I. INTRODUCTION....................................................................................................... 3
II. THE “CWE” IN ACTION........................................................................................... 5
A. Specific Projects.............................................................................................. 5
1. The
Triangle Island Seabird Research Station........................................................... 5
2. The Western
Sandpiper Research Network............................................................... 7
a. Breeding
Studies (Alaska).................................................................................... 8
b. Migration
Studies (BC and Washington):............................................................... 8
c. Wintering
Ground Studies.................................................................................. 11
3. The Marbled
Murrelet Project............................................................................... 12
4. The Georgia Basin
Ecosystem Initiative: Species accounts....................................... 15
a. Winter and
Spring Ecology of Pacific Black Brant................................................ 15
b. Population
Studies of Harlequin Ducks............................................................... 16
c. Scoters............................................................................................................. 17
d. Snow Geese..................................................................................................... 19
e. Winter
Ecology of Dunlin.................................................................................. 19
f. Great Blue
Herons............................................................................................ 20
g. American
Dippers............................................................................................. 21
5. The Riske Creek Field Station.............................................................................. 22
6. Waterbirds
in the North........................................................................................ 22
a. Population
change in seaducks in Prince William Sound....................................... 23
b. Timing of
reproduction in Greater Scaup............................................................. 23
c. Seaduck
breeding and moulting biology off Alaska’s North Slope.......................... 23
d. Foraging
ecology of breeding Red-throated Loons................................................ 24
e. Courtship
and pair formation in Horned and Red-necked Grebes........................... 24
f. Parental
care in eiders........................................................................................ 25
7.
Physiological ecology of reproduction and migration............................................... 25
a. Reproductive
physiology.................................................................................... 26
b. Endocrine
disrupters and ecotoxicology............................................................... 27
c. Migration
physiology of western sandpipers......................................................... 28
B. Other Initiatives............................................................................................ 30
1. Scientific
Meetings or Workshops.......................................................................... 30
2. Awards,
Honours and Appointments (alphabetically and chronologically)................... 33
C. Community Involvement............................................................................ 35
D. Funding.............................................................................................................. 36
1. Centre for
Wildlife Ecology Funding History (Chart)................................................ 37
2. 2000/2001
fiscal year (1 April 2000 through 31 March 2001)................................... 38
3. 2001/2002
fiscal year (1 April 2001 through 31 March 2002)................................... 40
E. Publications.................................................................................................... 43
1. Papers in
Refereed Journals................................................................................... 43
2. Papers
Submitted to Refereed Journals................................................................... 49
3. Conference
Proceedings and Book Chapters........................................................... 50
4. Other
Publications................................................................................................ 51
5. Theses................................................................................................................. 52
F. Personnel......................................................................................................... 54
1. Board of
Directors................................................................................................ 54
2. Research Team.................................................................................................... 54
i. Faculty and
Research Associates........................................................................ 54
ii. Research Group................................................................................................ 54
III. APPENDIX I.
MISSION STATEMENT (January 1995 - F. Cooke)................... 56
A. Conservation Goals, The CWS
Perspective........................................... 56
1. Habitats............................................................................................................... 57
2. Bird Species......................................................................................................... 57
3. Integrated
Population Approach............................................................................. 59
B. Academic Goals, The ¶¡ÏãÔ°AV
Perspective..................................................... 62
1. Population Ecology............................................................................................... 62
2. Behavioural
Ecology............................................................................................. 63
3. Physiological
Ecology........................................................................................... 63
4. General Points...................................................................................................... 64
IV. APPENDIX
II. MISSION STATEMENT (April 2002 – R.
Ydenberg)............... 65
A. History.............................................................................................................. 65
B. Mission Statement........................................................................................ 65
The aim
of this Annual Report is to:
i. give an overview of our activities since the
last report
ii. outline the progress on new and continuing
projects
iii.
describe
the personnel involved
iv.
give
some indicators of our scientific and community involvement.
Since
our last report (August 1999), there have been substantial changes for the
Centre. We are now in our ninth year,
and in the second year under our new name, the Centre for Wildlife Ecology
(CWE). Fred Cooke, the Senior Chair from
1993-2001, has retired, and Dr. Ron Ydenberg has assumed the directorship of
the CWE. Tony Williams retains the
position of Associate Director. Plans
are progressing for hiring a faculty replacement for Fred, who would play a key
role in the CWE. A job search in Fall 2001
was unsuccessful in locating a candidate acceptable to both the CWE and the
department, so the position has been re-advertised. Interviews should be conducted this spring.
Dov Lank remains with us as a
University Research Associate and Adjunct Professor. Dov is responsible for directing several
large-scale projects, including the Marbled Murrelet project (along with Fred,
who continues to take an active role from across the ocean) and the Western
Sandpiper Research Network. Two new Research
Associates have joined the Centre since our last report. Dr. Dan Esler,
formerly of the US Geological Survey in
Since the last Annual Report, six PhD and 14 MSc students have completed their degrees (see p. 55, Personnel). Their accomplishments are discussed in detail under the “Specific projects” section relevant to their work. Many new students have joined the group since the last report (see list on p. 54), and their projects are discussed in upcoming sections.
In
July 2001, Barbara Sherman, the CWE Administrative Asst. who has kept us on
course and solvent since 1995, left us to become Departmental Administrator for
the ¶¡ÏãÔ°AV Biology department. Although we
were very sorry to see her leave, we wish her well in her new position. Barb was replaced by Judy Higham, who, after
8 months in her new job, has learned the ropes and is guiding the ship
safely! Connie Smith continues in her
post as Research Assistant, watching over data storage, permits and the
laboratory.
Our
research projects can be grouped into seven categories, which will be discussed
in detail in the next section. These categories are:
1)
Seabird
research at the Triangle Island Research
Station, an ecological reserve on the outermost of the
2) The
research network on Western Sandpipers
continues to thrive under the coordination of Dov Lank. This project, which involves cooperation of
researchers all over western North America, examines all life history stages of
Western Sandpipers: at their breeding
grounds in Alaska, at migratory stages areas all along the western coast of
North America and at wintering grounds in México and Panama.
3) The Marbled Murrelet project, begun in
1994, has continued to grow and provide data on MAMU demography and breeding
habitat preferences that are critical to the management of this threatened
species.
4) Through
the Georgia Basin Ecosystem Initiative
(GBEI), we have identified several bird populations for special study. CWE personnel have been involved with studies
on Snow Geese, Brant, Harlequin
Ducks, Scoters, Great Blue Herons, Dunlin, Marbled Murrelet (see above) and
American Dippers.
5) The Riske Creek Project, conducted in the BC interior near
6) Under the direction of Dan Esler, the CWE has begun new work on several species of waterbirds in the north, including Harlequin Ducks, Greater Scaup, Common Eiders, Long-tailed Ducks and Red-throated Loons. Also falling into this grouping is Bonnie Stout’s work on courtship and pairing of Horned and Red-throated Grebes in the NWT, and work by Ron Ydenberg and Markus Őst (from University of Helsinki) on cooperative parental care in eiders.
7) Tony Williams and several students in the CWE are pursuing physiological studies of migration, egg production and ecotoxicology in several species of birds, including Zebra Finches, Starlings, Greater Scaup, Mallard Ducks and Western Sandpipers.
We have made no attempt to prioritize
the projects below. They are presented
to give an account of the major initiatives of CWE.
Background: The Ecological Reserve on
The Triangle Station: We opened our research and monitoring station on
Seabird Rocks: In July of
2001, a small team visited Seabird Rocks (West Coast
“Nestucca” Trust Fund: Our integrated ecosystem study with
Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) collects time series information on
temporal and spatial variation in zooplankton communities and ocean properties,
coupled with detailed seabird population data.
This season marked the fourth year of our five-year collaborative
investigations. Ocean temperatures
remained cool in 2001, with major influences on zooplankton community
composition, biomass and temporal availability.
Research ships obtained samples at monthly intervals along the Triangle
sampling line and at a series of historical stations near
Foraging Distributions: In 2001, we
concluded our three-year at-sea foraging distribution studies of Cassin’s
Auklets. We deployed radios on 38
breeding Cassin’s Auklets and flew aerial telemetry surveys to locate birds
at-sea in June. We flew surveys in a
Beaver floatplane and determined that the birds were foraging in a new location
50-100 km northwest of
Graduate students:
Louise Blight defended her MSc thesis in July
2000 on egg neglect by Rhinoceros Auklets on
A majority of the world’s
3.5 – 4.0 million Western Sandpipers stop briefly to refuel in Boundary Bay or
on Robert’s Bank during their annual northward migration, providing a thrilling
sight for local residents. A good
fraction of the species population also stops over on southward migration, following
a flight over the
We examined the breeding
performance of Western and Semipalmated Sandpipers, two closely related
species. Brett Sandercock continued
publication of papers based on his chair PhD work at Safety Sound, near
Our work on migration
strategies has considered two major areas: effects of food and predation danger
on habitat choice and stopover strategies.
We continued our comparison of feeding and predator danger conditions in
the Fraser River Delta versus a small mudflat on
On the food side, Bob Elner (CWS) continued promoting the view that Western Sandpipers can and do utilize meiofaunal and organic surface “slime” in their diets (see Sutherland, Shepherd and Elner, 2000). In addition to field measurements, Elner’s collaborators have imaged the feeding apparatus of the species and shown the existence of structures well suited for such a feeding mode. These important findings feed directly into behavioral work on this species here and on the wintering grounds.
Nick Wolf, an MSc student of Ron Ydenberg’s, completed
his thesis examining invertebrate food availability and usage between
sites. Consistent with Chris Guglielmo’s
earlier physiological results (which have also been replicated in another
season by Dana Seaman), Wolf’s results in the main confirm the hypothesis that
In spring and fall of 2001, a small army of field workers, supported by grants to Williams and Ydenberg and CWS funds, sampled feeding behavior, food availability, and the birds themselves (blood samples) near Vancouver and at sites in Washington State (see Dana Seaman’s work in the landscape physiological ecology section). MSc student Andrea Pomeroy, working with Rob Butler, is developing her project around spatial heterogeneity of resource availability and usage by sandpipers. The synergy of conducting behavioural, physiological and ecological work is substantial, with cooperation and extensive sharing of data collection and usage among participants. This approach is being repeated in 2002.
