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Mechanisms that generate resource pulses and drive wading bird nesting in a fluctuating wetland

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Date Issued:
2012
Summary:
Variation in the seasonal water level fluctuations of tropical and subtropical wetlands controls the production and concentration of aquatic fauna that support breeding wading birds. However, little is known about how particular components of the annual hydrologic cycle affect processes that control food availability and reproduction. This thesis identifies specific mechanisms responsible for transforming wet season prey standing stock into dry season prey concentrations, links landscape hydrological patterns to wading bird nesting, and presents a predictive model of Wood Stork nesting. I examined the supoort for several a priori hypotheses of factors affecting wading bird prey concentrations and wading bird nest effort. Factors affecting the concentration and vulnerability of prey were important for transferring secondary production to higher trophic levels. Receding water levels, microtopographic variation, and high standing stocks of prey were critical for generating pulses of food availabiltiy to meet the high energy requirements of breeding predatory birds.
Title: Mechanisms that generate resource pulses and drive wading bird nesting in a fluctuating wetland.
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Name(s): Botson, Bryan A.
Charles E. Schmidt College of Science
Department of Biological Sciences
Type of Resource: text
Genre: Electronic Thesis Or Dissertation
Date Issued: 2012
Publisher: Florida Atlantic University
Physical Form: electronic
Extent: xiii, 102 p. : ill. (some col.)
Language(s): English
Summary: Variation in the seasonal water level fluctuations of tropical and subtropical wetlands controls the production and concentration of aquatic fauna that support breeding wading birds. However, little is known about how particular components of the annual hydrologic cycle affect processes that control food availability and reproduction. This thesis identifies specific mechanisms responsible for transforming wet season prey standing stock into dry season prey concentrations, links landscape hydrological patterns to wading bird nesting, and presents a predictive model of Wood Stork nesting. I examined the supoort for several a priori hypotheses of factors affecting wading bird prey concentrations and wading bird nest effort. Factors affecting the concentration and vulnerability of prey were important for transferring secondary production to higher trophic levels. Receding water levels, microtopographic variation, and high standing stocks of prey were critical for generating pulses of food availabiltiy to meet the high energy requirements of breeding predatory birds.
Identifier: 827547330 (oclc), 3358281 (digitool), FADT3358281 (IID), fau:4006 (fedora)
Note(s): by Bryan A. Botson.
Thesis (M.S.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2012
Includes bibliography.
Mode of access: World Wide Web.
System requirements: Adobe Reader.
Subject(s): Wetland ecology
Restoration ecology
Wood stork -- Habitat
Predation (Biology)
Water birds -- Habitat
Persistent Link to This Record: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3358281
Use and Reproduction: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
Host Institution: FAU