special protection areas. Biol Conserv 121:289–301

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Edwards CA, Bohlen PJ (1996) Biology and ecology of earthworms, 3rd edn. Chapman and Hall, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Elphick CS (2000) Functional equivalency between rice fields and seminatural wetlands habitats. Conserv Biol 14:181–191

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Evans-Ogden LJ, Bittman S, Lank DB (2008) A review of agricultural land use by shorebirds with special reference to habitat conservation in the Fraser River Delta, British Columbia. Can J Plant Sci 88:71–83

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Folmer EO, Olff H, Piersma T (2010) How well food distributions predict spatial distributions of shorebirds with different degrees of self-organization? J Anim Ecol 79:747–756

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gill JA, Norris K, Potts PM, Gunnarsson TG, Atkinson PW, Sutherland WJ (2001) The buffer effect and large-scale population regulation in migratory birds. Nature 412:436–438

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Goater CP, Goss-Custard JD, Kennedy CR (1995) Population biology of two species of helminth in oystercatchers, Haematopus ostralegus. Can J Zool 75:296–300

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Granadeiro JP, Dias MP, Martins RC, Palmeirim JM (2006) Variation in numbers and behaviour of waders during the tidal cycle: implications for the use of estuarine sediment flats. Acta Oecol 29:293–300

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gutiérrez JS, Masero JA, Abad-Gómez JM, Villegas A, Sánchez-Guzmán JM (2011) Understanding the energetic costs of living in saline environments: effects of salinity on basal metabolic rate, body mass, and daily energy consumption of a long distance migratory shorebird. J Exp Biol 214:829–835

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Herrera M (1995) Estudio de la vegetación y flora vascular de la cuenca del rio Asón (Cantabria). Guineana 1:9–435

    Google Scholar 

  • IUCN (2011) IUCN red list of threatened species. Version 2011.2. www.iucnredlist.org. Accessed 17 May 2012

  • Klaassen M, Hoye BJ, Nolet BA, Buttemer WA (2012) Ecophysiology of avian migration in the face of current global hazards. Philos Trans R Soc B 367:1719–1732

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leeman TS, Colwell MA (2005) Coastal pasture use by long-billed curlews at the northern extent of their non-breeding range. J Field Ornithol 76:33–39

    Google Scholar 

  • Lourenço PM, Silva A, Santos CD, Miranda AC, Granadeiro JP, Palmeirim JM (2008) The energetic importance of night foraging for waders wintering in a temperate estuary. Acta Oecol 34:122–129

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Masero JA (2003) Assessing alternative anthropogenic habitats for conserving waterbirds: salinas as buffer areas against the impact of natural habitat loss for shorebirds. Biodivers Conserv 12:1157–1173

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Masero JA, Pérez-Hurtado A (2001) Importance of the supratidal habitats for maintaining overwintering shorebird populations: how Redshanks use tidal mudflats and adjacent saltworks in southern Europe. Condor 103:21–30

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Masero JA, Pérez-Hurtado A, Castro M, Arroyo GM (2000) Complementary use of intertidal mudflats and adjacent salinas by foraging waders. Ardea 88:177–191

    Google Scholar 

  • McLaughlin A, Mineau P (1995) The impact of agricultural practices on biodiversity. Agric Ecosyst Environ 55:201–211

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Milsom TP, Ennis DC, Haskell DJ, Langton SD, McKay HV (1998) Design of grassland feeding areas for waders during winter: the relative importance of sward, landscape factors and human disturbance. Biol Conserv 84:119–129

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Milsom TP, Langton SD, Parkin WK, Peel S, Bishop JD, Hart JD, Moore NP (2000) Habitat models of bird species’ distribution: an aid to the management of coastal grazing marshes. J Appl Ecol 37:706–727

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moreira F (1997) The importance of shorebirds to energy fluxes in a food web of a south European estuary. Estuar Coast Shelf Sci 44:67–78

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Myers JP, Williams SL, Pitelka FA (1980) An experimental analysis of prey availability for sanderlings (Aves: Scolopacidae) feeding on sandy beach crustaceans. Can J Zool 58:1564–1574

