Conservation Ecology of Shorebird Reproductive Success

Shorebird reproductive success is influenced by dynamic habitat processes, anthropogenic disturbance, predation, climate-driven events and management interventions. Many species depend on early successional habitats created by hydrological fluctuations, storms or human activities. Understanding breeding density patterns requires integrating long-term monitoring with novel data streams and advanced analytical methods. Conservation efforts combine habitat protection, management actions such as nest exclosures or predator control, and spatial planning informed by predictive modelling. Key challenges include balancing nest survival against adult mortality, maintaining metapopulation connectivity across shifting landscapes, and anticipating the ecological benefits and risks associated with increasing storm intensity and coastal development. Global significance arises from shorebirds’ sensitivity as indicators of coastal ecosystem health and their reliance on transboundary migration networks. Practical applications range from optimising telemetry sampling design to inform movement ecology, to targeted protection and restoration of dynamic breeding habitats in the face of sea-level rise and recreational pressures.

Research from Nature Portfolio

Recent studies have applied spatiotemporal modelling to a threatened piping plover to capture changing breeding habitat use over two decades. By combining systematic nest surveys with citizen-science sightings and incorporating dynamic environmental covariates such as water-level fluctuations, researchers revealed that long-term averages obscure critical seasonal and interannual patterns. These models improved transferability across space and time and highlighted the importance of volunteer-collected data for filling spatial gaps. This framework advances conservation planning by enabling iterative updates and more precise identification of priority sites for habitat management.

Conservation Ecology of Shorebird Reproductive Success publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in conservation ecology of shorebird reproductive success across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Spatiotemporal model: Analytical framework that integrates spatial and temporal data to describe dynamic patterns of habitat use over time.

Dynamic environmental covariates: Time-varying environmental factors, such as water level or vegetation cover, used to predict habitat suitability.

Automated radio-telemetry: A tracking method using automated receiver stations to record animal movements via radio tags.

Clutch: A group of eggs laid by a bird in a single nesting attempt.

Overwash: The process by which storm surge and waves transport sand and water over a barrier beach, creating early successional habitat.

References

1. Data integration reveals dynamic and systematic patterns of breeding habitat use by a threatened shorebird. Scientific Reports (2023).
2. Distributing transmitters to maximize population-level representativeness in automated radio telemetry studies of animal movement. Movement Ecology (2023).
3. To exclose nests or not: structured decision making for the conservation of a threatened species. Ecosphere (2016).
4. Predator Exclosures Enhance Reproductive Success but Increase Adult Mortality of Piping Plovers (Charadrius melodus). Avian Conservation and Ecology (2010).
5. Metapopulation viability of an endangered shorebird depends on dispersal and human-created habitats: piping plovers (Charadrius melodus) and prairie rivers. Movement Ecology (2016).
6. Using a Bayesian network to understand the importance of coastal storms and undeveloped landscapes for the creation and maintenance of early successional habitat. PLOS ONE (2019).
7. Managing birds of conservation concern on sandy shores: How much room for future conservation actions is there?. Ecology and Evolution (2018).
8. Regional drivers of clutch loss reveal important trade-offs for beach-nesting birds. PeerJ (2016).
9. Hurricane Sandy and engineered response created habitat for a threatened shorebird. Ecosphere (2019).