Thesis (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1980. / Typescript. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 107-113).

Thesis (M.S.)--Humboldt State University, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 34-39). Also available via Humboldt Digital Scholar.

The coastline of the northern Gulf of Mexico (NGOM) represents important non-breeding habitats for 28 species of migratory shorebirds. As processes of climate change accelerate, these habitats are expected to experience dramatic land loss. In addition, the NGOM has experienced several natural and human mediated disasters over the last decade, including Hurricane Katrina and the Deepwater Horizon Oil spill (DWH). Predicting the impacts of these events requires an understanding of the interactions between shorebirds and their habitats. However, the migration ecology of shorebirds on the NGOM has not been well studied. To better understand the effects of the DWH and the importance of NGOM habitats to the migration ecology of shorebirds I carried out two related studies. First, I investigated the potential for long term, large-scale effects of oil exposure to migratory shorebirds through both a literature review, and by investigating the exposure to DWH oil in seven species of shorebirds that winter or stopover along the NGOM. I found that through migratory carry-over effects, oil spills and other environmental disasters, have the potential to impact ecosystems far from the event. Exposure results suggest as many as 1 million shorebirds were impacted by direct exposure to oil, and many more may have been negatively affected by disturbance from cleanup activities in oiled habitats. Second, I investigated the migration ecology of three near-arctic breeding species of shorebirds (Semipalmated sandpipers (Calidris semipalmatus), Western Sandpiper (C. mauri) and Dunlin (C. alpina), by measuring within- and among-species variation in habitat use, stopover duration, and refueling rates, as measured by plasma metabolites, across 3 habitat types. I found that among species, shorebirds vary in their migration ecology according to the distance to the next stopover site, suggesting NGOM habitats may be particularly important to longer-distance â"u20acœjumpâ"u20acù migrants (Dunlin). I also found that while shorebirds are found across all habitat types sampled, the back bay habitats of barrier islands provided a higher quality habitat (as evidenced by higher prey biomass, and a higher refueling rate) than traditional coastal mudflats or remnant wetlands, highlighting the importance of considering shorebird ecology in barrier island restoration plans. / 1 / Jessica Renee Henkel

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1996. / Vita. Also available via the Internet.

Thesis (M.S.)--Georgia Southern University, 2006. / "A thesis submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Georgia Southern University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Master of Science" ETD. Includes bibliographical references (p. 55-58)

The purple sandpipers (Calidris maritima) are the most common waders in the high arctic archipelago of Svalbard, Norway. There they have to cope with a very short summer season and high metabolic costs of migrating far north and breeding in an arctic environment. The food on land is usually scarce, whereas there are rich feeding grounds in the littoral zone, such as in the intertidal zone of river flats. These feeding grounds are though only available to the purple sandpipers during low tide and as long as the estuary is not covered by sea ice. One of these intertidal flats was used as the fieldwork area in this study. To study when the birds are coming to this intertidal flat for feeding, a count study was performed during the entire stay of the purple sandpipers in Svalbard in summer 2010. Point counts were performed at low tide during 118 different days. Additionally, point counts were performed at twenty days during the six hours of the entire low tide period, to study when during the tidal cycle most sandpipers were feeding at the estuary. Most sandpipers were counted at the intertidal flat at the beginning of June with the highest number, 921 individuals, on 8th June. When the tundra was free of snow and the birds could start breeding, numbers where rapidly declining with very few sandpipers left in the estuary in July and the first part of August. From the end of August numbers were increasing again with a second but lower peak in the end of September and beginning of October. By the end of October all sandpipers had left the estuary. The study on the appearance of purple sandpipers at the estuary at the different periods of low tide showed that there were significantly more sandpipers between low tide and half an hour later than at the rest of the low tide period. This might be due to better access to their prey at that time. This knowledge could be used in future studies aiming at recording the maximum numbers. The result of the phenologic study could be included in a long term monitoring to see if the numbers and the timing of purple sandpipers are stable in this area or not: Are the peak numbers differing significantly? Is the timing of the arrival, the stay on the tundra and the timing of leaving the archipelago in the fall changing? Long-term monitoring would be especially interesting in the view of possible influences of the climate change on the purple sandpipers. Rising sea level as a result of the climate change would change the morphology of the estuaries and thereby influence the food resources available for sandpipers.

Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Bibliography: Includes bibliographical references (leaves 62-64). / During the nonbreeding season I observed the degree of site faithfulness of individual Sanderlings, Calidris alba, on the Pacific coast of southcentral Oregon, and the linear home range size was estimated. Home range size of Oregon birds and range sizes of individuals wintering in coastal areas of California and Peru were compared to determine if annual migration distance from the high arctic breeding ground is positively correlated with home range size. Oregon sanderlings on average remained within a minimum range of 17 kID during the nonbreeding season from October thrcugh April, although spring data are sparse. The Oregon home range is significantly larger than that of birds in Bodega Bay, California, and similar to that of birds in Peru. Therefore home range size is not correlated with distance from the breeding ground.