At a broader scale, PhD student Silke Nebel is gathering data on differential foraging behavior at sites throughout the wintering range (see below).
The effects of predators on the behaviour of their prey is a well developed theme within the ¶¡ÏãÔ°AV Behavioural Ecology Research Group, which helped establish the CWE nine years ago. Ron Ydenberg, Dov Lank, and Rob Butler have been examining how migratory falcons interact with migratory sandpipers and alter aspects of the latter’s behaviour, including their habitat choice on migration. This research is timely because raptor populations in many areas of the industrialized world are actually increasing, following artificially low levels resulting from the widespread use of DDT in agriculture in the 1950s. CWE researchers are taking advantage of this worldwide predator reintroduction experiment to determine effects on shorebirds. The results thus far have direct and novel implications for conservation and management of these species. Two papers developing these themes have been published, and two more are ready for submission.
Using data gathered by CWS
researchers since the late 1970s, and newer observations from CWE studies, we
have shown that shorebirds have changed their habitat preferences as falcon
populations have increased. Small
sandpipers are decreasing their usage of smaller migratory stopover sites,
where attacking falcons may more easily surprise them than is the case at
large, open sites. Despite an abundance
of food at the small mudflat on
We are also considering how
predation danger from migrant falcons affects migratory timing and routes, and
even aspects of parental care on the breeding grounds. Sandpipers benefit by migrating at times when
falcons are still occupied with their own breeding, and thus dispersed over the
landscape. Adult sandpipers migrate
southwards a month prior to young, often leaving the young in the arctic prior
to fledging. We interpret this with
respect to the adult’s need to moult following migration, and the advantage of
having completed moult prior to the arrival of migratory falcons. Young birds do not moult following migration,
and thus may suffer less from a later migratory flight. Western sandpipers fly directly over the
These studies show that a previously overlooked decision making process is of substantial importance for conservation planning. Predation-sensitive habitat shifts, and changes in the length of stopover behaviour, strongly affect the design of population monitoring schemes and habitat reserves. A shift towards lighter weight migrants with shorter stopover times can produce the appearance of a population decline in population survey data, when none actually occurs. This effect will be particularly strong when monitoring is biased towards smaller, predation-prone sites, which may often be the case since smaller sites are easier to count accurately than larger sites. As with general reserve design, several smaller mudflats may not be of equal value to migrants as a large one of similar total size. Finally, the research points out that interactions at several trophic levels need to be considered in management decisions.
i.
ii.
iii.
Broad Geographical Patterns. Silke Nebel, a PhD student working with
Ydenberg and Lank, is studying factors affecting the migration distance and
wintering distribution of Western Sandpipers, including both foraging and
predation related aspects. Her first
chapter is an accepted paper reviewing the sex and age distributions of
non-breeding Western Sandpipers, which again drew on datasets provided by
network collaborators. Her work relates
to that of students looking intensively at single sites (Mexico, Panama) in the
sense of providing some opportunity to see whether patterns of differential use
at a local levels can be scaled up to account for broad geographical
patterns.
iv.
UV
and feather-wear. Peggy Yen, who has worked with a number of
CWE projects during her undergraduate career at ¶¡ÏãÔ°AV, is following up on
Patrick’s work by considering the potential effects of UV exposure for
feather-wear of birds spending the non-breeding season at different
locations. Through our collaborative
network, she has obtained feathers from birds from sites throughout the range,
and developed a novel index to quantify wear attributable to UV exposure.
Work
continues for the eighth consecutive year on this project. The ongoing team includes Fred Cooke, Dov
Lank, Nadine Parker, Laura McFarlane Tranquilla, Peggy Yen and Yuri Zharikov of
CWE, and Louise Waterhouse from the BC Ministry of Forests. Dov Lank joined the team when Fred Cooke
moved back to
In
2001, we continued fieldwork at two field sites - our long-term study at
The dipnet program continued in Desolation, however, no mistnetting was conducted due to the declining capture success in previous seasons. The main objectives were to capture and tag adult murrelets for nest finding purposes; and, later in the season, to capture and tag juvenile murrelets as part of a study investigating post-fledging survival and dispersal. A manuscript documenting the demographic assessment of the Desolation Sound population from our capture-mark-recapture data was recently submitted to Conservation Biology by Emmanuelle Cam et al. Adult survival (annual) was estimated as 0.83 (95% CI 0.72-0.90) with the mist net and dip net data and 0.93 (95% CI 0.63-0.99) with the mist net data only. Despite the wide confidence intervals, our estimates are consistent with the range specified by other authors for Marbled Murrelets.
Nest finding continues to be successful using radio telemetry. Since 1998 we have found 121 (37 for 2001) active nests in the Desolation Sound area using this technique. We made several new discoveries in 2001 that substantially add to the currently sparse knowledge of Marbled Murrelet biology. Two ‘re-nesting’ attempts were observed, involving two radioed individuals. In addition, we were able to shed some light on the question of site fidelity, by recapturing and tagging an individual that was a confirmed nesting bird during the 1999 season. The individual nested again in 2001, and the nest was located only 75m from the nest found in 1999.
Although we are
still in the throes of analysis, we have drawn a number of conclusions
concerning nesting habitat preferences of Marbled Murrelets. We found that Marbled Murrelets do select
primarily for steeper slopes in old forest habitat (>140 years) with a
slight preference for lower elevations.
They exhibit higher nesting success in steeper slopes and higher
elevations. Nest locations suggest
intensive use of small
Russell Bradley’s Master thesis has yielded a number of interesting insights into the breeding ecology of the Marbled Murrelet. It appears that male breeding birds visited their nests, and likely provisioned young, more than females during chick rearing. These findings have offered a behavioural explanation for a previously reported annual male bias of birds flying inland during the chick-rearing period at Theodosia Inlet in Desolation Sound from 1994-1999. It was also found that early breeding birds commuted further from foraging areas to nests, and nested at sites of steeper slopes than later breeding birds. The earlier birds were more successful, while higher nest site elevation, steeper nest site slope, and longer commuting distance were all associated with greater success. In addition, data from radio marked birds showed no evidence to suggest that nesting near forest edges, particularly natural edges, reduces reproductive success in Marbled Murrelets.
Investigations into the breeding physiology of and stress responses in Marbled Murrelets were completed in 2001. Analyses of vitellogenin (VTG) levels (protein found in the blood of egg-producing females) indicate a five-month breeding season, the timing of which is similar year to year (1999-2000). Our analyses also identified possible consequences of disturbance from capture in some birds - approximately half of the females that were ‘fecund’ (with elevated VTG levels) at capture were never recorded as initiating a nesting attempt (from radio-tracking data). In addition, there appeared to be a 15 day delay in the timing of the nesting attempt for some females, i.e. the initiation of their attempt was later than would have been expected based on their VTG levels at capture. However, the extent to which natural failure of the breeding attempt or natural re-nesting is encompassed in what we perceive as ‘capture effects’ is unclear.
Work continued for
a second year in Clayoquot Sound on
The 2000-2001 season was the final one
for research on the wintering population of Brant in
Kate Hagmeier,
an MSc student under the supervision of Sean Boyd, is finishing up a study of
the wintering and migrant Brant of Boundary Bay and eastern
Other aspects of the field research
include conducting counts for estimates of abundance, juvenile recruitment and
the number of Western Canadian High Arctic Brant (Branta bernicla hrota) in the
CWE
and CWS have had long-standing conservation concerns and research interest
regarding harlequin ducks in the
Heidi and Michael’s research is a continuation of the large scale banding program started by CWS in 1993 under the direction of Ian Goudie. Banding has been carried out at several locations throughout the Strait of Georgia, with moulting birds receiving an alphanumeric coloured legband allowing individual recognition when birds were sighted later as they hauled out on the rocks. In later years this individual recognition was enhanced by the use of small nasal disks. We concentrated our work mainly on four moulting/wintering populations, at Campbell River, Cape Lazo, Hornby Island and Boundary Bay. The objectives were to understand survival, migration and recruitment patterns of these four populations in order to characterize which habitats were most favorable for Harlequin Ducks. Two of these populations, those at Hornby Island and Boundary Bay have been studied in considerable detail in order to understand the age and sex specific demography and winter dispersal of this species. The high visibility of individually banded birds allowed us to carry out detailed observations of moult in this species and continue to collect information on times of year when birds renew previous pair bonds or form new ones. We have our first evidence of divorce, and it appears that first time breeders pair later in the winter than older birds that have lost a previous mate.
Regular banding during moult ceased in 2000. Birds seemed to be increasingly aware of our activities and our success rate was low. In 2000 we focused instead on using floating mist nets during September to catch juveniles and accompanying females, in order to explore the phenomenon of family dispersal. Two families were caught and a total of 15 juvenile birds (see above).
In 2000, Nicole McCutchen, a MSc student of Ron Ydenberg’s, made observations of marked Harlequin Ducks while conducting her research on effects of stonefly abundance on Harlequin habitat usage in Jasper National Park. Cyndi Smith completed MSc work with Harlequin Ducks in 2000, and returned to her previous job with Parks Canada. In the Banff Region, 40 breeding HADU were banded, and observations of marked birds were made by N. Sonosky (working for Cyndi Smith). These data were added to our master database of Harlequin Duck banding and resightings.
The CWE has three projects concerning Surf Scoters in the Strait of Georgia. This work was initiated because Surf Scoters are an abundant winter visitor to the BC coast and also because there are indications of population declines in the northern breeding locations. Little is known about this species of duck in contrast to the large number of studies of dabbling ducks, which are widely hunted. The first study, by Debbie Lacroix under the supervision of Ron Ydenberg, investigated the relationship between the scoters and their major food source, the mussel. Scoters are extremely efficient at depleting whole mussel beds and their strategy appears to be to deplete particular beds, which are then left until they re-grow over a time interval of at least a year. There appear to be sufficient mussel beds that the amount of food available in future years is adequate for existing scoter populations.
