Geology topics

Susan N. Ellis-Felege

Publications and source records attributed to Susan N. Ellis-Felege.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

USGS2026

Phenological flexibility in nesting grassland birds over a half century informs timing of management

The timing of biological events for wildlife species reflects and influences ecological and evolutionary processes and helps guide management actions to meet conservation objectives. Climate change may cause phenological shifts across trophic levels and ecosystems, which can have broad ecological impacts. Shifts may also result in mistiming between management practices based on historical conditions and current biological events, reducing the effectiveness of natural resource management and conservation efforts. We analyzed nesting phenology patterns over recent decades across North America for 44 species of grassland-nesting birds, including waterfowl, upland gamebirds, shorebirds, and passerines, many of which have experienced precipitous population declines. Understanding nesting phenologies of these species is important to their conservation, as grassland management activities often conflict with reproductive periods leading to high nest and young mortality. We compiled a dataset of over 172,000 nest records spanning five decades and evaluated environmental factors influencing long-term shifts and short-term flexibility in nesting phenology. We found considerable variation in responses among species, with differences in both direction and magnitude of spatiotemporal effects on nest initiation dates. Notably, the community-level nesting season lengthened over time, but shifts exhibited spatial heterogeneity within this community of grassland birds. Nesting dates shifted asymmetrically across the breeding season with differential changes in early, peak, and late nesting dates whereas long-term changes were mediated by weather and geographic gradients. For example, nest initiation was earlier in warmer and wetter years. By applying a quantile-based analysis, we provide estimates of the full nesting period that could serve as a flexible tool for scheduling monitoring efforts and balancing management and human activities with periods of reduced nesting activity. Our collaborative effort illustrates the challenges and opportunities of collecting long-term data on avian communities necessary for answering questions across large regions but highlights the value of research coordination for bird conservation.

Global Change Biology↗

USGS2024

Climate, food and humans predict communities of mammals in the United States

Aim The assembly of species into communities and ecoregions is the result of interacting factors that affect plant and animal distribution and abundance at biogeographic scales. Here, we empirically derive ecoregions for mammals to test whether human disturbance has become more important than climate and habitat resources in structuring communities. Location Conterminous United States. Time Period 2010–2021. Major Taxa Studied Twenty-five species of mammals. Methods We analysed data from 25 mammal species recorded by camera traps at 6645 locations across the conterminous United States in a joint modelling framework to estimate relative abundance of each species. We then used a clustering analysis to describe 8 broad and 16 narrow mammal communities. Results Climate was the most important predictor of mammal abundance overall, while human population density and agriculture were less important, with mixed effects across species. Seed production by forests also predicted mammal abundance, especially hard-mast tree species. The mammal community maps are similar to those of plants, with an east–west split driven by different dominant species of deer and squirrels. Communities vary along gradients of temperature in the east and precipitation in the west. Most fine-scale mammal community boundaries aligned with established plant ecoregions and were distinguished by the presence of regional specialists or shifts in relative abundance of widespread species. Maps of potential ecosystem services provided by these communities suggest high herbivory in the Rocky Mountains and eastern forests, high invertebrate predation in the subtropical south and greater predation pressure on large vertebrates in the west. Main Conclusions Our results highlight the importance of climate to modern mammals and suggest that climate change will have strong impacts on these communities. Our new empirical approach to recognizing ecoregions has potential to be applied to expanded communities of mammals or other taxa.

Conterminous United States↗

USGS2022

Nest remains are insufficient to identify predators of waterfowl nests

Context: Nest predation is a leading cause of nest failure for most ground-nesting birds. Methods that allow for accurate classification of fate and identification of predators are important for understanding productivity and conservation strategies. Past studies have used a visual inspection of nest remains to determine nest fate and predict predator identity. Most formal assessments of these methods have addressed small-bodied birds nesting in trees or shrubs, and have revealed that use of evidence at nests can be relatively accurate for determining nest fate but may lead to incorrect conclusions regarding predator identity. However, few have tested the latter hypothesis for larger ground-nesting birds with precocial young. Aim: We aimed to evaluate a classification system developed for determining nest fate and identifying predators of waterfowl nests, at both the scale of individual nests and across the study area. Methods: From 2016 to 2020, we located 989 blue-winged teal ( Spatula discors ), mallard ( Anas platyrhynchos ) and gadwall ( Mareca strepera ) nests in central North Dakota. We placed cameras at a subset of 249 nests and recorded evidence of nest remains at depredated nests. Key results: The most common predators were American badgers ( Taxidea taxus ), followed by striped skunks ( Mephitis mephitis ), raccoons ( Procyon lotor ) and red foxes ( Vulpes vulpes ). Using evidence of nest remains, we determined nest fates with high accuracy (98.0%). However, evidence of nest remains was only sufficient for identifying predators at 50% of nests, and the classification system was correct only 69.7% of the time. The predicted proportion of predators across the study area differed between the classification system and our video evidence as well. Conclusions: The accuracy of predator identifications based upon the classification system that we evaluated was not supported at any scale. Implications: Our results suggest that evidence of nest remains can be used to determine nest fate for large-bodied precocial, ground-nesting birds, but accurate identification of nest predators will require alternative methods such as nest cameras.