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Myers JP, Morrison RIG, Antas PZ, Harrington BA, Lovejo TE, Sallaberry M, Senner SE, Tarak A (1987) Conservation strategy for migratory species. Am Sci 75:19–26

    Google Scholar 

  • Navedo JG (2006) Efectos de la extracción tradicional de recursos bentónicos sobre la alimentación de las aves limícolas en áreas intermareales: aportaciones para la gestión de los estuarios cantábricos. PhD Thesis, Universidad de Cantabria

  • Navedo JG, Masero JA (2007) Measuring potential negative effects of traditional harvesting practices on waterbirds: a case study with migrating curlews Numenius arquata. Anim Conserv 10:88–94

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Navedo JG, Romero F (2002) Caracterización del marisqueo en la zona intermareal del estuario del río Asón: bases para una futura ordenación sostenible de la extracción de recursos marisqueros. Monte Buciero 8:141–160

    Google Scholar 

  • Navedo JG, Masero JA, Juanes JA (2007) Updating waterbird population estimates within the East Atlantic Flyway: status and trends of migratory waterbirds in Santoña marshes. Ardeola 54:237–249

    Google Scholar 

  • Ogden LJE, Bittman S, Lank DB, Stevenson FC (2008) Factors influencing farmland habitat use by shorebirds wintering in the Fraser River Delta, Canada. Agric Ecosyst Environ 124:252–258

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rivas V, Cendrero A (1991) Use of natural and artificial accretion on the north coast of Spain: historical trends and assessment of some environmental and economic consequences. J Coast Res 7:491–507

    Google Scholar 

  • Sánchez-Guzmán JM, Morán R, Masero JA, Corbacho C, Costillo E, Villegas A, Santiago-Quesada F (2007) Identifying new buffer areas for conserving waterbirds in the Mediterranean basin: the importance of the rice fields in Extremadura, Spain. Biodivers Conserv 16:3333–3344

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shepherd PCF, Boates JS (1999) Effects of a commercial baitworm harvest on Semipalmated Sandpipers and their prey in the bay of Fundy hemispheric shorebird reserve. Conserv Biol 13:347–356

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Skagen SK (2006) Migration stopovers and the conservation of arctic-breeding calidridine sandpipers. Auk 123:313–322

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stillman RA, Goss-Custard JD (2010) Individual-based ecology of coastal birds. Biol Rev 85:413–434

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Stillman RA, Goss-Custard JD, West AD, Durell SEALD, Caldow RWG, McGrorty S, Clarke RT (2000) Predicting mortality in novel environments: tests and sensitivity of a behaviour-based model. J Appl Ecol 37:564–588

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stillman RA, Goss-Custard JD, West AD, McGrorty S, Caldow RWG, Durell SEALD, Norris KJ, Johnstone IG, Ens BJ, van der Meer J, Triplet P (2001) Predicting oystercatcher mortality and population size under different regimes of shellfishery management. J Appl Ecol 38:857–868

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stillman RA, West AD, Caldow RWG, Durell SEALD (2007) Predicting the effect of disturbance on coastal birds. Ibis 149:73–81

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Symonds MRE, Moussalli A (2011) A brief guide to model selection, multimodel inference and model averaging in behavioural ecology using Akaike’s information criterion. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 65:13–21

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Taft OW, Haig SM (2005) The value of agricultural wetlands as invertebrate resources for wintering shorebirds. Agri Ecosyst Environ 110:249–256

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tichit M, Renault O, Potter T (2005) Grazing regime as a tool to assess positive side effects of livestock farming systems on wading birds. Livest Prod Sci 96:109–117

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Toral GM, Figuerola J (2010) Unraveling the importance of rice fields for waterbird populations in Europe. Biodivers Conserv 19:3459–3469

