Associations with landscape and local-scale wetland habitat conditions vary among migratory shorebird species during stopovers

Wetlands provide many ecosystem services and functions, including critical stopover habitat for numberous migratory shorbirds species. We conducted shorebird surveys at >14,000 wetlands and associated observed abundance with wetland variables for 16 species. We found that the scale at which observed abundance was associated with wetland extent varied among speceis, and that for most species abundance was positively associated with higher wetland density, presence of shallow water, more usable area, and limited vegetation. There was considerable variation in the strength and sometimes direction of responses. Our study helps inform optimal habitat requirementes for shorebirds.