Sam Iverson is assessing the
recruitment rate of young Surf Scoters using winter age ratios. He has
determined that young male surf scoters can be accurately distinguished from
adults by plumage characteristics, particularly during late winter. Hence, simple monitoring tools can be used to
infer important information about productivity and population dynamics. Also, Sam considered factors related to
distributions of surf scoter age and sex classes, and discovered that
differential foraging efficiency among cohorts in habitats with clams likely
explains observed differences in habitat use.
The
third CWE study on Surf Scoters began in the winter of 2001-2002, led by Dan
Esler, Sean Boyd, and Ron Ydenberg, as a collaborative program involving CWE,
CWS, and an array of agency, university, and industry partners. This research addresses interactions between
wintering surf and white-winged scoter populations and shellfish aquaculture,
which are concentrated in similar areas and require similar resources. To address this issue, we need to understand
the processes by which scoters choose foraging patches, the attributes of
habitat patches that influence scoter foraging decisions, the scale over which
scoters forage, the effects of scoter foraging on shellfish resources, the
effects of variation in prey densities and types on scoter foraging and
distribution, and the population-level demographic consequences of these
interactions. In turn, this will
generate data that will (1) indicate the mechanisms by which conflicts or
benefits of the shellfish industry could occur, (2) evaluate the
population-level effects of the shellfish industry, and (3) predict effects of
current and projected levels of shellfish industry activity. This work was recently initiated in Baynes
Sound, and will expand to Barkley and Desolation Sounds in subsequent winters.
Snow
Geese form life long pair bonds and are inferred, from breeding ground studies,
to choose their lifetime partners during their second winter of life. The process of this first pair formation has
never been directly observed, because it is impossible to know the age of
non-juvenile birds by plumage. Only by
observing individually marked birds could one study the process of first pair
formation in this species. We were
fortunate, through collaboration with colleagues in Wrangel Island in NE
Russia, to be able to study a large number of individually neck-collared
yearling Snow Geese, banded in 1998, 1999 and 2000 by Vasya Baranyuk as part of
our cooperative research program with Russia.
These birds, which were unpaired when they arrived at the Fraser and
Skagit Deltas, were observed throughout their second, third and fourth winters,
and data on pairing behaviour and family structure are being collected. Birds of known age (beyond immature plumaged
birds) have never previously been studied on the wintering grounds. Preliminary results suggest that birds from
the Wrangel Island population pair for the first time at a much later age than
those birds from the mid-continent population.
This might explain the much slower population growth rate of this
population relative to the birds in the rest of North America. Data have been analysed and a paper is
currently being completed for publication.
The
Fraser River Delta hosts the only significant population of wintering shorebirds
in Canada (approximately 40,000 birds).
Most recently two PhD students of Dov Lank’s have studied this system,
with funding obtained from Wildlife Habitat Canada, the Fraser River Action
Plan, Agriculture Canada, NSERC, the Pacific Habitat Joint Venture and other
sources. Pippa Shepherd defended her
thesis “Space use, habitat preferences, and time-activity budgets of
non-breeding Dunlin (Calidris alpina
pacifica) in the Fraser River Delta, B.C.” in April 2001. Pippa used radio-telemetry
to examine: macro-habitat choices and movement patterns relative to
invertebrate prey densities; site fidelity and habitat preferences at regional
and local scales; and time activity budgets both day and night. She found that individual bird's home range
sizes vary with measures of marine invertebrate abundance, with smaller home
ranges where food is richer. Dunlin were
site-faithful, and although they showed a preference for marine habitats, most
also used a range of terrestrial habitats, particularly at night. Of the terrestrial habitats available, Dunlin
preferred soil-based agricultural crops, and pasture in particular. Dunlin spent on average at least (depending
on season) 15.7 hours per 24-hour day foraging, and at least another 3 hours
per day flying (measured in spring), leaving on average at most 5.3 hours per
day for activities such as roosting, preening, vigilance, and other
activities. The percentage of time that
Dunlin spent feeding did not differ between day and night, nor between marine
and terrestrial macro-habitats, although the relative use of marine and terrestrial
habitats varied considerably among individuals.
Pippa found that the sex ratios of Dunlin in the Fraser Delta are
similar to those at overwintering in California.
Lesley
Evans Ogden is finishing writing up her PhD thesis on the use of agricultural
land by non-breeding shorebirds in the Fraser Delta, with a defense scheduled
for June 2002. Lesley's work has
quantified what types of fields are utilized by Dunlin, Black-bellied Plover,
and Killdeer, and examined what environmental (e.g. weather, tide) and
biological factors (e.g. abundance of predators) predict field use. Dunlin use of fields was strongly biased
towards nighttime usage, whereas Plovers and Killdeer used fields more often by
day. To estimate the relative importance
of marine vs. terrestrial habitat to diet, Lesley has collaborated with Keith
Hobson (CWS, Saskatoon) to examine stable isotope ratios of blood samples from
Dunlin captured along the shore and in fields.
On average, agricultural fields account for about 30% of dunlins’ diets. However, Lesley found high inter-individual
variation in the extent to which fields are used (0 –87% of diet), differences
between years, and an age and body shape bias in use of fields, with juveniles
and relatively short-billed birds deriving a greater proportion of diet from
fields. She also experimentally quantified isotopic turnover rates and tissue
assimilation for captive Dunlin. Lesley
suggests that several farm management techniques, such as long-term application
of manure and use of laser leveling, will enhance farmland for shorebirds and
that relatively large fields close to shore should be targeted for conservation
and management.
Ross Vennesland completed his MSc thesis on Great Blue Herons in south-coastal British Columbia in December 2000. He studied the effects of disturbance by humans and predators on 35 breeding colonies in the region. Breeding abandonment was high, with 42% of 31 colonies totally abandoned in 1999. Smaller colonies were more likely to be abandoned than larger ones. Colony productivity was negatively and significantly related to disturbance by Bald Eagles and, to a lesser extent, by humans. Ross found through experimental approaches to colonies that herons did habituate to non-threatening human activity near breeding areas. However, this response varied significantly among colonies, with more urban colonies being less disrupted. He recommended a setback distance of 165 m to protect heron colonies from human disturbance, but noted that this precaution would do nothing to modify the negative effect of eagle predation. Rob Butler of the CWS continues to monitor and study the population of Great Blue Herons in this area.
Under
supervision of Leah Bendell-Young at ¶¡ÏãÔ°AV and John Elliott of CWS, Christy
(Peterson) Morrisey is conducting a population study of the American Dipper in
the Georgia Basin, with particular emphasis on the wintering ecology. Relatively little work has been done in
British Columbia where the southern portion of province apparently hosts high
densities of dippers in the winter months, which greatly exceed the breeding
population. Christy is investigating the
relationship between water quality and population trends by determining south
coastal population dynamics and levels of contaminant exposure.
The study is
being done on the Chilliwack River, B.C. and involves colour banding and radio
telemetry to learn more about the seasonal changes in population density as
well as the patterns of spring movement.
In addition, blood and feather samples from each bird caught are being
used for metal and organic contaminant analysis to further be compared to
invertebrate contaminant levels from active territories.
How habitat and water quality in south coastal B.C. streams affect the exposure of resident and transient dippers to contaminants (heavy metals and chlorinated hydrocarbons) is largely unknown. The American dipper has been considered a strong indicator of aquatic/ riparian habitat quality in the sub-alpine ecosystem and is likely a key species for monitoring the health of freshwater streams. By analysing the dynamics of the south coastal populations and their levels of contaminant exposure, the various regulatory agencies, habitat and population managers can better manage riparian habitat to preserve water quality.
CWE research in the
Riske Creek area, southwest of William’s
Matt Evans completed his 5th field season at Riske Creek, including an experimental manipulation of nestbox availability. His first thesis chapter, comparing Barrow’s Goldeneye and Bufflehead nesting in boxes versus natural cavities was accepted for publication. Additional thesis chapters consider the habitat variables associated with natural cavity sites, and how variation in pond productivity relates to duckling growth rates and survivorship through the first year of life. Matt’s results indicated the importance of a combination of productive ponds and suitable forests to provide appropriate nest sites for the success of these species. Two final chapters will examine the effects of territoriality on waterfowl community structure, and make management recommendations arising from his work. Matt Evans has support from provincial and federal Industrial Fellowship awards for the final year of his program. This work overlaps and compliments CWS scientists Sean Boyd and André-Breault’s longer-term research on these populations.
PhD student Brent Gurd is attempting to understand whether and how variation in invertebrate availability within ponds affects the abundance and distributions of dabbling duck species, an appropriate “bottoms-up” approach to waterfowl community ecology. He is testing alternative predictions from theories of resource partitioning that emphasize either bill structure or body size. He has completed fieldwork, including successful experimental manipulation of water levels to test hypothesized effects on invertebrate
Under the direction of Dan Esler, an
array of studies are underway that address conservation issues about waterbirds
in arctic and subarctic habitats along the Pacific coast. The issues, species, populations, and, often,
individuals being studied are shared concerns of CWE, CWS, and collaborators at
higher latitudes.
Dan is continuing research initiated
in 1995 addressing population-level responses of sea ducks (particularly
Harlequin Ducks and Barrow’s Goldeneyes) to the 1989 oil spill in
Another project initiated in
collaboration with the U.S. Geological Survey addresses the relationships of
nutrition and physiology to timing of reproduction by greater scaup in coastal
Research Assistant Debbie LaCroix, a
recent MSc graduate from the CWE, is leading a study addressing common eider
breeding biology on the north slope of
Numbers of red-throated loons have
declined by over 50% in recent decades.
