Survival and site fidelity of Piping Plovers on Long Island, New York

Abstract

The threatened Atlantic Coast population of Piping Plovers (Charadrius melodus) has not increased in recent years and remains 332 pairs short of the recovery goal of 2000 pairs. Habitat loss to development is a major threat to the population, and there has been interest in restoring nesting and foraging habitat. However, the demographic response of coastal Piping Plovers to either habitat loss or creation has not been documented. We estimated survival rates and site fidelity of a declining Piping Plover population on Long Island, New York, from 2001 to 2005 on a beach subject to human development and recreation. The mean annual adult survival was 0.703 ± 0.032 (SE) and was similar among years. Site fidelity during the period of territory establishment averaged 0.827 ± 0.069 (SE). Given this high site fidelity, ensuring the survival of adults is important for maintaining local populations. Although the 2002-2004 average was high, site fidelity was apparently lower in 2003 than in 2002. This decrease in site fidelity may have been related to several years of habitat loss and increasing predation of nests or chicks, as reported in a partly concurrent long-term study at our site. The species-level effect of local dispersal due to anthropogenic habitat loss depends on the fitness of dispersers, and is currently unknown for Piping Plovers. SINOPSIS. Sobrevivencia y fidelidad a una localidad en Long Island, New York por parte de Charadrius melodus La poblaci´ on de la costa del Atldel amenazado Charadrius melodus no ha incrementado en n´ umeros en los ´ ultimos a˜ nos y se mantiene en 332 parejas, ncorto de las metas de recobro de 2000 parejas. La pde ha manos del desarrollo se considera una de las amenazas principales. Hay interen restaurar el hde alimentaci´ on y reproduccidel ave. Sin embargo, no se ha documentado la respuesta demogr´