Tidal marsh bird conservation in the Northeast USA ...

• Main Author: Wiest, Whitney A.
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: University of Delaware 2015
• Subjects: Salt marshes > Northeastern States; Bird populations > Northeastern States; Salt marshes > Virginia; Bird populations > Virginia; Salt marshes > Delaware; Bird populations > Delaware; Shore birds > Conservation > Delaware; North Atlantic
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.58088/y63b-mb89; http://udspace.udel.edu/handle/19716/17468

Conservation of tidal marsh birds is a high priority in the United States in light of continued habitat loss from anthropogenic impacts, including climate change. The north Atlantic coast of the U.S. is considered a hotspot for accelerated sea level rise, where rates are increasing three to four times faster than the global average. Increased inundation and coastal storm severity and frequency affect tidal marsh habitat quantity and quality and threaten tidal marsh bird populations with rapid declines or extinction. Tidal marsh bird distributions and abundance are relatively unknown, but are critical for developing effective, novel conservation strategies to increase the likelihood of species persistence. I developed a regional monitoring framework to assess the status of the tidal marsh bird community breeding in the Northeast U.S. (Maine to Virginia), and derived a conservation strategy for the state of Delaware. I sampled 1,780 locations during the 2011 - 2012 breeding seasons to estimate species ...