Habitat selection of foraging male Great Snipes on floodplain meadows: importance of proximity to the lek, vegetation cover and bare ground
Cite this dataset
Korniluk, Michał et al. (2020). Habitat selection of foraging male Great Snipes on floodplain meadows: importance of proximity to the lek, vegetation cover and bare ground [Dataset]. Dryad. https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.79cnp5ht8
Abstract
Drainage of wetlands and agricultural intensification has resulted in serious biodiversity loss in Europe, not least in grasslands. Consequently, many meadow birds have drastically declined, and the habitats they select for breeding currently rely on land management. However, the selection of habitats maintained by agriculture may contribute to reduced fitness and thus remain maladaptive for individuals, which makes conservation challenging. An understanding of the relationships between species’ habitat selection, food supply and land management in the context of species’ behaviour is therefore crucial for conservation. Lowland populations of Great Snipe Gallinago media are currently declining at a moderate rate, causing a conservation concern. We examined the daytime site selection (assumed as foraging sites) and food supply of radiotracked Great Snipe males breeding on a floodplain in NE Poland. Foraging sites were classified at micro- and macro-scale levels using the logistic regression in a use–availability design. On the microscale level, males selected moderate sward height and density, and a large amount of bare ground patches, and the importance of these increased as the breeding season progressed. On the macro-scale level, these conditions were associated with (1) meadows mown twice per season and grazed thereafter (associated with the most abundant food resources – earthworms) and (2) extensively managed pastures, suggesting the importance of grazing. Abandoned or late-mown meadows under agri-environmental schemes (AES) were avoided by foraging males. However, parcels with delayed mowing offer safe breeding sites for females nesting close to leks, unlike land-use types preferred by foraging males, which may act as an ecological trap. Effective conservation of Great Snipes on floodplain meadows requires precisely targeted AES schemes that will provide a mosaic of intensive and extensive land-use patches in the vicinity of identified leks.
Methods
General study design
To examine habitat selection of the Great Snipe, we applied a use–availability design in two spatial scales (a micro-scale model and macro-scale model), where environmental characteristics at the male Great Snipe daytime presence sites (‘used’) were contrasted with characteristics at random sites (‘available’) within the study area. The study area was located in NE Poland in the upper Narew river valley. To localize foraging locations, Great Snipe males were trapped in May 2013 and 2014 on two leks (lek1 and lek2) and equipped with VHF transmitters. When an individual was approached, we locate the precise feeding site from where it was flushed and then sampled the attributes of the habitat. Some non-tagged birds were flushed by coincidence during fieldwork, and when their exact foraging site was detected we applied the same sampling protocol and included the data in our analyses (n = 41). To determine available resources within the study area in 2013 and 2014, we generated 200 and 250 random locations, respectively. Random sites in dense bushes and forest were omitted as non-potential foraging sites. In total, 383 random sites were sampled.
Invertebrates data
To assess subsurface invertebrates (different taxa, see README file) we collected soil samples (15x15x10 cm depth, cut with a steel frame) from the center of the plot. All potential prey (> 0.5 mm) were searched within those samples in the lab, when washed through a 1 mm mesh. Invertebrate abundance (total wet biomass of identified class, order or family weight, ±0,001 g) was then analyzed in the lab.
Statistical analyses
We coded sites where we found birds as 1 (“used”) and randomly selected sites from within our study domain as 0 (“available”), and used this as a binary response to model Great Snipe habitat selection as a function of candidate predictors measured at two spatial scales (see Micro-scale variables in Table 1, see Usage Notes). We used generalized linear models (GLMs) with a binomial error structure and logit link function to model the relationship between the presence/absence of birds and candidate predictors at the micro (GLM1) and the macro scale (GLM2). For more details go to published article.
Micro-scale model
For the micro-scale models, we considered nine candidate predictors (three of them in the squared form) as main terms and included also interactions between those variables and the date. For more details go to published article.
Macro-scale model
At the landscape scale, we considered seven candidate predictors (four of them in the squared form, see Macro-scale variables in Table 1 and Table 2, see Usage Notes) as main terms to build a global model. We used R environment (R Core Team 2019) to fit GLMs (for more details go to published article). Biomass of food resources was not included in model selection because these variables were not assessed on all sampling sites (for more details go to published article).
Usage notes
Variable codes in Table 1 and Table 2 refers to headings columns of uploaded file: Korniluk_et_al_2000_Great_Snipe_habitat_selection_data.
Additional column headers are described in uploaded README file.
Table 1. Variables at two levels – micro- and macro-scale.
Variable code* |
Variable name and unit |
Description |
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Micro-scale variables |
Date |
Date of sampling [days] |
Relative date within the breeding season, 1= 01 May |
VegHeight |
Vegetation height [cm] |
Mean in a 50x50cm plot, measured with a ruler |
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VegCovV |
Vertical vegetation cover [%] |
Vegetation coverage of 10x10 cm paper blank placed in the center of the plot |
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VegCovH |
Horizontal vegetation cover [m] |
Mean of four perpendicular direction maximum distance from where we could not see a Great Snipe decoy |
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BareGr |
Bare ground [%] |
% of bare ground within the plot |
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Penetr |
Soil penetrability [cm] |
A mean of measured in the center of the plot by dropping 3 times a pointed iron pin (8 mm diameter and 180 g) from 1.5 m height |
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Tussok |
Tussock height [cm] |
Mean for all tussocks in the 50x50 cm plot, measured with a ruler |
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Moist |
Moisture [1-6] |
On a scale from 1 (dry) to 6 (flooded) |
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DistLek |
Mean distance to leks [m] |
Mean distance to the two leks (lek1 and lek 2) |
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Macro- scale variables |
Elev |
Elevation [m] |
A mean in 3 m radius based on Digital Terrain Model (Project ISOK of Head Office of Geodesy and Cartography GUGIK – Poland, 1 m resolution). |
DistLek |
Mean distance to leks [m] |
Mean distance to the two permanent leks |
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DistTree |
Distance to nearest single tree [m] |
Distance between foraging and random sites to nearest landscape elements |
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DistShrub |
Distance to nearest shrubs [m] |
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DistForest |
Distance to nearest forest [m] |
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DistWater |
Distance to nearest water surface [m]
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LandUse |
Land use type |
Land use regime and type affects sward structure (Land use types listed in Table 2.) |
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Table 2. Land use types used in the macro-scale model.
Variable name |
Variable class and code |
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LandUse |
Land use type |
Meadows mowed twice and extensively grazed (2xMOW+COW) |
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Meadows mowed twice a year (2xMOW) |
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Meadows mowed once a year (1xMOW) |
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Abandoned meadows (ABAND) |
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Extensive pastures (COW) |
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Funding
European Commission, Award: LIFE11 NAT/PL/000436