Presentation Abstract
The Fraser River Estuary is a major link in a chain of Pacific coastal habitats that support migrating and wintering waterfowl, and many birds converge here during northward and southward travels. Between 800,000 and 2.3 million waterfowl use the estuary from September through April, including significant populations of American wigeon, mallard, northern pintail, surf scoter, snow goose and brant. Waterfowl mainly use agricultural lands, freshwater and brackish wetlands, and intertidal habitats such as eelgrass beds, all of which continue to be lost or degraded by population growth and urban sprawl. We used a bioenergetic model (TRUEMET) to explicitly link waterfowl population objectives to habitat objectives for farmland conservation. TRUEMET indicates whether there is a habitat surplus or deficit for a given population level. We combined five of the most abundant species into two foraging guilds: ‘grazers’ included American wigeon and snow goose, and ‘dabblers’ included mallard, northern pintail and green-winged teal. We assessed conditions as of 2009 and tested a variety of scenarios involving changes in habitat availability, including future losses of agricultural or intertidal habitats. Model results indicated that grazers experienced an excess of energy through the nonbreeding season, but this was predicted to become to a deficit by midwinter within 20 years under likely scenarios. For dabblers, the demand exceeded supply by December, and the situation only worsened under future scenarios. Ensuring their continuing presence at current levels in the face of growing development stressors will require a multi-faceted conservation strategy for both intertidal and farmland conservation. We set a conservative foraging habitat objective of 50% of the energy needs of waterfowl on agricultural lands during the migrating and wintering periods, which equates to 15,000 x10^6 kcal of energy. From a habitat program perspective, this will require protecting farmlands and encouraging green forage cropping on the broader landscape.
Session Title
Shorebird Monitoring in the Salish Sea
Keywords
Water fowl, Bioenergetics, TruMet, Ducks Unlimited Canada
Conference Track
SSE7: Monitoring: Species and Habitats
Conference Name
Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference (2018 : Seattle, Wash.)
Document Type
Event
SSEC Identifier
SSE7-129
Start Date
4-4-2018 4:00 PM
End Date
4-4-2018 4:15 PM
Type of Presentation
Oral
Genre/Form
presentations (communicative events)
Contributing Repository
Digital content made available by University Archives, Heritage Resources, Western Libraries, Western Washington University.
Subjects – Topical (LCSH)
Waterfowl--Migration--Climatic factors--British Columbia--Fraser River; Waterfowl--Habitat--Conservation--British Columbia--Fraser River
Geographic Coverage
Fraser River (B.C.); Salish Sea (B.C. and Wash.)
Rights
This resource is displayed for educational purposes only and may be subject to U.S. and international copyright laws. For more information about rights or obtaining copies of this resource, please contact University Archives, Heritage Resources, Western Libraries, Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA 98225-9103, USA (360-650-7534; heritage.resources@wwu.edu) and refer to the collection name and identifier. Any materials cited must be attributed to the Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference Records, University Archives, Heritage Resources, Western Libraries, Western Washington University.
Type
Text
Language
English
Format
application/pdf
Included in
Fresh Water Studies Commons, Marine Biology Commons, Natural Resources and Conservation Commons, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology Commons
Using a bioenergetic model to set waterfowl habitat objectives for the Fraser River delta
The Fraser River Estuary is a major link in a chain of Pacific coastal habitats that support migrating and wintering waterfowl, and many birds converge here during northward and southward travels. Between 800,000 and 2.3 million waterfowl use the estuary from September through April, including significant populations of American wigeon, mallard, northern pintail, surf scoter, snow goose and brant. Waterfowl mainly use agricultural lands, freshwater and brackish wetlands, and intertidal habitats such as eelgrass beds, all of which continue to be lost or degraded by population growth and urban sprawl. We used a bioenergetic model (TRUEMET) to explicitly link waterfowl population objectives to habitat objectives for farmland conservation. TRUEMET indicates whether there is a habitat surplus or deficit for a given population level. We combined five of the most abundant species into two foraging guilds: ‘grazers’ included American wigeon and snow goose, and ‘dabblers’ included mallard, northern pintail and green-winged teal. We assessed conditions as of 2009 and tested a variety of scenarios involving changes in habitat availability, including future losses of agricultural or intertidal habitats. Model results indicated that grazers experienced an excess of energy through the nonbreeding season, but this was predicted to become to a deficit by midwinter within 20 years under likely scenarios. For dabblers, the demand exceeded supply by December, and the situation only worsened under future scenarios. Ensuring their continuing presence at current levels in the face of growing development stressors will require a multi-faceted conservation strategy for both intertidal and farmland conservation. We set a conservative foraging habitat objective of 50% of the energy needs of waterfowl on agricultural lands during the migrating and wintering periods, which equates to 15,000 x10^6 kcal of energy. From a habitat program perspective, this will require protecting farmlands and encouraging green forage cropping on the broader landscape.
