Publications

Surveys for breeding shorebirds were conducted during 2001-2002 in four National Wildlife Refuges (NWRs) in western Alaska - Alaska Maritime, Alaska Peninsula, Yukon Delta and Selawik. The sizes of our study areas on and adjacent to these four refuges were 9,243 km2, 24,493 km2, 853 km2, and 15,170 km2, respectively. Eleven sites were selected non-randomly, 3 in the Alaska Maritime NWR...

The Arctic PRISM was designed to determine shorebird population size and trend. During an extensive peer review of PRISM, some reviewers suggested that measuring demographic rates or monitoring shorebirds on migration would be more appropriate than estimating population size on the breeding grounds. However, each method has its own limitations. For demographic monitoring, an unbiased...

This brief chapter addresses two related issues: how effort should be allocated to different parts of the sampling plan and, given optimal allocation, how large a sample will be required to achieve the PRISM accuracy target. Simulations based on data collected to date showed that 2 plots per cluster on rapid surveys, 2 intensive camps per field crew-year, 2-4 intensive plots per...

This chapter summarizes results in previous chapters by providing estimated densities and population sizes, in the areas we have surveyed, for Alaska, Canada, and both regions combined. A total of 1,554 rapid plots, covering 232 km2, and 83 intensive plots were surveyed during the study. The monograph presents >600 density estimates and >200 estimated population sizes. Densities for all...

Detecting declines in population size is one of the highest priorities of the shorebird initiatives in Canada and the United States. The quantitative goal is 80% power to detect a 50% decline, occurring during no more than 20 years, with a significance level of 0.15, using a two-tailed test, and incorporating effects of potential bias into the estimator. The Arctic PRISM program was...

We report results from shorebird surveys in the North American Arctic, defined here as Bird Conservation Regions 2 and 3 of the North American Bird Conservation Initiative (http://www.nabci.net/International/English/bcrmap.html). The surveys estimate population size and trend, and provide information on habitat relationships, at the regional and Arctic-wide scale (Table 1, Fig 1). Of the...

We document causes of death in free-ranging California Condors (Gymnogyps californianus) from the inception of the reintroduction program in 1992 through December 2009 to identify current and historic mortality factors that might interfere with establishment of self-sustaining populations in the wild. A total of 135 deaths occurred from October 1992 (the first post-release death) through...

Fiscal year 2010 was the second full year of elk monitoring protocol implementation at Lewis and Clark National Historical Park (LEWI), part of the North Coast and Cascades Network (NCCN) Inventory and Monitoring program. Elk monitoring at Lewis and Clark NHP includes two components. Fecal pellet surveys at a systematic sample of points in the Fort Clatsop unit are intended to give...

Oviposition timing, behaviors, and microhabitats of ambystomatid salamanders vary considerably (Egan and Paton 2004; Figiel and Semlitsch 1995; Howard and Wallace 1985; Mac-Cracken 2007). Regardless of species, however, females typically oviposit using sites conducive to embryo development and survival. For example, the results of an experiment by Figiel and Semlitsch (1995) on Ambystoma...

Using mark-recapture models, apparent survival was estimated from older banding and re-sighting data (1978–1983) of American Oystercatchers (Haematopus palliatus) nesting on beaches and in salt marshes of coastal Virginia, USA. Oystercatchers nesting in salt marshes exhibited higher apparent survival (0.94 ±0.03) than birds nesting on beaches (0.81 ±0.06), a difference due to variation...

Each year shorebirds from North and South America migrate thousands of miles to spend the summer in the Arctic. There they feed in shoreline marshes and estuaries along some of the most productive and pristine coasts anywhere. With so much available food they are able to reproduce almost explosively; and as winter approaches, they retreat south along with their offspring, to return to...

Dam removal has been increasingly proposed as a river restoration technique. In 2011, two large hydroelectric dams will be removed from Washington State’s Elwha River. Ten anadromous fish populations are expected to recolonise historical habitats after dam removal. A key to understanding watershed recolonisation is the collection of spatially continuous information on fish and aquatic...