Download Waterfowl communities - Donald Edward Winslow

Waterfowl communities
Zoology
14 February 2011
Donald Winslow
What are waterfowl?
• Kingdom Animalia
– Phylum Chordata
• Class Aves
– Order Anseriformes
» Family Anatidae (swans, geese, ducks)
Other waterbirds we may see
• Order Podicipediformes (grebes)
• Order Pelecaniformes
(pelicans & cormorants)
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Order Ciconiiformes (herons & egrets)
Order Falconiformes (e.g. Bald Eagle)
Order Gruiformes (e.g. American Coot)
Order Charadriiformes (shorebirds, gulls)
Order Coraciiformes (kingfishers)
What is a community?
What is a community?
A group of individuals of different species interacting with each other.
Objective of waterfowl exercise:
Determine how composition of waterbird
communities are affected by size of lake,
habitat, human disturbance, etc.
As the size of a lake increases, the
proportion of area where the water is deep
increases.
We would expect that birds that forage in
deep water would have a higher relative
abundance at larger lakes.
Dabbling and diving ducks
• Dabblers eat a lot of vegetation and tend
to forage in shallow water near the shore.
• Diving ducks eat more fish and forage in
deeper water.
What’s relative abundance?
• The proportion of individuals in a
community that are a given species.
• Example: If there are 100 ducks and 70 of
them are Mallards (Anas platyrhynchos),
the relative abundance of Mallards is 0.7.
Hypothesis: Bird species which
forage in deep water would have
higher relative abundance at a
large lake than at a small lake.
• Prediction: Diving ducks would have a
higher relative abundance at a large lake
than at a small lake.
• Prediction: Dabbling ducks would have a
higher relative abundance at a small lake
than at a large lake.
Dabblers
Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos)
Blue-winged Teal (Anas discors)
Diving Ducks
Ring-necked Duck (Aythya collaris)
Hooded Merganser (Lophodytes cucullatus)
Study design
• Count waterbirds at lakes of varying size.
• Classify duck species as divers or
dabblers.
• Classify other species by feeding habits or
other relevant variables
• Determine whether predictions of
hypothesis are met.
• Draw conclusions.
Resources online
• http://www.okbirds.org
• http://www.suttoncenter.org
• http://donaldwinslow.info