Kristen Noel, Shawn Craik, Glen J. Parsons, Isabeau Pratte, Molly D. Tomlik, Mark L. Mallory
{"title":"美国绒绒绒绒绒绒绒绒绒绒绒绒绒绒绒绒绒绒绒绒绒绒绒绒绒绒绒绒绒绒绒绒绒绒绒绒绒绒绒绒绒绒绒绒绒绒绒绒绒绒绒绒绒绒绒绒绒绒绒绒绒绒绒绒绒绒绒绒绒绒绒绒绒绒绒","authors":"Kristen Noel, Shawn Craik, Glen J. Parsons, Isabeau Pratte, Molly D. Tomlik, Mark L. Mallory","doi":"10.1656/045.030.0308","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Artificial nest shelters have long been used as a conservation tool for waterfowl management to provide safe nesting sites and improve breeding success of local populations. We examined occupancy rates, temperature, and humidity in 2 nest-shelter types provided for Somateria mollissima dresseri (American Common Eider) on coastal islands in the Eastern Shore Islands Wildlife Management Area, NS, Canada. We placed temperature and humidity loggers inside existing plastic barrel shelters, newly designed wooden A-frame shelters, and in natural nesting habitat on 3 islands. The annual proportion of shelters used for each shelter type varied considerably among islands, but we found no difference between the occupancy rates of wooden A-frame shelters (40%) and plastic barrels (39%). We found that wooden A-frame shelters closely mimicked daily mean temperature and humidity in natural nesting habitat, whereas barrel shelters created much hotter, drier conditions compared to natural nesting habitat and A-frame shelters. We suspect microclimate conditions under plastic barrels may cause dehydration for nesting eiders and lead to adverse effects. Therefore, we recommend the removal of plastic barrel shelters from eider colonies. Further research is needed to confirm whether A-frame shelters reduce rates of predation on eider hens and their eggs by large gulls and eagles compared to natural nesting habitat.","PeriodicalId":49742,"journal":{"name":"Northeastern Naturalist","volume":"100 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.5000,"publicationDate":"2023-10-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":"{\"title\":\"Use of Nest Shelters by American Common Eiders (Somateria mollissima dresseri): Occupancy Rates and Effects of Shelter Type on Nest Microclimate\",\"authors\":\"Kristen Noel, Shawn Craik, Glen J. Parsons, Isabeau Pratte, Molly D. Tomlik, Mark L. Mallory\",\"doi\":\"10.1656/045.030.0308\",\"DOIUrl\":null,\"url\":null,\"abstract\":\"Artificial nest shelters have long been used as a conservation tool for waterfowl management to provide safe nesting sites and improve breeding success of local populations. We examined occupancy rates, temperature, and humidity in 2 nest-shelter types provided for Somateria mollissima dresseri (American Common Eider) on coastal islands in the Eastern Shore Islands Wildlife Management Area, NS, Canada. We placed temperature and humidity loggers inside existing plastic barrel shelters, newly designed wooden A-frame shelters, and in natural nesting habitat on 3 islands. The annual proportion of shelters used for each shelter type varied considerably among islands, but we found no difference between the occupancy rates of wooden A-frame shelters (40%) and plastic barrels (39%). We found that wooden A-frame shelters closely mimicked daily mean temperature and humidity in natural nesting habitat, whereas barrel shelters created much hotter, drier conditions compared to natural nesting habitat and A-frame shelters. We suspect microclimate conditions under plastic barrels may cause dehydration for nesting eiders and lead to adverse effects. Therefore, we recommend the removal of plastic barrel shelters from eider colonies. Further research is needed to confirm whether A-frame shelters reduce rates of predation on eider hens and their eggs by large gulls and eagles compared to natural nesting habitat.\",\"PeriodicalId\":49742,\"journal\":{\"name\":\"Northeastern Naturalist\",\"volume\":\"100 1\",\"pages\":\"0\"},\"PeriodicalIF\":0.5000,\"publicationDate\":\"2023-10-04\",\"publicationTypes\":\"Journal Article\",\"fieldsOfStudy\":null,\"isOpenAccess\":false,\"openAccessPdf\":\"\",\"citationCount\":\"0\",\"resultStr\":null,\"platform\":\"Semanticscholar\",\"paperid\":null,\"PeriodicalName\":\"Northeastern Naturalist\",\"FirstCategoryId\":\"1085\",\"ListUrlMain\":\"https://doi.org/10.1656/045.030.0308\",\"RegionNum\":4,\"RegionCategory\":\"环境科学与生态学\",\"ArticlePicture\":[],\"TitleCN\":null,\"AbstractTextCN\":null,\"PMCID\":null,\"EPubDate\":\"\",\"PubModel\":\"\",\"JCR\":\"Q4\",\"JCRName\":\"BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION\",\"Score\":null,\"Total\":0}","platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Northeastern Naturalist","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1656/045.030.0308","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q4","JCRName":"BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION","Score":null,"Total":0}
Use of Nest Shelters by American Common Eiders (Somateria mollissima dresseri): Occupancy Rates and Effects of Shelter Type on Nest Microclimate
Artificial nest shelters have long been used as a conservation tool for waterfowl management to provide safe nesting sites and improve breeding success of local populations. We examined occupancy rates, temperature, and humidity in 2 nest-shelter types provided for Somateria mollissima dresseri (American Common Eider) on coastal islands in the Eastern Shore Islands Wildlife Management Area, NS, Canada. We placed temperature and humidity loggers inside existing plastic barrel shelters, newly designed wooden A-frame shelters, and in natural nesting habitat on 3 islands. The annual proportion of shelters used for each shelter type varied considerably among islands, but we found no difference between the occupancy rates of wooden A-frame shelters (40%) and plastic barrels (39%). We found that wooden A-frame shelters closely mimicked daily mean temperature and humidity in natural nesting habitat, whereas barrel shelters created much hotter, drier conditions compared to natural nesting habitat and A-frame shelters. We suspect microclimate conditions under plastic barrels may cause dehydration for nesting eiders and lead to adverse effects. Therefore, we recommend the removal of plastic barrel shelters from eider colonies. Further research is needed to confirm whether A-frame shelters reduce rates of predation on eider hens and their eggs by large gulls and eagles compared to natural nesting habitat.
期刊介绍:
The Northeastern Naturalist covers all aspects of the natural history sciences of terrestrial, freshwater, and marine organisms and the environments of the northeastern portion of North America, roughly bounded from Virginia to Missouri, north to Minnesota and Nunavut, east to Newfoundland, and south back to Virginia. Manuscripts based on field studies outside of this region that provide information on species within this region may be considered at the Editor’s discretion.
The journal welcomes manuscripts based on observations and research focused on the biology of terrestrial, freshwater, and marine organisms and communities as it relates to their life histories and their function within, use of, and adaptation to the environment and the habitats in which they are found, as well as on the ecology and conservation of species and habitats. Such studies may encompass measurements, surveys, and/or experiments in the field, under lab conditions, or utilizing museum and herbarium specimens. Subject areas include, but are not limited to, anatomy, behavior, biogeography, biology, conservation, evolution, ecology, genetics, parasitology, physiology, population biology, and taxonomy. Strict lab, modeling, and simulation studies on natural history aspects of the region, without any field component, will be considered for publication as long as the research has direct and clear significance to field naturalists and the manuscript discusses these implications.