Jeff Ball, MSc student, is considering the underlying causes of this
population change by addressing the hypothesis that changes in forage fish
quantity or quality have constrained the ability of parents to adequately
provision chicks, resulting in subsequent depression of recruitment. Changes in the marine environment of the
Bonnie
Stout continued her study of Horned and Red-necked Grebes in the
Marked
birds have been observed on the breeding grounds for four breeding seasons near
Following
breeding, adults move to molt locations were they replace flight and body
feathers, before proceeding to wintering locations. Known molt sites were also described as a
part of this study. Evidence for Horned
Grebe molt on lakes near breeding locations was observed near
Markus Őst, of
the
The main aims of CWE's research in
physiological ecology are three-fold: 1) to obtain a better understanding of
the fundamental mechanisms underlying individual and population-level variation
in physiological traits in order to provide a solid basis for predicting how
animals might respond to environmental change, 2) to determine more meaningful
intra-specific measures of body condition, quality and individual health for
birds, and 3) to develop and apply new physiological approaches and techniques
to conservation biology and ecotoxicology.
We continue to approach these aims through a combination of studies on
basic physiology, often using tractable model systems (e.g. zebra finches,
starlings), coupled with more applied, and more specific, goal-orientated
projects (e.g. addressing current endocrine disrupter and ecotoxicological
problems).
i. Zebra finches and starlings - model species
for reproduction and eco-toxicology studies. We are continuing our studies of basic
reproductive physiology in captive-breeding zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata) and nest-box breeding European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris). This work focuses on the causes and consequences of individual variation in
female reproductive effort (egg size, clutch size and laying date). Individual variation is marked in all these
traits but this is unrelated to ‘traditional’ measures of individual quality
(e.g. size, mass or size-adjusted ‘condition’).
François Vézina (PhD student) has been investigating energetic
costs of reproduction and, specifically, egg formation using respirometry (for
BMR) and the doubly-labeled water technique (for
ii. Timing of
nesting and reproductive physiology of Greater scaup. Continental scaup populations have declined
in recent years, and lowered productivity has been suggested as an important
contributing factor in this decline.
Kristen Gorman (MSc, co-supervised by TDW and Dr Dan Esler) will be investigating
physiological and nutritional attributes that influence timing of clutch
formation in female greater scaup (Aythya
marila). This work will have three
components: 1) assessment of nutrient reserve dynamics (lipid, protein) during
egg formation using more traditional methods of body composition analysis; 2)
use of stable isotope analysis to determine the sources and relative
contributions of nutrient reserves used in egg formation; and 3) validation of
the use of an indirect, physiological method (plasma yolk precursor analysis)
to determine reproductive state in free-living ducks. This project is funded by the
i. Reproductive
and immunological effects in passerines of exposure to endocrine-disrupting
compounds. Erinn Birmingham (MSc
student) has been studying the effects of nonylphenol (a weak environmental
estrogen) on zebra finch physiology and behaviour (using these as a model
passerine for xenobiotic research). This
involves assessment and validation of measures of immune function (wing web
antigen test, organ weight, differential white blood cell counts), reproductive
development (testes for histological analysis), and exposure to environmental
estrogens (vitellogenin production).
Erinn, together with Patti Dods (MET student) is also analyzing similar
biological endpoints in field studies of tree swallows, both in Ontario and BC,
while also assessing their exposure to nonylphenol and chlorinated organic
compounds (through analysis of sediment, livers and insects to determine
ambient nonylphenol levels). The goal of
this project is to increase understanding of potential physiological and
behavioural effects of endocrine-disrupting contaminants (particularly
low-level xenoestrogens) in passerines.
This work is funded by the Georgia Basin Initiative in collaboration
with Dr John Elliott (Environment Canada).
ii. Effects of orchard pesticides on
terrestrial and aquatic wildlife.
This project, funded by Health
iii. Impact of use of MSMA (monosodium
methanearsonate) for bark beetle control on cavity-nesting birds in B.C.
forests. Bark beetles are considered
among the most damaging of forest insect pests in western
iv. Heavy metals in migrating western
sandpipers. In collaboration with
Drs Leah Bendell-Young (¶¡ÏãÔ°AV) and Chris Guglielmo (U Montana), Christine McFarland,
an undergraduate student, has been investigating variation in tissue heavy
metal levels of migrating western sandpipers in relation to age and stage of
migration. Cadmium concentrations in kidney and liver tissue were dependent on
age and sex: a) adult males have Cd concentrations than adult females (20-30
µg/g vs. 10-15 µg/g); and b) juveniles during their first fall migration have
very low Cd concentrations (< 5 µg/g).
These preliminary data will hopefully form the basis of further work in
this area.
i. Age-specific variation in digestive
physiology and physiological state.
One of the most interesting results from our earlier work is that
juvenile western sandpipers have 30-40% larger gut size during their first Fall
migration compared with adults. This is counter-intuitive if "guts don't
fly" i.e. if birds should be trying to reduce wing loading to increase
flight efficiency. Will Stein (MSc
student), has been investigating other aspects of digestive physiology (gut
structure, histology, and digestive enzyme levels) and potential causes for
this age differences gut size. His studies suggest that there is both an
ontogenetic effect as well as a post-migration "training" effect on
increased small intestine size. There were no seasonal differences in the sizes
of specific digestive organs (proventriculus, gizzard, pancreas and small
intestine) among adult migrants; however, Spring adults had higher intestinal
maltase and aminopeptidase-N activities than Fall adults. During fall migration, however, juveniles had
smaller proventriculi and lower total chitinase activity than adults did. Thus, although juveniles had longer small
intestines, this did not result in additional intestinal enzymatic digestive
capacity. These data suggest that adults
and juvenile western sandpipers may adopt different foraging and/or digestion
strategies during the first migration, e.g. juveniles might digest food less
thoroughly than adults even though they have longer small intestines.
ii. "Landscape physiology" - the use
of physiological indicators for assessment of habitat quality. With funding from the Marine Ecosystem Health
Program (UC Davis), we have been investigating the application of plasma
metabolite analysis for the assessment of the relative quality of habitats or
sites used by migratory shorebirds.
Site-specific variation in fattening rates should be important in
determining habitat use which, in turn, is important to consider in land
acquisition or stewardship decisions.
Validation studies of captive birds have shown that plasma triglyceride
and glycerol levels (obtained from blood samples) can predict mass change in
western sandpipers (Calidris mauri)
over time periods of 2-7 days. Dana
Seaman (MSc) has been capturing and blood sampling western sandpipers at 6-9
sites in the Puget Sound/Georgia Basin region to determine inter-site variation
in fattening rates, based on metabolite analysis. For each site we also obtain information on
invertebrate prey availability (from mud cores), diet (from fecal samples), and
foraging behaviour. The overall aim is
to combine information from three very different approaches (metabolite
analysis, invertebrate sampling, and foraging behaviour) to assess variation in
the quality of migratory stopover sites.
Captive birds will be used to investigate factors which might influence
plasma metabolite levels (e.g. diet) and which might confound the use of this
technique in free-living birds. This
project is a collaboration between Dr Bob Elner (Canadian Wildlife Service), Dr
Chris Guglielmo (U. Montana) and the US Fish & Wildlife Service in
One of the key requirements of a major research
program is the development of an intellectual framework for ideas and
projects. To this end, we have attended
a series of symposia, seminars and workshops to disseminate our ideas outlined
above. These activities included (in roughly
chronological order):
i.
The CWE has been well represented
at the past few meetings of the American Ornithologists’ Union (AOU). Lesley Evans Ogden, Cyndi Smith, Cindy Hull,
Louise Blight, Pippa Shepherd, Connie Smith and Dov Lank presented papers
and/or posters at the 1999 meeting at
ii.
On a trip to
iii. Chris Guglielmo and Pippa Shepherd organized and hosted a Conservation Forum Seminar Series with weekly seminars on a range of wildlife conservation issues in 1999-2000.
iv.
CWE members
have been active at the annual meetings of the Waterbird Society. At the 1999 meeting, held in
v.
Many members of the CWE have attended the
annual meetings of the Pacific Seabird Group in the past few years. At the 2000 meeting, held in Napa, CA, Doug Bertram,
Falk Huettmann, Cindy Hull, Louise Blight, Carina Gjerdrum, Russ Bradley, Sean
Boyd, John Ryder, Fred Cooke and Laura McFarlane Tranquilla all presented
papers. The 2001 meeting was held in
vi.
CWE graduate students have made a strong
showing at recent Pacific Ecology Conferences, which are organized and run by
graduate students from universities in
vii.
Fred Cooke, Ron
Ydenberg, Cyndi Smith, Michael Rodway, Heidi Regehr and Brian Arquilla
participated in the 5th Harlequin Duck Symposium, held in
viii.
Marbled Murrelet research findings were
presented to user groups and interested scientists. A Conservation Science of Marbled Murrelet
Recovery Team research workshop was held on
ix. Fred Cooke attended the Pacific Flyways Council meeting in March 2000
in
x.
The 6th Western Sandpiper workshop was
held in October 2000, hosted by CWE and organized by Dov Lank. Forty-one active researchers attended,
including 24 speakers from
xi. Matt Evans and Brent Gurd presented papers at the 2000 North American
Duck Symposium, held 11-14 October in
xii. In January 2001, the CWE organized a very successful annual retreat for the Canadian Wildlife Service Pacific and Yukon Region. The theme of the meeting was the role of University research in CWS planning and management.
xiii.
