Assessing the effects of human activities on the foraging opportunities of migratory shorebirds in Austral high-latitude bays.

Autor: Navedo JG; Bird Ecology Lab, Instituto de Ciencias Marinas y Limnológicas, Universidad Austral de Chile, Valdivia, Chile.; Estación Experimental Quempillén, Chiloé, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Austral de Chile, Ancud, Chile., Verdugo C; Ecología y Evolución de Enfermedades Infecciosas, Instituto de Patología Animal, Universidad Austral de Chile, Valdivia, Chile., Rodríguez-Jorquera IA; Centro de Humedales Río Cruces, Universidad Austral de Chile, Valdivia, Chile., Abad-Gómez JM; Conservation Biology Research Group, Universidad de Extremadura, Badajoz, Spain., Suazo CG; Department of Animal Ecology and Systematics, Justus Liebig University Giessen, Giessen, Germany., Castañeda LE; Programa de Genética Humana, Instituo de Ciencias Biomédicas, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile., Araya V; Bird Ecology Lab, Instituto de Ciencias Marinas y Limnológicas, Universidad Austral de Chile, Valdivia, Chile., Ruiz J; Bird Ecology Lab, Instituto de Ciencias Marinas y Limnológicas, Universidad Austral de Chile, Valdivia, Chile.; Estación Experimental Quempillén, Chiloé, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Austral de Chile, Ancud, Chile., Gutiérrez JS; Estación Experimental Quempillén, Chiloé, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Austral de Chile, Ancud, Chile.; Centro de Estudos do Ambiente e do Mar (CESAM), Departamento de Biologia Animal, Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: PloS one [PLoS One] 2019 Mar 13; Vol. 14 (3), pp. e0212441. Date of Electronic Publication: 2019 Mar 13 (Print Publication: 2019).
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0212441
Abstrakt: Human presence at intertidal areas could impact coastal biodiversity, including migratory waterbird species and the ecosystem services they provide. Assessing this impact is therefore essential to develop management measures compatible with migratory processes and associated biodiversity. Here, we assess the effects of human presence on the foraging opportunities of Hudsonian godwits (Limosa haemastica, a trans-hemispheric migratory shorebird) during their non-breeding season on Chiloé Island, southern Chile. We compared bird density and time spent foraging in two similar bays with contrasting disturbance levels: human presence (mostly seaweed harvesters accompanied by dogs) was on average 0.9±0.4 people per 10 ha in the disturbed bay, whereas it was negligible (95% days absent) in the non-disturbed bay. Although overall abundances were similar between bays, godwit density was higher in the non-disturbed bay throughout the low tide period. Both days after the start of the non-breeding season and tidal height significantly affected godwit density, with different effects in either bay. Time spent foraging was significantly higher in the non-disturbed bay (86.5±1.1%) than in the disturbed one (81.3±1.4%). As expected, godwit density significantly decreased with the number of people and accompanying dogs in the disturbed bay. Our results indicate that even a low density of people and dogs can significantly reduce the foraging opportunities of shorebirds. These constraints, coupled with additional flushing costs, may negatively affect godwits' pre-migratory fattening. Hence, as a first step we suggest limiting human presence within bays on Chiloé to 1 person per 10 ha and banning the presence of accompanying dogs in sensitive conservation areas.
Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
Databáze: MEDLINE
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