Data from: Predicting effects of water regime changes on waterbirds: insights from staging swans ...

• Main Authors: Nolet, Bart A., Gyimesi, Abel, Van Krimpen, Roderick R.D., De Boer, Willem F., Stillman, Richard A., Van Krimpen, Roderick R. D.
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: Dryad 2017
• Subjects: Staging Site; Cygnus columbianus bewickii; individual-based modelling; bird migration; Potamogeton pectinatus; Predictive Modelling; MORPH; water level; Cygnus columbianus
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.5061/dryad.76r58; https://datadryad.org/stash/dataset/doi:10.5061/dryad.76r58

Predicting the environmental impact of a proposed development is notoriously difficult, especially when future conditions fall outside the current range of conditions. Individual-based approaches have been developed and applied to predict the impact of environmental changes on wintering and staging coastal bird populations. How many birds make use of staging sites is mostly determined by food availability and accessibility, which in the case of many waterbirds in turn is affected by water level. Many water systems are regulated and water levels are maintained at target levels, set by management authorities. We used an individual-based modelling framework (MORPH) to analyse how different target water levels affect the number of migratory Bewick’s swans Cygnus columbianus bewickii staging at a shallow freshwater lake (Lauwersmeer, the Netherlands) in autumn. As an emerging property of the model, we found strong non-linear responses of swan usage to changes in water level, with a sudden drop in peak numbers as ... : MorphLMswansArchive(1) Count data of Bewick's swans at Lauwersmeer in autumns of 2005 - 2008; (2) Tuber sampling data in Lauwersmeer in autumns of 2005 - 2008; (3) Metadata water levels in Lauwersmeer and adjacent Wadden Sea in autumns of 2005 - 2008Morph parameter files for basic scenariosBasic scenarios (i.e., with observed water levels) to model swan usage of Lauwersmeer in autumns of 2005 - 2008LMswans.zip ...