Fred Cooke attended the second North
American Bird Conservation Initiative (NABCI) meeting held
xiv. Members of CWE have presented papers at a wide variety of meetings and conferences since our last report: Lesley Evans Ogden and Matt Evans at the Cooper Society meeting (Riverside, CA, 2000); Lesley at Society for Conservation Biology meetings (Missoula, MT in 2000 and Hilo, Hawaii in 2001); François Vézina at the Sociéte Québecoise pour L’etude Biologique du Comportement (Québec City, 1999 and Rimouski, 2000) and the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology (Atlanta, GA, 2000); Silke Nebel spoke at an International Workshop on Biology and Conservation of Shorebirds (Ceuta, México, 2000), at the Wader Study Group Conference (Kollumerpomp, Netherlands, 2001), and to a US Congressional visit to the to Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (Panama City, 2002); James Burns and Sam Iverson at Animal Behaviour Society meetings (JB -Atlanta, GA, 2000; SI – Corvallis, OR 2001); and Kate Hagmeier at the North American Arctic Goose conference (Québec City, 2001).
xv. In August 2001, the CWE hosted a conference entitled “The Application of Ecological Research to Conservation: East meets West”. This meeting was organized to discuss the relevance and application of basic science to conservation and management, and to mark the retirement of Dr Fred Cooke, the Senior Chair of CWE for its first 8 years. A wide range of international speakers, including university, government, and non-governmental researchers, were invited to speak at the conference. There was a poster session as well, in which most CWE graduate students participated. The conference ended with a workshop on university-government collaboration, with the aim of extending the Wildlife Ecology Chair concept to other Environment Canada regions and other universities. One of the high points of the conference was a banquet at the ¶¡ÏãÔ°AV Diamond University Centre, where Fred was “roasted” by his old friend and colleague, Graham Cooch, and Fred and Sylvia were wished a fond farewell and presented with a gift by members of the CWE.
xvi.
Tony Williams and several of his graduate
students (Katrina Salvante, François Vézina and Oliver Love) attended the 2002
meeting of the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology in
xvii.
In February 2002, Dov Lank was invited to
speak about the CWE work on Western Sandpipers at the Workshop on Animal
Migration held in
xviii.
In March 2002, Amanda Niehaus attended
the 9th Alaska Bird Conference in
i. Fred Cooke was awarded the Career Achievement Award by the Confederation of University Faculty Associations/BC in June 1999.
ii.
Fred Cooke was selected as
President-Elect of the American Ornithologists’
iii.
In February 2001, Fred Cooke was
appointed a Member of the Order of
iv.
Fred Cooke is a Council Member of Bird
Studies Canada, an NGO established to coordinate bird studies across
v.
Fred Cooke is on the executive of the
Canadian Society of Ornithology and is also on the executive and Chair of the
Nominations Committee of the XXII International Ornithology Congress, which
will be held in
vi.
Fred Cooke was appointed to the
Marbled Murrelet Recovery Team in February 2001.
vii.
Lesley
Evans Ogden was selected to be the Society of Canadian Ornithologists’ representative
to the Ornithological Council of North America.
viii. Guillermo Fernandez has been active in conservation programs directed towards Mexican shorebirds. He was an instructor for the 2nd International Training Workshop for Conservation and Management of Shorebirds held in Baja Santa Maria in February 2002, and also participated in the workshop to develop the Mexican Shorebird Conservation Plan organized by Ducks Unlimited and Ducks Unlimited México in late February 2002. His data on wintering shorebird population size has been instrumental in the designation of Bahía Santa Maria, México as a Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network (WHSRN) Hemispheric Site.
ix.
Falk
Huettmann organized and presented DISTANCE sampling workshops at ¶¡ÏãÔ°AV, UBC,
x.
Falk
Huettmann was awarded a Killam Fellowship in 2002.
xi.
Dov Lank
gathered information and provided an assessment of the population estimate for
western sandpipers to be used for Canadian and
xii. Tony Williams was appointed to the Editorial Board of Ibis, the international journal of ornithology.
i.
Several
CWE members presented talks to naturalist and conservation groups about the
work of CWE. Fred Cooke gave a talk for
the BC Field Naturalists. Lesley Evans
Ogden talked to the Boundary Bay Conservation Committee and to the Vancouver
Natural History Society about use of agricultural land by Dunlin. Pippa Shepherd gave talks to the BC Field
Ornithologists, the Rotary Club of Tsawassen, a
ii.
Brent
Gurd and Patrick O’Hara served as volunteer judges at a Science Fair held at
the
iii.
Brent
Gurd participated in the “Let’s Talk Science” program in 2001and made several
visits to a Grade 4/5 classroom at
iv.
Fred
Cooke continued to conduct a monthly survey of the water birds of the western
v. Fred Cooke was interviewed about the work of the CWE for a program broadcast on the Knowledge Network in February 2002.
The Canadian Wildlife Service has contributed $125,000 per year since the inception of the “Chair” in 1993/1994. In addition CWS has encouraged project collaboration and five CWS researchers have been granted adjunct status in the Department of Biological Sciences.
NSERC contributes annually, on a declining scale, to the salary of two CWE faculty members. This ten year gift concludes in March 2003.
The University’s contribution is the provision of two faculty positions (2002/2003 fiscal year will increase faculty positions to three). Our research staff base also includes three university research associates. The previously mentioned “core” ¶¡ÏãÔ°AV faculty positions, “core” CWS funding and “core” research staff have attracted continuously increasing research grant funding in each fiscal year as demonstrated in the following chart.
The two items following the chart identify all funding sources for the fiscal years 2000/2001 and 2001/2002.
|
|
|
(per annum) |
|
Cooke, F. Cooke, F./ Williams, T.D |
Core Funding Canadian Wildlife Service Contribution to Centre for Wildlife Ecology NSERC Contribution to Centre for Wildlife Ecology Contribution to Centre for Wildlife Ecology Total 2000/2001 Core Funding |
$125,000 (3rd of 5 yrs) $46,089 (8th of 10 yrs) 2 Faculty Positions $171,089 |
|
|
Generated Research Funding Graduate Research Fellowships NSERC Undergrad Award: P. Yen NSERC Grad Research Fellowship: B. Gurd NSERC Grad Research Fellowship: C.Gjerdrum |
$55,000 $4,860 $19,140 $19,140 |
|
|
|
|
|
Bertram, D. Bertram, D. |
Natural Resources “The Effects of Climate Change on Seabird Populations
in Different Oceanographic Domains of Canadian Nature Federation “Conservation of seabird foraging zones within a
Marine Protected Area around the Scott Islands IBA” |
$80,000 (2nd of 2 yrs) $4,000 |
|
|
|
(3rd of 5 yrs) |
|
Bishop, C./ Williams, T.D./ J. Elliott |
Health “Effect of pesticides on avian reproduction” |
$20,000 (2nd of 3 yrs) |
|
|
|
|
|
Cooke, F. |
BC Waterfowl Society Harlequin Duck wintering biology |
$7,000 (2nd of 2 yrs) |
|
|
|
(4th of 5 yrs) |
|
|
|
$34,000 (4th of 5
yrs) |
|
Cooke, F. |
Canadian Wildlife Service |
$40,000 |
|
Cooke, F. |
MacMillan Bloedel, Interfor and Timberwest MYA “Marbled Murrelet research in Desolation and Clayoquot Sounds” |
$262,195 (2nd of 4 yrs) |
|
Cooke, F. |
MacMillan Bloedel and Industry “Marbled Murrelet research in Desolation and Clayoquot Sounds” |
$80,000 (1st of 3 yrs) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Science Council of B.C. – FRBC |
$212,375 |
|
|
|
|
|
Cooke, F. |
NSERC – Individual Operating Grant |
$90,000 (1st of 4 yrs) |
|
Cooke, F. |
NCASI “Marbled Murrelet Research in Desolation and
Clayoquot Sounds” |
$72,500 (1st of 3 yrs) |
|
|
|
|
|
Cooke, F. |
Canadian Wildlife Service Surf Scoter Study – |
$15,000 |
|
Cooke, F. |
Environment “Population Studies of Harlequin Ducks” – B. Arquilla “Monitoring of Moult speed and Ecology of harlequin Ducks on the Moulting/Wintering Grounds” – B. Andres |
$24,000 |
|
Cooke, F./ Williams, T.D. |
NSERC – CRD “Demographic and habitat studies of marbled
murrelets” |
$311,787 (1st of 3 yrs) |
|
|
|
|
|
Fernandez, G. |
CONACYT (Mexican Scholarship) |
$17,300 (3rd
of 3 yrs) |
|
Fernandez, G. |
American Bird Conservancy |
$4,600 |
|
Fernandez, G. |
Latin American Program |
$3,000 |
|
Lank, D.B. |
First Jobs in Science and Technology Program, BC Gov’t |
$6,000 |
|
Lank D.B./ |
Skills Now Summer Works Program |
$4,500 |
|
Nebel, S. |
Sigma Xi Grant |
$1,200 |
|
Williams, T.D./ J. Elliott |
Environment |
$12,500 |
|
Williams, T.D. |
NSERC Individual Research Grant “Intraspecific variability, physiological trade-offs and reproductive effort” |
$40,541 |
|
|
Total 2000/2001 Generated
Research Funding Total All 2000/2001 CWE Funding |
$1,752,638 $1,923,727 |
|
|
|
(per annum) |
|
Cooke, F. |
Core
Funding Canadian Wildlife Service Contribution to Centre for
Wildlife Ecology |
$125,000 (4th of 5 yrs) |
|
Cooke,
F./ Williams, T.D |
NSERC Contribution to Centre for
Wildlife Ecology |
$23,045 (9th of 10 years) |
|
|
Contribution to Centre for
Wildlife Ecology |
Two Faculty Positions |
|
|
Total 2001/2002 Core Funding |
$148,085 |
|
|
Generated
Research Funding |
|
|
|
Graduate Research Fellowships Ph.D. Fellowships: B. Gurd, C.
Morrissey, S. Nebel, H. Regehr, M.
Rodway, F. Vezina. M.Sc. Fellowships: R. Bradley, S. Iverson Special Graduate Entrance Scholarship: J. Heath Great Awards: M. Evans CD Nelson Memorial Graduate Scholarship: D. Seaman President’s Ph.D. Research Stipend: L. Evans Ogden, B. Stout, M. Evans, M. Rodway Grad Student Travel Support: K. Salvante |
$86,200 |
|
|
NSERC
USRA: P. Yen |
$4,000 |
|
|
NSERC
Industrial Grad Fellowship: M.
Evans |
$18,000 |
|
|
Ntl.