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Townshend DJ (1981) The importance of field feeding to the survival of wintering male and female curlews (Numenius arquata) on the Tees estuary. In: Jones NV, Wolff WJ (eds) Feeding and survival strategies of estuarine organisms. Plenum Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Urfi AJ, Goss-Custard JD, Durell SEALD (1996) The ability of oystercatchers Haematopus ostralegus to compensate for lost feeding time: field studies on individually marked birds. J Appl Ecol 33:873–883

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vahl WK, van der Meer J, Weissing FJ, Dullemen D, Piersma T (2005) The mechanism of interference competition: two experiments of foraging waders. Behav Ecol 16:845–855

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Valiela I, Kinney E, Culbertson J, Peacock E, Smith S (2009) Global losses of mangroves and salt marshes. In: Duarte CM (ed) Global loss of coastal habitats. Rates, causes and consequences. Fundación BBVA, Madrid

    Google Scholar 

  • Van de Kam J, Ens B, Piersma T, Zwarts L (2004) Shorebirds—an illustrated behavioural ecology. KNNV Publishers, Utrech

    Google Scholar 

  • Van Gils J, Dekinga A, Spaans B, Vahl WK, Piersma T (2005) Digestive bottleneck affects foraging decisions in red knots Calidris canutus. II. Patch choice and length of working day. J Anim Ecol 74:120–130

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weber TP, Houston AI, Ens B (1999) Consequences of habitat loss at migratory stopover sites: a theoretical investigation. J Avian Biol 30:416–426

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • West AD, Goss-Custard JD, Durell SEALD, Stillman RA (2005) Maintaining estuary quality for shorebirds: towards simple guidelines. Biol Conserv 123:211–224

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • William M (1990) Wetlands: a threatened landscape. Blackwell, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Yasué M (2005) The effects of human presence, flock size and prey density on shorebird foraging rates. J Ethol 23:199–204

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yasué M, Dearden P (2009) The importance of supratidal habitats for wintering shorebirds and the potential impacts of shrimp aquaculture. Environ Manage 43:1108–1121

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Yasué M, Quinn JL, Creswell W (2003) Multiple effects of weather on the starvation and predation risk trade-off in choice of feeding location in Redshanks. Funct Ecol 17:727–736

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zharikov Y, Skilleter GA (2003) Nonbreeding eastern curlews Numenius madagascariensis do not increase the rate of intake or digestive efficiency before long-distance migration because of an apparent digestive constraint. Physiol Biochem Zool 76:704–715

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Zwarts L, Wanink J (1993) How the food supply harvestable by waders in the Wadden Sea depends on the variation in energy density, body weight, biomass, burying depth and behaviour of tidal-flat invertebrates. Neth J Sea Res 31:441–476

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

We thank Máximo Sánchez for field support and Manuel Á. Alcántara for help in figure design. Gobierno de Cantabria transfer data about Black-tailed godwits counted by SEO/BirdLife at Santoña Marshes Natural Park. Aurora Ortega and Aniceto Valle help in supporting weather information from Spanish Meteorology Agency, belonging to the former Spanish Ministry of Environment. Marta Novo made useful comments about earthworm ecology at coastal pastures. Comments by Juan Busqué, Marta A. López and two anonymous reviewers greatly improve an earlier draft of the manuscript.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Conservation Biology Research Group, Department of Zoology, University of Extremadura, 06006, Badajoz, Spain

    Juan G. Navedo & José A. Masero

  2. Aves Cantábricas SL., Plaza de los Valles 10, 39300, Torrelavega, Cantabria, Spain

    David Arranz, Alejandro G. Herrera & Pablo Salmón

  3. Environmental Hydraulics Institute ‘IH Cantabria’, University of Cantabria, Santander, Spain

    José A. Juanes

Authors
  1. Juan G. Navedo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. David Arranz
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Alejandro G. Herrera
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Pablo Salmón
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. José A. Juanes
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. José A. Masero
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Juan G. Navedo.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Navedo, J.G., Arranz, D., Herrera, A.G. et al. Agroecosystems and conservation of migratory waterbirds: importance of coastal pastures and factors influencing their use by wintering shorebirds. Biodivers Conserv 22, 1895–1907 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-013-0516-2

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-013-0516-2

Keywords

Search

Navigation