Impact of human disturbance on the abundance of non-breeding shorebirds in a subtropical wetland

Shorebird populations have declined due to several threats throughout their annual cycle. Anthropogenic disturbance is one of the most ubiquitous threats to shorebird conservation in North America. Here, we studied the influence of human disturbance on shorebird community dynamics during migration and winter in Ensenada de La Paz, a subtropical coastal wetland in Mexico. We used negative binomial generalized linear mixed models to investigate the associations between spatial, biological, and anthropogenic variation and local shorebird abundance that accounted for shorebird body size (small, medium, and large) and foraging strategy (visual and tactile) of 21 shorebird species. After controlling for these different correlates of abundance, human disturbance (people, vehicles, and dogs) was negatively associated with shorebird abundance. During winter, all shorebird species were negatively related to human disturbance but positively associated with presence of raptors. However, small, tact...