Science Foundation Pre Doctoral:
Niehaus, A. |
$25,872 |
|
|
NSERC
PGSB: K. Salvante |
$19,000 |
|
Bendell-Young, L. |
NSERC Strategic Grant: “Towards a Sustainable
Shellfish Aquaculture Industry” |
$65,500 (1st
of 5 years) |
|
Bertram, D. |
Nestucca Trust Fund |
$95,000 (4th of 5 yrs) |
|
Bishop, C./ Williams, T.D./ J. Elliott |
Health “Effect of pesticides on avian reproduction” |
$20,000 (3rd of 3 yrs) |
|
Cooke, F. |
Canadian Wildlife Service, Research for
|
$38,800 (4th of 5 yrs) |
|
Cooke, F. |
Weyerhaeuser, |
$80,000 (3rd of 4 yrs) |
|
Cooke, F Ydenberg, R. |
Science Council of B.C. – FRBC |
$253,115 |
|
Cooke, F. |
Science Council of B.C. – FRBC |
$50,000 |
|
Cooke, F. |
FRBC,
Weyerhaeuser MYA “Demographic and Habitat Studies of Marbled
Murrelets” |
$274,603 (1st of 3 yrs) |
|
Cooke, F. |
NSERC – Individual Operating Grant |
$90,000 (2nd of 3 yrs) |
|
Cooke, F. |
NCASI “Marbled Murrelet Research in Desolation and Clayoquot Sounds” |
$77,500 (2nd of 3 yrs) |
|
Cooke, F. |
Environment “Causes of body mass declines in Western and Least Sandpipers” – A. Pomeroy “Predictability of
Cassin’s Auklet foraging locations around the “Colony size
considerations when assessing the viability of the great blue heron in the “Waterfowl species/habitat associations for the Georgia Basin Estuaries” – J. Ryder |
$48,000 |
|
Cooke, F./ Williams, T.D. |
NSERC – CRD “Demographic and habitat studies of marbled
murrelets” |
$215,532 (2nd of 3 yrs) |
|
Esler, D. Esler, D. Esler, D. Esler, D. Esler, D. |
Exxon Valdez Oil
Spill Trustee Council – Harlequin Duck Population Recovery US
Geological Survey – Red Throated
Loons US
Geological Survey – Greater
Scaup US
Geological Survey – Eiders, Long
Tailed Ducks Sea Ducks Conference, Workshop Funding: Ducks
Unlimited Ducks
Unlimited Pacific
Flyway Council Canadian
Wildlife Service Prairie Region Canadian
Wildlife Service Atlantic Region US Fish
& Wildlife Service US
Geological Survey Atlantic
Flyway Council |
$354,000 $33,962 $76,714 $71,867 2,720 2,500 2,720 $5,000 $10,000 $15,840 $5,280 $2,720 |
|
Evans Ogden, L. |
Canadian Wildlife Service |
$2,260 2002/2003 |
|
Fernandez, G. |
|
$3,000 |
|
Fernandez, G. |
CONACYT (Mexican Scholarship) |
$17,300 |
|
Gurd, B. Hifpner, M. |
Delta Waterfowl and Wildlife Trust
Fellowship Canadian Wildlife Service, Equipment
for |
$6,923 $10,000 |
|
Huettmann, F. |
Royal Society of British Geographers |
$2,333 |
|
Lank, D. Lank, D. |
NSERC Individual Research Grant |
$1,307 $21,000 |
|
Nebel, S. |
Canadian Wildlife Service “Western Sandpipers” |
$4,900 |
|
O’Hara, P. |
|
$1,152 |
|
|
|
|
|
Stout, B. |
Canadian Wildlife Service “Grebe Research” |
4,990 |
|
Vezina, F. |
FCAR ( |
6,000 |
|
J. Elliott |
|
|
|
Williams, T.D./ Guglielmo, C. |
Marine Ecosystem Health Program
(UC-Davis) “Assessing habitat or site quality for migrating sandpipers” |
$41,914 |
|
Williams, T.D. |
NSERC Individual Research Grant “Intraspecific variability,
physiological trade-offs and reproductive effort” |
$40,541 |
|
Ydenberg, R.C./ DeFreitas, B. |
Fisheries & Oceans, “Measuring Northern Abalone juvenile recruitment using artificial habitats.” |
$15,000 2002/2003 |
|
Ydenberg, R.C. |
NSERC Individual Research Grant |
$51,000 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total 2001/2002
Generated Research Funding Total All 2001/2002 CWE
Funding |
$2,286,565 $2,434,610 |
This list reflects those publications produced since our last
report (publications that were “in press” or “submitted” for the last report
are included and have been updated). We
continue to publish actively and increasingly.
The 20 publications in press and 29 submitted attest
to this activity. Most of our
publications relate to the research carried out in the main CWE programs and
most refer to work carried out in the
In press:
Burns, J.G. and R.C. Ydenberg. In press.
The effects of wing loading and gender on the escape flights of Least
Sandpipers (Calidris minutilla) and Western
Sandpipers (Calidris mauri). Beh. Ecol. Sociobiol.
Esler, D., T.D. Bowman, K. Trust, B.E.
Ballachey, T.A.
Evans, M.R., D.B. Lank, W.S. Boyd and F.
Cooke. In press. The breeding ecology of Barrow's Goldeneye
and Bufflehead nesting in nest boxes versus natural cavities. Condor
Guglielmo, C.G., N.H. Haunerland, P.W.
Hochachka and T.D. Williams. In
press. Seasonal dynamics of flight
muscle fatty acid binding protein and catabolic enzymes in a migratory
shorebird. Amer. J. Physiol.
Guglielmo, C.G., P.D. O'Hara and T.D.
Williams. In press. Extrinsic and intrinsic sources of variation
of plasma lipid metabolites in free-living Western Sandpipers. Auk
Guglielmo, C.G., T.D. Williams, G.
Zwingelstein, G. Brichon and J.M. Weber.
In press. Plasma and muscle
phospholipids are involved in the metabolic response to long-distance migration
in a shorebird. J. Comp. Physiol.
Hakkarainen, H., E. Korpimaki, V. Koivunen
and R.C. Ydenberg. In press. Survival of male Tengmalm's owls under
temporally varying food conditions.
Oecologia
Hakkarainen, H.,
Hazlitt, S.
In press. Territory quality and
reproductive performance of Black Oystercatchers in
Hazlitt, S.L., R.C. Ydenberg and D.B.
Lank. In press. Territory structure, parental provisioning,
and chick growth in the Black Oystercatcher (Haematopus bachmani). Ardea
Lougheed, C., L.W. Lougheed, F. Cooke and
S. Boyd. In press. Local survival of adult and juvenile Marbled
Murrelets and their importance for estimating reproductive success. Condor
Lougheed, C., B.A. Vanderkist, L.W.
Lougheed and F. Cooke. In press. Techniques for investigating breeding
phenology in Marbled Murrelets,
Lozano, G.A. and R.C. Ydenberg. In press.
Trans-generational effects of maternal immune challenge in tree swallows
(Tachycineta bicolor).
Moore, D.J. and R.C. Ydenberg. In press.
Variance-sensitive provisioning decisions of parent common terns (Sterna hirundo). Ecology
O'Hara, P.D., D.B. Lank and F.S.
Delgado. In press. Migration and wing feather moult trade-off in
Western Sandpipers (Calidris mauri)
wintering in
Ost, M., R.C. Ydenberg, K. Lindstrom and M.
Kilpi. In press. Condition and coalition formation by brood
rearing common eider females. Behav.
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Hedd, A., J.L. Ryder, L.L. Cowen and D.F.
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Cliff and deciduous tree nests of Marbled Murrelets in southwestern
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The veloci-raptor: a
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Christians, J.K. and T.D. Williams. 2001.
Interindividual variation in yolk mass and the rate of growth of ovarian
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Christians, J.K. and T.D. Williams. 2001.
Intraspecific variation in reproductive physiology and egg quality in
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Cooch, E.G., R.F. Rockwell and S.
Brault. 2001. Retrospective analysis of demographic
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Dale, J., D.B. Lank and H.K. Reeve. 2001.
Signaling individual identity versus quality: a model and case studies
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Avian forensics: predicting body fat and body mass from wing
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Guglielmo, C.G., T. Piersma and T.D.
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Gurd, D.B. and T. Nudds. 2001.
Conservation of mammals in eastern North American Wildlife
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Hazlitt, S. and R.W. Butler. 2001.
Site fidelity and reproductive success of Black Oystercatchers in
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Condor 103:408-412.
Rodway, M.S. and F. Cooke. 2001.
Effect of food availability on arrival and departure decisions of
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Condor 103:870-874.
St. Clair, C.C., R.C. St. Clair and T.D.
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Samuels, M.D., D.R. Goldberg, A.E. Smith,
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Shepherd, P.C.F., D.B. Lank, B.D. Smith, N.
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Smith, C.M., R.I. Goudie and F. Cooke. 2001.
Winter age ratios and the assessment of recruitment of Harlequin Ducks. Waterbirds 24:39-44.
Williams, T.D. 2001.
Experimental manipulation of female reproduction reveals an
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2000
Bertram, D.F., I.L. Jones, E.G. Cooch, H.A.
Knechtel and F. Cooke. 2000. Survival rates for Cassin's and Rhinoceros
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Blight, L. and S. Stevens. 2000.
Partial melanism in King Penguins Aptenodytes
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Boyd, W.S. and F. Cooke. 2000.
Changes in the wintering distribution of Wrangel Island Snow Geese Anser
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Boyd, W.S., S.D. Schneider and
Christians, J.K. 2000.
Producing extra eggs does not deplete macronutrient reserves in European
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102:137-144.
Drever, M.C., L.K. Blight, K.A. Hobson and
D.F. Bertram. 2000. Predation on seabird eggs by Keen's mice (Peromyscus keeni): using stable isotopes
to decipher the diet of a terrestrial omnivore on a remote offshore
island.
Egeler, O. and T.D. Williams. 2000.
Seasonal, age and sex-related variation in fatty-acid composition of
depot fat in relation to migration in the Western Sandpiper. Auk 117:110-119.
Egeler, O., T.D. Williams and C.G.
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Hunt, B. and R. Ydenberg. 2000.
