Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Contributors
- Preface
- Part I The complexity of patterns and processes
- Part II Case studies of habitat use and selection
- Chapter Eight Spatial variation and habitat relationships in moorland bird assemblages: a British perspective
- Chapter Nine Arctic-alpine mountain birds in northern Europe: contrasts between specialists and generalists
- Chapter Ten Bird–habitat relationships in reedswamps and fens
- Chapter Eleven Breeding waders on wet grassland: factors influencing habitat suitability
- Chapter Twelve Processes influencing bird use of estuarine mudflats and saltmarshes in western Europe
- Chapter Thirteen Avian habitat use on the non-estuarine intertidal coast
- Chapter Fourteen Temperate western European woodland as a dynamic environment for birds: a resource-based view
- Part III Wider perspectives
- Species index
- Subject index
- References
Chapter Thirteen - Avian habitat use on the non-estuarine intertidal coast
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 December 2012
Edited by
Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Contributors
- Preface
- Part I The complexity of patterns and processes
- Part II Case studies of habitat use and selection
- Chapter Eight Spatial variation and habitat relationships in moorland bird assemblages: a British perspective
- Chapter Nine Arctic-alpine mountain birds in northern Europe: contrasts between specialists and generalists
- Chapter Ten Bird–habitat relationships in reedswamps and fens
- Chapter Eleven Breeding waders on wet grassland: factors influencing habitat suitability
- Chapter Twelve Processes influencing bird use of estuarine mudflats and saltmarshes in western Europe
- Chapter Thirteen Avian habitat use on the non-estuarine intertidal coast
- Chapter Fourteen Temperate western European woodland as a dynamic environment for birds: a resource-based view
- Part III Wider perspectives
- Species index
- Subject index
- References
Summary
Non-estuarine (‘open’) coasts provide extensive and varied habitats for birds. Rocky intertidal shores, in particular, can provide abundant food resources for several species, notably waders (Feare and Summers, 1985). These resources and the bird assemblages that use them are fundamentally different in several respects to those occurring within estuaries (Chapter 12). This chapter reviews the bird assemblages that use intertidal habitats outside estuaries, habitat associations and constraining factors, interactions between the use of the open coast and supratidal and other adjacent habitats, and the impacts of recent environmental changes on avian assemblage composition and habitat relationships. The focus is on intertidal habitats and not other open coast habitats such as dune systems, coastal scrub and cliffs; this wider, highly varied range of coastal environments supports diverse assemblages of migrating and breeding birds, most notably of passerines and breeding seabirds. While the chapter primarily considers the avian assemblages that use non-estuarine intertidal habitats in Europe, in particular Britain, I also draw on studies from elsewhere in reviewing the factors and environmental changes that affect habitat use.
Non-estuarine intertidal habitats and their bird assemblages
The intertidal habitats found on the open coast include both soft-substrate (typically sandy) shores and rocky shores of exposed bedrock, boulders and shingle (gravel), the character of which depends greatly on the prevailing rock type and the shore’s exposure (Little et al., 2009). Rocky shore habitats can be highly varied and complex, and in Britain, at least, may be extensively covered by beds of mussels (chiefly Mytilus edulis), limpets, barnacles and seaweed (including brown algae such as Fucus, Ascophyllum and Pelvetia, and green algae such as Ulva), while subtidal areas can support dense beds of kelp (e.g. Laminaria) (Connor et al., 2004). These habitats support a varied avifauna, both in the breeding and, notably, the non-breeding seasons – a previous review of bird species utilising rocky shores, for example, reported that a total of 47 species fed in the rocky intertidal zone at Robin Hood’s Bay, Yorkshire (Feare and Summers, 1985).
