The Manitoba Piping Plover Stewardship Project was initiated in 2002 to determine the status of Piping Plovers (Charadrius melodus) in Manitoba and to develop a provincial management strategy that outlined provincial management goals and necessary stewardship actions. In 2002 and 2003, intensive surveys of historical and potential sites across Manitoba were conducted and measures taken to protect eggs and chicks from predation and human disturbance. With the use of fencing, signs, predator exclosures and guardian volunteers, predation and recreational disturbance were minimized sufficiently at most sites to allow for increased nest success and fledging rates. An overall apparent nest success rate of 62% and an apparent fledge rate of 1.16 fledglings/pair was achieved during this study. The study concluded that Piping Plover nest success and productivity at the majority of historical nesting sites in Manitoba is being limited by habitat availability, medium to high predation rates and recreational pressures.

The Manitoba Piping Plover Stewardship Project was initiated in 2002 to determine the status of Piping Plovers (Charadrius melodus) in Manitoba and to develop a provincial management strategy that outlined provincial management goals and necessary stewardship actions. In 2002 and 2003, intensive surveys of historical and potential sites across Manitoba were conducted and measures taken to protect eggs and chicks from predation and human disturbance. With the use of fencing, signs, predator exclosures and guardian volunteers, predation and recreational disturbance were minimized sufficiently at most sites to allow for increased nest success and fledging rates. An overall apparent nest success rate of 62% and an apparent fledge rate of 1.16 fledglings/pair was achieved during this study. The study concluded that Piping Plover nest success and productivity at the majority of historical nesting sites in Manitoba is being limited by habitat availability, medium to high predation rates and recreational pressures.

Thesis (M.S.)--Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1992. / Vita. Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 119-131). Also available via the Internet.

The Great Plains piping plover (Charadrius melodus) population was listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act in 1986. The challenge for managers of this population is to increase the fledging rate and to ensure that there is sufficient habitat to support an increasing population. According to the revised recovery plan, there are insufficient quantitative data that relate habitat characteristics to reproductive success in riverine habitat. In particular, additional data are needed to determine if piping plover reproduction is limited by food abundance at breeding sites. The goal of this research was to determine whether piping plover chick survival was limited by foraging site quality on the Missouri River. Productivity has historically varied among river reaches. The alkali wetlands, reported to be very productive, serve as an index to the upper limit of reproductive potential. We compared indices of foraging site quality, chick growth and survival among a reservoir, two river reaches and alkali wetland sites from 2001-2003. We compared piping plover use of protected shoreline and exposed shoreline to availability along two reaches of the Missouri River (Gavins and Garrison). We also examined piping plover chick diet. Chick weight gains were higher at alkali wetlands than Gavins and Garrison. Invertebrate numbers were higher at the alkali wetlands than the three river sites and lowest downstream of the cold water release dam. Invertebrate biomass was highest at the alkali wetlands and downstream of the warm water release dam and lowest downstream of the cold water release dam. Invertebrate biomass downstream of the cold water release dam was the lowest of all 4 sites. There was no relationship between chick daily survival rates and invertebrate biomass or predator presence. Although Diptera occurred more frequently (23% - 64%) at all sites (sticky traps), Coleoptera occurred most frequently in the fecal samples (fecal analysis; 69% to 89%). On the Missouri River, protected shorelines were important foraging sites for piping plovers during the breeding season. We also found that sandbars with low-lying moist habitat are important to foraging chicks. Results are consistent with the prediction that foraging conditions downriver from cold water release dams are inferior to conditions in other habitats in the region. Differences in prey availability are reflected in chick growth rates, but not in survival rates. These results underscore the variability in different indices of habitat quality (invertebrate indices, predation, growth rates, survival rates) among the four sites, and the need for monitoring and management strategies that address each site individually. When managing or creating sandbars, ensuring the availability of protected shoreline will benefit piping plovers on the Missouri River. / Ph. D.

A thorough understanding of demographic parameters and their contribution to overall population growth is fundamental to effective conservation of small populations, but this information is often lacking. The Pacific Coast population of the Western Snowy Plover (Charadrius nivosus nivosus) is listed as threatened and has been the target of long-term, multi-pronged management in Oregon. The Oregon coastal population has been intensively monitored since 1990, and over 80% of the population is color banded, but a comprehensive analysis of demographic parameters and the effect of management on vital rates and population growth has been unavailable until now. Here, the author used capture-mark-resight techniques to document survival at each life stage and to explore environmental and management factors that best explained variation in survival over a 25-year study period. The author analyzed the effects of habitat restoration, exclosure use, and lethal predator management on survival at appropriate life stages and evaluated the effects of one management option, lethal predator control, on overall population growth. Chick survival to fledging improved dramatically after the chicks' 5th day, was higher in years with lethal predator management, and was highest during the peak of the long brood-rearing season. Cold weather, particularly during the chicks' first 5 days, had a negative effect on survival to fledging. Juvenile survival from fledging to the following spring declined over the study period, but rebounded after implementation of lethal predator management. Adult survival was lower in wetter-than-average winters and higher in years with predator management. The author used the survival analyses and productivity data collected over 25 years in a matrix population model to reveal that population growth is most sensitive to changes in adult survival, and that while predator management is important for continued growth, its use may be scaled back by as much as 50% and still maintain a growing population. My results, encompassing all phases of this species' life cycle, demonstrate that with holistic and thoughtful adaptive management, and with the cooperation of numerous agencies, a balance can be struck between protection and control of native species to bring about recovery of species threatened with (local) extinction.

Molecular ecology has already provided profound insights into behaviour, ecology and systematics of organisms improving our understanding of the relationship between genetic variation and biodiversity. The objectives of my PhD were to develop new genetic markers and use these markers to address fundamental issues in evolutionary biology using shorebirds as model organisms. Shorebirds are part of the ancient avian Charadriiformes order and are characterised by extraordinary ecological and behavioural diversity. However, due to the lack of appropriate genetic markers the molecular ecology of many shorebirds has not been investigated previously. Therefore, first, I developed polymorphic microsatellite markers from genomic libraries for a behaviourally diverse shorebird, the Kentish plover Charadrius alexandrinus (Chapter II). Second, using the genomic data-bases I expended this work to develop further markers that cannot only be used in the Kentish plover, but also a large number of other shorebird species (Chapter III). Third, I investigated population differentiation and genetic diversity of Eurasian and American Kentish plover populations using the newly developed microsatellite markers and further mitochondrial markers (Chapter IV). The genetic differences between Eurasian and American populations that are mirrored by phenotypic differences call for a reconsideration of the current taxonomic status of the species; Eurasian and American populations should be recognised as belonging to two separate species. Finally, I asked how genetic diversity influences the fitness of precocial Kentish plover young (Chapter V). I found that survival of chicks until fledging was associated with genetic diversity (measured as heterozygosity) at three of eleven marker loci. Genetic diversity at one marker locus had a positive effect on survival whilst it had negative effects at two loci. The results of my PhD have brought up many new questions and I propose promising lines that need to be explored in the future (Chapter VI).

Thesis (M. Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 1973. / Typewritten.

Thesis (M. Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 1994. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 78).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2008. / Title from title screen (site viewed Feb. 17, 2009). PDF text: x, 145 p. : ill. (some col.) ; 2 Mb. UMI publication number: AAT 3331439. Includes bibliographical references. Also available in microfilm and microfiche formats.

Thesis (M.A.)--Humboldt State University, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves xi-xiv, following leaf 48). Also available via Humboldt Digital Scholar.