Wildlife Research↗

USGS2021

Galliform exclusion from the Migratory Bird Treaty Act has produced an alternate conservation path, but no evidence for differences in population status

The Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA) is critical to avian conservation in the United States, both through its protection of migratory birds and as a catalyst for a century of coordinated avian conservation. While more than 1,000 species are protected by MBTA, of extant bird species native to the continental U.S., only 20 species belonging to the order Galliformes are explicitly excluded. Management of galliforms has occurred largely without direct federal oversight, placing this group on a fundamentally different conservation path during the century following MBTA passage. In this paper, we review the historical context and biological justification for exclusion of galliforms from MBTA and synthesize how their present-day conservation differs from that of migratory birds. We find the most prominent difference between the two groups involves the scope of coordination among stakeholders. The U.S. government, primarily via the Department of Interior, acts as de facto coordinating body for migratory bird conservation and plays the central role in oversight, funding, and administration of management in the United States. In contrast, galliform management falls primarily to individual state wildlife agencies, and coordinated conservation efforts have been more ad hoc and unevenly spread across species. Migratory birds benefit from an almost universally greater scope of research and monitoring, scale of habitat conservation, and sophistication of harvest management compared with galliforms. Galliform harvest management plans, in particular, are less likely to use measurable objectives, reporting of uncertainty in population parameters, and explanation of harvest management techniques. Based on a review of species status lists (e.g., the U.S. Endangered Species Act), we found no evidence that galliforms were more frequently listed than migratory species. Regional trend estimates from the North American Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) were more likely to be negative for galliforms over the period 1966–2015, but this was primarily driven by Northern Bobwhite ( Colinus virginianus ). Data to assess galliform population status are generally poor, which complicates assessment for roughly half of galliform species. Increased support for coordination among state agencies and other stakeholders, similar to that applied to migratory birds, could help to ensure that galliform conservation is poised to tackle forthcoming challenges associated with global change.

North America↗

USGS2020

Plasticity of Least Tern and Piping Plover nesting behaviors in response to sand temperature

Birds that nest on the ground in open areas, such as Piping Plovers ( Charadrius melodus ) and Interior Least Terns ( Sternula antillarum athalassos ), are exposed to high temperatures in thermally stressful environments. As a result, some ground-nesting avian species have adapted behavioral strategies to maintain thermal regulation of eggs and themselves. We assessed the impact of sand temperature on shorebird nesting behaviors by installing video cameras and thermocouples at 52 Least Tern and 55 Piping Plover nests on the Missouri River in North Dakota during the 2014–2015 breeding seasons. Daily duration and frequency of shading behaviors exhibited a nonlinear relationship with temperature; therefore, we used segmented regressions to determine at what threshold temperature (mean temperature = 25.7 ⸰ C for shading behavior daily frequency and mean temperature = 25.1 ⸰ C for shading behavior daily duration) shorebird adults exhibited a behavioral response to rising sand temperatures. Daily nest attendance of both species decreased with increasing sand temperatures in our system. Frequency and duration of daily shading behaviors were positively correlated with sand temperatures above the temperature threshold. Piping Plovers exhibited more and longer shading behaviors above and below the temperature thresholds (below: frequency = 10.30 ± 1.69 se, duration = 7.29 min ± 2.35 se; above: frequency = 59.27 ± 6.87 se) compared to Least Terns (below: frequency = −1.37 ± 1.98 se, duration = −0.73 min ± 1.51 se; above: frequency = 31.32 ± 7.29 se). The effects of sand temperature on avian ground-nesting behavior will be critical to understand in order to adapt or develop recovery plans in response to climate change.

North Dakota↗

USGS2018

Accuracy of nest fate classification and predator identification from evidence at nests of least terns and piping plovers

For federally listed species such as Least Tern Sternula antillarum and Piping Plover Charadrius melodus , correct determination of nest fates and causes of nest failure is crucial for understanding population dynamics and improving monitoring programmes. We used video cameras to evaluate nest fate misclassification rate and to identify factors that may cause researchers monitoring nests at different intervals to classify Least Tern and Piping Plover nest fates incorrectly. During the 2013–2015 breeding seasons, we installed miniature surveillance cameras at 65 of 294 Least Tern and 89 of 551 Piping Plover nests under observation on the Missouri River in North Dakota. Nest fates were assigned in the field from remains found at the nest‐site and then again by an independent researcher who reviewed camera footage. We used ordinal logistic regressions to examine whether monitoring interval, clutch age or temporal factors influenced a correct, partially misclassified (probable successful in the field vs. successful by camera) or misclassified nest fate classification. During a 7‐day monitoring interval between visits, 45% of nests were partially and 27.5% were fully misclassified. The percentage of partially (20%) and fully (8.0%) misclassified nests decreased with a more intensive (3‐day) monitoring schedule. Researchers were also less likely to correctly classify nest fates for Least Terns than for Piping Plovers, and as clutch age and monitoring interval increased for both species. Furthermore, causes of failure (e.g. predators, weather) as determined from field evidence vs. video disagreed for 53.5% of nests. The ability to identify accurately nest fate and cause of nest failure will facilitate a better understanding of factors that limit productivity and will lead to better informed management decisions for improving nest survival.

North Dakota↗