Oceanography Lab at DSC: Mike Salisbury, UR

This has been a busy week for me. I developed my scientific question for my UR project:

How do anthropogenic disturbances alter bird species number and diversity on Volusia County beaches?

I started to collect data this week as well. Besides the obvious, I am recording the following:

Bird Types: Gulls and terns, shorebirds, wading birds, misc. birds (pelicans, ospreys, etc.)
Bird disturbances: Cars, bikes, adults, children, motor vehicles, fishermen, feeding

Disturbances have been a tough call; I made a guideline though. If the bird shows signs of distress, or moves approximately 3 ft. or more due to human interference, I consider it a disturbance.

I’m collecting bird disturbance data/observations from three specific locations in New Smyrna Beach over the next few weeks.

The locations are as follows:

A. North of 27th Ave. – Beach driving

B. South of 27th Ave. – No beach driving, but usually a crowded beach

C. 30th Ave. –No beach driving, fewer people (not a very popular location due to lack of street parking)

Here are some pictures of the locations:

Site A. north of the poles

Site B. south of the poles

Site B. continued

Site C.

Site C. continued

I’m learning a lot about the common bird species of Volusia County. I made a Volusia County bird identification pamphlet to help me out in the field.

So far, gulls/terns have been the most common bird type and adult disturbances the most common disruption. I am curious what the most common bird type/disturbance will be.

Let's end with a Beatles song this week ♪

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Comments from last week:

Deb 'n Paul

What role do shore birds play in the ecosystem?

Birds help balance the ecosystem on all levels.

Here is quote that elaborates on this:

“Birds occupy many levels of trophic webs, from mid-level consumers to top predators. As with other native organisms, birds help maintain sustainable population levels of their prey and predator species and, after death, provide food for scavengers and decomposers. Many birds are important in plant reproduction through their services as pollinators or seed dispersers. Birds also provide critical resources for their many host-specific parasites, including lice that eat only feathers, flies adapted for living on birds, and mites that hitchhike on birds from plant to plant and even between countries.”

http://www.endangeredspeciesinternational.org/birds4.html

Why are they important to care about?

See answer above.

Are the numbers of species or change in species type an indicator of changes in the health of the environment (i.e., any indicator species)?

Yes, birds are a very useful indicator for environmental health. Here in Volusia, dead birds are an indicator that West Nile virus may be in an area.

Here are a few more reasons:

“Birds are diverse, found in nearly all habitats and occur across the world: e.g., there are over 10,000 bird species globally with, on average, over 400 species occurring per country.
Bird distribution, ecology and life history are well understood: e.g., over 16,000 scientific papers on bird biology are published per year.
Birds usually occupy high trophic levels in food webs and are relatively sensitive to environmental change: e.g., trends in farmland birds in the UK correlate with trends in land-use intensity and climate.
Bird population trends often mirror those of other species: e.g., mammals, reptiles, amphibians, plants and invertebrates have shown trends similar to farmland birds in the UK since the 1940s.
Bird distribution generally reflects that of many other wildlife groups: e.g., the network of key sites for bird conservation (IBAs) covers 80% of the area of those identified for other wildlife groups.”

http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/sowb/casestudy/79

What species migrate to our area and how have their numbers changed over time?

There are several species that migrate to our area.

Here is a link to a graph from that shows many of the birds that migrate to our area, and their numbers from the last ten years:

http://ebird.org/ebird/GuideMe?src=changeDate&getLocations=counties&counties=US-FL-127&parentState=US-FL&reportType=location&monthRadio=on&bMonth=01&eMonth=12&bYear=2004&eYear=2014&continue.x=54&continue.y=4&continue=Continue

Which species are indigenous and how have their numbers changed over time?

This link provides a list of indigenous birds (natural appearance or by establishment of an exotic):

http://www.fosbirds.org/official-florida-state-bird-list

Florida is home to many endangered species, here is a list:

Least tern, limpkin little, blue heron, Marian’s marsh wren, osprey, piping plover, red-cockaded woodpecker, reddish egret, roseate spoonbill, roseate tern, Scott’s seaside sparrow, snowy egret, snowy plover, Southeastern American kestrel Falco tricolored heron, Wakulla seaside sparrow, white-crowned pigeon, whooping crane, white ibis, Worthington’s marsh wren, wood stork

What are their predators and how have predator numbers changed and have these changes impacted shore bird numbers? ...and how do impact by predators compare to impact by humans?--which is worse and why?

Two major unnatural threats are humans and cats. The development of coastal habitats from humans has resulted in a decrease in some bird populations; many coastal species are moving north because of this destruction. Climate change might also have an impact on unnatural bird movement.

http://myfwc.com/conservation/special-initiatives/fbci/climate-change-resources/