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Lanctot, R.B., B.K. Sandercock and B.
Kempenaers. 2000. Do male breeding displays function to attract
mates or defend territories? The
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Waterbirds 23:155-164.
Moore, D.J., T.D. Williams and R.D.
Morris. 2000. Mate-provisioning, nutritional requirements
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Morbey, Y.E. and R.C. Ydenberg. 2000.
Season decline in nestling growth: support for the parental quality
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Naveen, R., S.C. Forrest, R.G. Dagit, L.K.
Blight, W.Z. Trivelpiece and S.G. Trivelpiece.
2000. Censuses of penguin,
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W.S. Boyd. 2000. Spacing patterns, mating systems, and winter
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Smith, C.M., F. Cooke, G.J.
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1999:
Blight, L.K., J.L. Ryder and D.B.
Bertram. 1999. Predation on Rhinoceros Auklet eggs by a
native population of Peromyscus. Condor
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Christians, J.K. and T.D. Williams. 1999.
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Christians, J.K. and T.D. Williams. 1999.
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Cooch, E.G., D.B. Lank, R.F. Rockwell and
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Coupe, M. and F. Cooke. 1999.
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Gurd, D.B. and T.D. Nudds. 1999.
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Bennett, K., T.D. Williams, J.E. Smits, M.
Wayland, S. Trudeau and L.I. Bendell-Young.
Submitted. Impact of oil sands
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platyrhychos) ducklings. Ecol. Appl.
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Vanderkist, B.A. 1999.
Sex ratio and physiological indicators of reproduction in the Marbled
Murrelet (Brachyramphus marmoratus). MSc, ¶¡ÏãÔ°AV, Burnaby,
BC. 92 pp.
|
Name |
Position |
Affiliation |
|
Dr. Robert Elner |
Head, Migratory Birds Conservation |
CWS |
|
Dr. Larry Dill |
Professor |
¶¡ÏãÔ°AV |
|
Dr. Elizabeth Elle |
Asst. Professor |
¶¡ÏãÔ°AV |
|
Mr. Rick McKelvey (CWS alt.) |
Manager, CWS PWRC |
CWS |
|
Mr. Trevor Swerdfager |
Regional Director, ECB PYR |
CWS |
|
Dr. Ron Ydenberg Dr. Tony Williams Dr. Alton Harestad (¶¡ÏãÔ°AV alt.) |
Professor (non-voting) Assoc. Professor (non-voting) Professor |
¶¡ÏãÔ°AV ¶¡ÏãÔ°AV ¶¡ÏãÔ°AV |
|
Name |
Position |
|
Dr. Fred Cooke |
Senior Chair, emeritus |
|
Dr. Ron Ydenberg |
Director, CWE |
|
Dr. Tony Williams |
Associate Director |
|
Dr. Dov Lank Dr. Dan Esler Dr. Mark Hipfner |
University Research Associate University Research Associate University Research Associate |
|
Sabbatical
Visitor |
Postdoctoral
Fellow |
PhD
(in progress) |
MSc
(in progress) |
Others |
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|
James Dale |
Matt Evans |
Jeff Ball |
Judy Higham |
|
|
Yuri Zharikov |
Lesley Evans Ogden |
Gwylim Blackburn |
Jamie Kenyon |
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|
|
Guillermo Fernandez |
Harpreet Gill |
Nadine Parker |
|
|
|
Silke Nebel |
Kristen Gorman |
John Ryder |
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|
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Brent Gurd |
Kate Hagmeier |
Connie Smith |
|
|
|
Oliver Love |
Sam Iverson |
Peggy Yen |
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|
|
Heidi Regehr |
Amanda Niehaus |
|
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Michael Rodway |
Andrea Pomeroy |
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|
Katrina Salvante |
Dana Seaman |
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|
Bonnie Stout |
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|
|
|
Francois Vézina |
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|
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|
|
|
Moved
On |
PhD(
defended) |
MSc
(defended) |
|
|
|
Falk Huettman |
Julian Christians |
Kirsty Bennett** |
|
|
|
Emmanuelle Cam |
Chris Guglielmo |
Erinn Birmingham |
|
|
|
Marcus Őst |
Dave Moore |
Louise Blight |
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|
Patrick O’Hara |
Russell Bradley |
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|
Doug Schamel |
James Burns |
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|
Pippa Shepherd |
Carina Gjerdrum |
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|
Debbie Lacroix |
|
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|
|
|
Cecilia Lougheed |
|
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Katrina Salvante |
|
|
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|
Cyndi Smith |
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Will Stein |
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Laura Tranquilla |
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Ross Vennesland |
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|
Nick Wolfe |
|
** co-supervised by Drs. Tony Williams and Leah Bendell-Young
The mandate of the Chair is to foster
high quality, graduate level research in the field of wildlife ecology, with
specialisations in behavioural, population and physiological ecology. The central concept is to provide an
interface between the mission-oriented research and management policies of the
Canadian Wildlife Service and the more curiosity-driven research of the
university community. By encouraging
this interface, the government agencies would gain access to a broader base of
scientific information for government policy and decision making and university
researchers would benefit from a broader practical application for the more
theoretical ideas which their disciplines generate.
With these perspectives in mind, I
have formulated the mission of the Chair
i) by
defining how the mandate of the Chair fits into the broader objectives of the CWS, Pacific and Yukon Region and
ii) by
considering the theoretical framework of wildlife ecology and what questions
the Chair is in position to focus on most effectively.
To
conserve and protect wildlife and habitat, managers require scientific advice
based on an understanding of population dynamics and ecosystem functioning. If we can discover the processes
involved in population dynamics of particular species in their environment then
we can begin to understand the dynamics of those ecosystems in which they live. Under
the Migratory Birds Convention and Canada Wildlife Acts, the CWS is required to protect and maintain
migratory bird populations through protection of habitats, policy decisions,
public forums, influence and research.
Such an all-embracing mandate requires focused objectives and cooperation
with other research and management agencies. From the perspective of CWS, Pacific and Yukon Region, 3 major
ecotypes are defined.
i) Marine
and Coastal,
ii) Wetlands
and Freshwater
iii) Forest
and Grasslands.
Detailed
definitions and understanding of priority ecosystems (e.g. Strait of Georgia)
is the mandate of the Wildlife Ecology Division, with whom we will coordinate
for advice on the relationship between our target species and the ecosystems in
which they occur.
When the Chair was established it was
agreed that the research emphasis would be on birds of the Marine and Coastal
environment. Specific ecosystems are as follows:
i) Coastal
Salt and Freshwater Marshes
ii) Mudflats,
Sandy and Rocky Shorelines
iii) Agricultural
Lands in the Fraser Lowlands
iv) Inshore
waters of the Fraser Delta and the Strait of Georgia
v) Open
Sea
vi) Off-shore
Islands
Each of
these environments provide food and shelter for many of Canada's waterfowl,
shorebirds and seabirds, the taxa which will be the main research focus of the
Chair. Our aim is to focus on a few
of the important target bird species for detailed research with the objective
of understanding not only the demographic processes but through them, the
dynamics of the ecosystems of which the birds are a part.
The
choice of species is based on our assessment of their importance to the
ecosystems where they occur, their likely importance as species of conservation
concern and their suitability as research organisms. Additionally we felt it
important to cover year round residents, winter visitors, passage migrants,
summer residents, and species which breed in one area and winter in another.
The
key to conservation of birds is understanding the demographic processes which
influence population numbers. Ultimately we are interested in the factors that
influence reproduction and survival, and for this reason it is important to
have the ability to examine these factors throughout the life cycle of the
birds. We have therefore chosen species
amenable to direct or indirect study throughout the annual cycle.
The species of birds which we plan to
concentrate on, their seasonal status, and the environments in which they
primarily occur in BC are listed below:
|
|
|
|
|
Snow Goose |
winter |
salt-marshes |
|
Trumpeter Swan |
winter * |
salt-marshes |
|
American
Widgeon |
winter * |
mud flats |
|
Harlequin Duck |
resident (different
habitats) |
rocky shores,
inshore waters, mountain streams |
|
Barrow's
Goldeneye |
resident (different
habitats) |
inland ponds
and open sea |
|
Brant |
winter and
transient |
mudflats |
|
Western
Sandpiper |
transient |
mudflats |
|
Dunlin |
winter |
mudflats |
|
Grebes sp. |
resident (different
habitats) |
inshore waters
and inland lakes
and ponds |
|
Cassin's
Auklet |
summer |
open sea |
|
Rhinoceros
Auklet |
resident (different
habitats) |
open sea,
inshore waters, off-shore
islands |
|
Tufted Puffin |
resident (different
habitats) |
open sea |
|
Pigeon
Guillemot |
resident |
inshore
waters, rocky shores, off-shore islands |
|
Marbled
Murrelet |
resident (different
habitats) |
inshore
waters, |
* also breeds in
interior parts of province
We take
as a useful model the approach to bird conservation pioneered in United Kingdom
by the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO
), referred to as Integrated Population Monitoring (IPM). It identifies the following stages.
Stage 1. Is there a mechanism in place to detect conservation problems
associated with bird populations? This would usually be associated with
disturbing changes in population size due to anthropogenic effects on the
environment of the birds,
Stage 2. If disturbing changes are recognized, can one identify the stages
in the life-cycle that are affected? If survival is involved, does it affect
all age groups equally? If reproduction is involved, at what stage - egg
production, fledgling success or recruitment? At what level does the problem
lie?
Stage 3. If the stage of the life cycle that is affected has been
identified, can one identify the causal components that influence it? For
example, if over-winter mortality is high, is this due to changes in food
availability, predator pressure (including hunting pressure), contaminant
levels or other factors?
Stage 4. Can remedial steps be taken?
What management advice can we give?
IPM
provides us with a logical framework for bird conservation but still presents a
formidable task. Fortunately there is
already considerable background information available on most of the species we
have chosen through the work of the CWS. For example, the production of the book
"Birds of British Columbia" represents an important initiative by CWS as do the various programs, such as
Christmas counts, breeding bird surveys, nest record schemes that involve the
public, particularly bird watchers, in the monitoring function.
