Wading Bird Colony Location, Size, Timing and Wood Stork and Roseate Spoonbill Nesting Success

The three-year work order associated with this project is designed to continue and enhance monitoring of populations of breeding wading birds in the south Florida ecosystem. Wading birds are a dominant predator in the Greater Everglades region and represent a large part of the vertebrate biomass; breeding population responses are considered to be integrative and reflective of many aspects of the wetland habitat. Success and productivity of breeding is also predicted to improve, especially for two species specifically for which past information is available - Wood Storks and Roseate Spoonbills. This project continues to build on an existing database of reproductive success and productivity information extending back to the 1960's for Wood Storks and to the 1930's for spoonbills and it continues a large and fruitful wading bird dataset which has already served as an early warning of the collapse of ecosystem function, the widespread contamination of the wetland biota with mercury, and the critical functions provided by droughts, to name a few.

本项目为期三年的工作任务旨在持续开展并强化佛罗里达南部生态系统中涉禽（wading birds）繁殖种群的监测工作。涉禽是大沼泽地区的优势捕食者，其生物量占该区域脊椎动物总生物量的较大比例；繁殖种群的动态响应被认为是湿地生境多方面状况的综合反映。繁殖成功率与繁殖生产力预计将得到提升，针对已有历史监测数据的两个物种——白头鹮鹳（Wood Stork）与玫瑰红琵鹭（Roseate Spoonbill）而言，这一提升尤为显著。本项目将延续现有涉禽繁殖成功率与生产力数据库的建设，该数据库中白头鹮鹳的监测数据可追溯至1960年代，琵鹭的监测数据则可追溯至1930年代。本项目同时将持续维护一套规模庞大且成果丰硕的涉禽数据集，该数据集此前已助力多项关键生态研究：包括提前预警生态系统功能崩溃、揭示湿地生物群系的广泛汞污染，以及阐明干旱所发挥的关键生态功能等。