MULTI-SCALE HABITAT SELECTION BY WINTERING WATERFOWL ON ANAHUAC NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE

• Main Author: Lane, Tiffany C.
• Other Authors: Grisham, Blake A., Moon, Jena Alyce, Conway, Warren C., Haukos, David A.
• Format: Thesis
• Language: unknown
• Published: 2018
• Subjects: Habitat selection; Resource selection function; Wintering waterfowl; Texas coast; Anas acuta; Northern Shoveler; Shoveler
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2346/73511

Waterfowl conservation and management focuses on conserving important habitats across their range. To understand waterfowl habitat selection, studies have described resource selection by individuals and populations of single dabbling duck species at multiple scales, ranging from geographic areas across North America to small-scale selection of food resources. Management efforts targeting selected habitat variables affect multiple species, especially during winter when waterfowl communities aggregate to share resources. Overlap in resource selection and utilization among similar species of dabbling ducks creates a community of wintering waterfowl. This community can be defined as a guild of waterfowl migrating in the Central Flyway, wintering in marshes along the Gulf coast and foraging mainly on plant matter. When multiple species share similar life history characteristics, Johnson’s (1980) 4 orders of habitat selection can be modified to reflect the process of disproportionate use by a community of waterfowl rather than an individual species. The goal of this study was to assess habitat selection by waterfowl communities wintering on Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) to develop effective conservation plans targeting multiple species of dabbling ducks. Specifically, I quantified the relative influence of habitat covariates on wintering waterfowl habitat selection at multiple spatial and temporal scales, on Anahuac NWR in the Upper Chenier Plain of the Texas Coast. I observed mixed-flocks of waterfowl species that I defined as a guild of migratory, shallow-water dabblers that winter on the upper Texas Coast. The most abundant species include gadwall (Mareca strepera), Northern shoveler (Spatula clypeata), Northern pintail (Anas acuta), and green-winged teal (Anas crecca). Aerial waterfowl surveys were conducted in a grid pattern across the entire refuge to track waterfowl monthly habitat use from October to February 2014–2016. I visited geographically referenced sites where >500 birds were observed by ...