The
role of the Chair in this program relates more to stages 2 and 3, the
demographic aspects of the IPM and in
this we hope to work closely with scientists of the Wildlife Ecology Division,
using a team approach. The specifics
of this approach will be pointed out under the individual research projects.
The scientific approaches to IPM fall under three headings:
i. Population Ecology,
ii. Behavioural Ecology and
iii.
Physiological Ecology
although
in reality there are no such sharp divisions between these groups.
Our
general aim will be to expand existing projects or set up new field research
projects that monitor variability in reproductive and survival performance of
the species of concern. To
investigate variation in reproduction will entail several seasons of field work
on reasonably large samples of nesting birds.
Where possible, we intend to embark on a program of individually marking
birds, and to collect blood, tissue and feather samples from the birds to
assess genetic variability and contaminant levels. The aim of the research is to identify the environmental factors
responsible for variation in reproductive performance and to detect long term
demographic trends. To examine
variation in survival rates, we will use individually marked birds and Capture-Mark-Recapture
(CMR) models to assess variability of
local and age-specific survival, immigration and emigration. Where possible we will build on existing data-bases of banded
birds.
These data will be used for population modeling to help us
understand both the demographic processes and the sensitivity of populations to
environmental perturbations. The
systems ecologist to be hired by CWS
will be essential for this aspect of the research.
Behavioural
ecology seeks to understand the natural behaviour of animals including
foraging, distribution, daily and annual movements, reproductive behaviour and
life history. The central tenet of the discipline is that all these behaviours
evolved as a result of identifiable and measurable factors acting on the
lifetime reproductive success of individuals. Behavioural ecology developed
from the cross-fertilization between long-term field studies of animals in
their natural habitats, theoretical insights into the evolution of behaviour,
and the successful conduct of quantitative, experimental work in both
laboratory and field. Using these approaches, much progress has been made over
the past few decades in understanding animal behaviour.
We can
use behavioural ecological approaches to help understand why animals use
their environment as they do, aiming to more than simply describe. For example,
we may be able to describe the dispersion of a species over available feeding
sites, but to be able to predict the outcome of a change resulting from, for
example, development, we need to investigate the basis of the
distribution. Behavioural ecology has
developed a number of tools, including dynamic programming and games theory to
help investigate this basis, and identify the ecological constraints under
which birds find themselves.
Ecological
constraints are more readily understood if we have some knowledge of the
underlying physiological processes, essential for maintenance, reproduction and
survival.
The appointment of a physiological
ecologist to the Associate Chair position will fill a gap that is evident in
most other demographic studies. By looking at intra-specific variability
of physiological processes we hope to discover the responses of birds to
environmental perturbations such as might be imposed by environmental
contaminants for example. In this way
we hope to interface with the Ecosystem Health Section, Wildlife Ecology
Division.
Physiological
ecology is concerned with how animals function, whereas population and
behavioural ecology seek to explain why animals function the way they
do. In the past, these two questions have often been considered to be
independent, and physiological ecologists have been accused of showing only
that 'animals live where they can'. Although it is now becoming increasingly
apparent that the ecology and evolution of any species can not be considered in
isolation from it's physiology - and in fact that these two approaches are
complementary - this continues to be a weakness of many other demographic
studies. At the most general level, the efficiency of energy and nutrient
intake, its processing, allocation and expenditure is critical to the survival
and reproductive success of individuals and populations. Within-species,
individual variation in physiological traits can be as marked as that in
ecological, behavioural or morphological traits, although the causes and
consequences of this variation are poorly understood. An understanding of the
mechanisms underlying this intra-specific variability in physiological traits
is essential in determining the constraints that might limit the ability of
individuals, populations and species to respond to chemical and biological
changes in the environment.
Reproduction and migration represent two major aspects of
the life cycles of most birds, and in particular of those species that have
been targeted as being of primary importance in this study (colonially-breeding
seabirds and migratory shorebirds and waterfowl). These will therefore form the
focus of the work of the Associate Chair. Reproductive output is dependent on
breeding propensity and breeding effort (the number and size of eggs laid) and
these vary markedly between individuals. Understanding the physiological basis
of egg production, and egg-size variation, in wild birds will represent one of
the two main goals of this project. Egg production has been demonstrated to be
the phase of the life-cycle of birds that is most sensitive to environmental
change (particularly with regard to pollution and habitat alteration).
Secondly, efficient utilisation of food resources and control of body reserves
is essential for the successful completion of migration and for over-winter
survival. Again, it is known that there is marked intra-specific variation, for
example, in the rate of fat deposition between individuals. The second goal of
this project will be to investigate the physiological basis of this variation
in relation to possible constraints operating on diet choice, digestive
capabilities and fat storage.
What are
the major academic issues in population ecology, which the Chair can contribute
to the discipline as a whole? We identify two large areas where the projects
outlined here can contribute. Firstly,
although many long-term bird population studies have investigated variation in
reproduction, much less has been done in terms of variation in survival. This
is partly due to the fact that more effort and resources are required to
collect the data, and partly because until recently the necessary mathematical
models have not been available. Recently however, new software packages have
become available and we have spent considerable time learning these new
techniques with the view to applying them to long term bird-banding data.
Having pioneered this with the La Pérouse Bay data set, we are now in a
position to adapt it for other data sets, both those already in existence and
those that we generate during the mandate of the Chair. One of the academic
goals of the Chair therefore will be to develop a Canadian centre where the
measurement of survival variation can be measured and assessed. We also plan to hold workshops to teach these
methods and make them more readily available for Canadian academics and
wildlife biologists.
The SURGE and other recent methodologies are
also valuable for examining patterns of philopatry in birds and will be used
for a theoretical and practical exploration of the whole question of philopatry
in birds. Although some general
predictions about natal and breeding philopatry can now be made, there is very
little understanding about the processes involved in winter and migration
philopatry. Many applied questions
depend on an understanding of the rules that determine whether a bird will
return to a previously used location. Often
it is important to know whether the populations of birds in an area are
residents, transients or a mix of the two.
Turnover rates of birds within populations are also important in assessing
impact of birds on their environment. Both
these questions ultimately depend on understanding the principles of philopatry
away from the breeding ground. We
hope to concentrate on these questions as a unifying theme for our population
work.
Although
population ecology and behavioural ecology have been closely tied during their
histories, fundamental assumptions remain unique to each. In particular,
population models consider neither adaptive adjustments in behaviour nor the
possibility of behavioural evolution in making predictions. Yet there is every
reason to believe that these are fundamentally important processes.
The
discipline of behavioural ecology as a whole has set, as a major goal, the
integration of behavioural and population theory into a unified whole. Several
major works of the past decade have been devoted to considering the ecological
consequences of adaptive behaviour, but so far, the real progress has been very
limited.
The
Chair will be able to make a major contribution in this area because of the
cross-fertilization between large and active groups in both population and
behavioural ecology. The aim is to understand intra-specific life history
variation, and to use that as a basis for population predictions, rather than
the reverse, which is the existing procedure. This would constitute a major and
important advance, and we plan to be major contributors in this area.
The
principal academic goal of research in Physiological Ecology will be to gain an
understanding of the significance of, and mechanisms underlying, individual and
age-specific expression of physiological traits. As a model system, the work
will initially investigate the physiological basis of reproductive investment
in egg-laying and the functional significance of egg-size variation in birds.
Specifically, the project will concentrate on three main aspects: 1) energetic
costs of egg production, 2) the relationship between egg-size and offspring
fitness, and 3) mechanisms and constraints in egg-laying females. The approach
taken will be to conduct experimental work under more-or-less controlled
conditions, for example using captive breeding birds or perhaps a nest-box
breeding population, and then to test ideas and hypotheses generated in this
way on selected free-living species of particular interest to the Chair. A
similar approach would be taken toward the study of the physiological basis of,
and possible constraints on, diet choice, digestive capabilities and fat
deposition. This work would concentrate on migratory shorebirds, probably
Dunlin or western sandpipers, and the aim would be to establish a population of
these birds in captivity.
These two areas of research are
linked by the common goals of understanding
1) individual
differences in the patterns of resource acquisition and expenditure, and
2) the
adaptive significance of individual variation in physiological traits in
free-living birds, this in turn allowing a better understanding of their likely
responses to environmental change.
In addition to the specific themes outlined above, we hope that the projects which we undertake will lead to a more general understanding of avian demographic processes which will have applicability to the conservation problems associated with both lesser known and endangered species. Often the detailed study necessary for conservation action is not possible if the species is rare and sensitive to disturbance and conservationists have no option but to extrapolate from more widespread and better studied species. For example, the work with Western Sandpipers may provide valuable insights into the management and protection of the endangered Piping Plover.
In 1993, the National Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, ¶¡ÏãÔ°AV, and Environment Canada signed a 10 year agreement to create the NSERC/CWS Chair in Wildlife Ecology at ¶¡ÏãÔ°AV. The Centre for Wildlife Ecology (CWE) described here is a new structure based on the Chair. Under the Migratory Birds Convention and Canada Wildlife Acts, the mandate of the Canadian Wildlife Service is to protect and conserve migratory bird populations. In the 21st century, this historical mandate is broadening to encompass other environmental concerns such as species at risk, biodiversity, sustainability and endangered habitats. To meet these broad and varied responsibilities, Environment Canada depends on sound science, and participates in cooperative ventures, such as that with the CWE.
The mission of the Centre for Wildlife Ecology (CWE) is to foster high quality, graduate training and research, conduct basic and applied research in wildlife ecology, and to provide knowledge and personnel that will help Environment Canada and other agencies meet the challenges of conservation in the 21st century. The central concept is to foster synergy between the mission-oriented research and management policies of the Canadian Wildlife Service (CWS) and the basic research agenda of the University. Information, ideas, expertise, resources and opportunity flow back and forth across this interface, giving government agencies access to a broad base of science capability that helps inform policy and decision making, while the university and its faculty and students benefit from enhanced opportunities for research and application of the ideas their disciplines generate.
