Do Breeding Bird Communities or Conservation Value Differ Among Forested Wetland Types or Ecoregions in Nova Scotia?
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WETLANDS CONSERVATION
Do Breeding Bird Communities or Conservation Value Differ Among Forested Wetland Types or Ecoregions in Nova Scotia? John Brazner 1
&
Laura Achenbach 2
Received: 4 February 2019 / Accepted: 12 September 2019 # UK Crown 2019
Abstract Forested wetlands are being lost to development at a higher rate than other wetland types in Nova Scotia despite limited understanding about the ecology of these ecosystems. To examine differences in community composition or conservation value among forested wetland types (peatlands, treed and shrub swamps) or ecoregions (Western, Valley, Fundy Shore), we surveyed breeding birds at 229 sites in western Nova Scotia in 2015 and 2016. We observed 95 species (46% of Nova Scotia’s breeding bird species) and 8971 individuals across all sites. In addition, 5 of 13 (38%) inland (noncoastal) bird species that are listed as atrisk in Nova Scotia were detected. There were more distinct differences in communities among wetland types than ecoregions, shrub swamps and peatlands had significantly more species and higher mean abundances than treed swamps, and Valley Ecoregion sites had the highest species richness and abundance. We also found strong wetland type and ecoregion affinities for particular species. Our results indicate that shrub swamps, particularly in the Valley Ecoregion, have high conservation value and are acting as important refugia for birds in this highly-fragmented landscape. The conservation value of peatlands and treed swamps is also high, partly owing to the at-risk species they support. Keywords Avian community . Biodiversity . Bog . Fen . Species at risk . NMDS ordination
Introduction Forested wetlands (FW) are estimated to comprise about 2% of global land area and 60% of all wetlands (Matthews and Fung 1987). Trends in the loss of FWs reflect the loss in global forest cover (Frelich 1995; Williams 2002; Dahl 2011), but global losses of FWs are difficult to quantify due to insufficient data in many parts of the world (Davidson 2014). Nevertheless, loss appears to have been high wherever FWs are common landscape features (Calhoun 1999; Dahl 2011). In the United States where FW loss has been relatively wellElectronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s13157-019-01222-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. * John Brazner [email protected] 1
Department of Lands and Forestry – Wildlife Division, 136 Exhibition St., Kentville, Nova Scotia B4N 4E5, Canada
2
Canadian Wildlife Service, Environment and Climate Change Canada, 45 Alderney Dr., Dartmouth, Nova Scotia B2Y 2N6, Canada
characterized, loss estimates for northeastern states ranged from 64% in Maine to 87% in New York through the late 1990s (Dahl and Zoltai 1997). This historic loss pattern was likely similar in parts of southeastern Canada, where loss of freshwater wetlands was estimated at around 70% (Snell 1987; Ducks Unlimited Canada 2010), but data specific to FW loss is lacking. There is also no re
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