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Predictors of Gull-billed tern (Gelochelidon nilotica) nest survival in artificial coastal saltpans, Bohai Bay, China
BACKGROUND: Coastal saltpans are a common supratidal human-modified wetland habitat found within many coastal landscape mosaics. Commercial salt production and aquaculture practices often result in the creation of exposed coastal substrates that could provide suitable breeding habitat for waterbird...
Autores principales: | , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
PeerJ Inc.
2020
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7543726/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33083128 http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.10054 |
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author | Wu, Fuxing Lei, Weipan Lloyd, Huw Zhang, Zhengwang |
author_facet | Wu, Fuxing Lei, Weipan Lloyd, Huw Zhang, Zhengwang |
author_sort | Wu, Fuxing |
collection | PubMed |
description | BACKGROUND: Coastal saltpans are a common supratidal human-modified wetland habitat found within many coastal landscape mosaics. Commercial salt production and aquaculture practices often result in the creation of exposed coastal substrates that could provide suitable breeding habitat for waterbird populations; however, few studies have quantified waterbird breeding success in these artificial wetlands. METHODS: Here we examine the nesting behavior of the Gull-billed tern (Gelochelidon nilotica) breeding in the Nanpu coastal saltpans of Bohai Bay, Yellow Sea, China over three consecutive nesting seasons (2017–2019) by using nest survival model in Program MARK. RESULTS: The results revealed that nest survival of Gull-billed terns in coastal saltpans (0.697) was higher than previously published estimates from other regions, with an estimated daily survival rate (DSR) of 0.982 ± 0.001 (±95% CI). High nest survival was mainly attributed to low levels of human disturbances and low predation rates, while exposure to strong winds, flooding and silting were the main factors causing nest failure. Model-averaged estimates revealed that eggs laid in nests located on ‘habitat islands’ with feather or clam shell substrates were most likely to hatch. Initiation date, nest age, clutch size and quadratic effects of nearest-neighbor distance, nearest distance to road and nearest distance to water were all significant predictors of nest success, but the nest survival declined overall from 2017 to 2019 due to the degradation and loss of breeding habitat anthropogenically caused by rising water levels. DISCUSSION: Coastal saltpans represent an alternative breeding habitat for the Gull-billed tern populations in Bohai Bay, but conservation management should prioritize flood prevention to improve the extent and quality of breeding habitat, concurrent with efforts to create further ‘habitat islands’ with suitable nesting substrate. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-7543726 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2020 |
publisher | PeerJ Inc. |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-75437262020-10-19 Predictors of Gull-billed tern (Gelochelidon nilotica) nest survival in artificial coastal saltpans, Bohai Bay, China Wu, Fuxing Lei, Weipan Lloyd, Huw Zhang, Zhengwang PeerJ Conservation Biology BACKGROUND: Coastal saltpans are a common supratidal human-modified wetland habitat found within many coastal landscape mosaics. Commercial salt production and aquaculture practices often result in the creation of exposed coastal substrates that could provide suitable breeding habitat for waterbird populations; however, few studies have quantified waterbird breeding success in these artificial wetlands. METHODS: Here we examine the nesting behavior of the Gull-billed tern (Gelochelidon nilotica) breeding in the Nanpu coastal saltpans of Bohai Bay, Yellow Sea, China over three consecutive nesting seasons (2017–2019) by using nest survival model in Program MARK. RESULTS: The results revealed that nest survival of Gull-billed terns in coastal saltpans (0.697) was higher than previously published estimates from other regions, with an estimated daily survival rate (DSR) of 0.982 ± 0.001 (±95% CI). High nest survival was mainly attributed to low levels of human disturbances and low predation rates, while exposure to strong winds, flooding and silting were the main factors causing nest failure. Model-averaged estimates revealed that eggs laid in nests located on ‘habitat islands’ with feather or clam shell substrates were most likely to hatch. Initiation date, nest age, clutch size and quadratic effects of nearest-neighbor distance, nearest distance to road and nearest distance to water were all significant predictors of nest success, but the nest survival declined overall from 2017 to 2019 due to the degradation and loss of breeding habitat anthropogenically caused by rising water levels. DISCUSSION: Coastal saltpans represent an alternative breeding habitat for the Gull-billed tern populations in Bohai Bay, but conservation management should prioritize flood prevention to improve the extent and quality of breeding habitat, concurrent with efforts to create further ‘habitat islands’ with suitable nesting substrate. PeerJ Inc. 2020-10-05 /pmc/articles/PMC7543726/ /pubmed/33083128 http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.10054 Text en ©2020 Wu et al. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, reproduction and adaptation in any medium and for any purpose provided that it is properly attributed. For attribution, the original author(s), title, publication source (PeerJ) and either DOI or URL of the article must be cited. |
spellingShingle | Conservation Biology Wu, Fuxing Lei, Weipan Lloyd, Huw Zhang, Zhengwang Predictors of Gull-billed tern (Gelochelidon nilotica) nest survival in artificial coastal saltpans, Bohai Bay, China |
title | Predictors of Gull-billed tern (Gelochelidon nilotica) nest survival in artificial coastal saltpans, Bohai Bay, China |
title_full | Predictors of Gull-billed tern (Gelochelidon nilotica) nest survival in artificial coastal saltpans, Bohai Bay, China |
title_fullStr | Predictors of Gull-billed tern (Gelochelidon nilotica) nest survival in artificial coastal saltpans, Bohai Bay, China |
title_full_unstemmed | Predictors of Gull-billed tern (Gelochelidon nilotica) nest survival in artificial coastal saltpans, Bohai Bay, China |
title_short | Predictors of Gull-billed tern (Gelochelidon nilotica) nest survival in artificial coastal saltpans, Bohai Bay, China |
title_sort | predictors of gull-billed tern (gelochelidon nilotica) nest survival in artificial coastal saltpans, bohai bay, china |
topic | Conservation Biology |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7543726/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33083128 http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.10054 |
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