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Birds and HabitatRelationships in Changing Landscapes, pp. 334 - 351Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2012
References
2005 Shifting nonbreeding distributions of migratory fauna in relation to climatic changeGlob. Change Biol. 11 31CrossRefGoogle Scholar
1945 Wrack fauna of Sweden and Finland: ecology and chorologyOpuscula Entomol. Suppl. 5 1Google Scholar
2007 Winter Gulls in the UK: Population Estimates from the 2003/04–2005/06 Winter Gull Roost SurveyThetfordBTOGoogle Scholar
2007 Habituation and habitat changes can moderate the impacts of human disturbance on shorebird breeding performanceAnim. Conserv. 10 400CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2004 Behavioural responses to human disturbance: a matter of choice?Anim. Behav. 68 1065CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2004 Birds in Europe: Population Estimates, Trends and Conservation StatusCambridgeBirdLife InternationalGoogle Scholar
2009 The use of strandlines as a foraging habitat by birds on the Isle of CumbraeQueen Mary University of LondonGoogle Scholar
1995
2008 Population status of waders wintering on Europe’s non-estuarine coastsThe European Non-Estuarine Coastal Waterbird Survey95ThetfordInternational Wader Study GroupGoogle Scholar
1997 Survival and winter site-fidelity of Turnstones and Purple Sandpipers in north-east EnglandBird Study 44 35CrossRefGoogle Scholar
1996 Effects on shorebird numbers of disturbance, the loss of a roost site and its replacement by an artificial island at Hartlepool, ClevelandBiol. Conserv. 77 193CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2005 Between-year changes in the wintering sites of Ruddy Turnstones : a response to diminished food resources?Wader Study Group Bull. 107 36Google Scholar
2007 Impacts of Changes in Sewage Disposal on Populations of Waterbirds Wintering on the Northumbrian Coast. Final reportThetfordBTOGoogle Scholar
2002 Effects of Reductions in Organic and Nutrient Loading on Bird Populations in Estuaries and Coastal Waters of England and Wales. Phase 1 ReportBTOThetfordGoogle Scholar
1978 Patterns of distribution and behaviour of flocks of seaducks wintering at Leith and Musselburgh, ScotlandBiol. Conserv. 14 111CrossRefGoogle Scholar
1984 The impact of changes in sewage treatment on seaducks wintering in the Firth of Forth, ScotlandBiol. Conserv. 28 173CrossRefGoogle Scholar
1986 Seaducks in the Moray Firth: a review of their current status and distributionProc. R. Soc. Edinb. 91B 105Google Scholar
2003 Patterns of association between algae, fishes and Grey Herons in the rocky littoral zone of a Scottish sea lochEstuar. Coast. Shelf Sci. 58 265CrossRefGoogle Scholar
1990 Seasonal changes in the size selection of Mussels, by Oystercatchers, : an optimality approachAnim. Behav. 40 609CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2004 The Marine Habitat Classification for Britain and Ireland. Version 04.05PeterboroughJNCChttp://www.jncc.gov.uk/MarineHabitatClassification/Google Scholar
1981 Interhabitat movements by Sanderlings in relation to foraging profitability and the tidal cycleAuk 98 4Google Scholar
2008 UK Population Estimates from the 2007 Breeding Little Ringed Plover and Ringed Plover SurveysBTOThetfordGoogle Scholar
1999 The seasonal pattern of numbers, population structure and migration of Purple Sandpipers in OrkneyRing. Migr. 19 275CrossRefGoogle Scholar
1994 Age-dependent choice of Redshank () feeding location: profitability or risk?J. Anim. Ecol. 63 589CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2009 Threats to sandy beach ecosystems: a reviewEstuar. Coast. Shelf Sci. 81 1CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2002 Occurrence and habitat use of Rock Pipit in the German Wadden SeaVogelwelt 123 125Google Scholar
1993 Food and feeding ecology of Purple Sandpipers on rocky intertidal habitats (Helgoland, German Bight)Neth. J. Sea Res. 31 309CrossRefGoogle Scholar
1998 Site fidelity and survival of Purple Sandpipers at Helgoland (SE North Sea)Ring. Migr. 19 41CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2006 Ecological responses to coastal armoring on exposed sandy beachesShore and Beach 74 10Google Scholar
2003 The response of macrofauna communities and shorebirds to macrophyte wrack subsidies on exposed sandy beaches of southern CaliforniaEstuar. Coast. Shelf Sci. 58 133CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2001 Determinants of habitat and site use by Turnstones and Purple Sandpipers in N.E. England, and possible effects of the removal of coastal nutrientsUniversity of DurhamGoogle Scholar
2005 Predation by gulls on crabs in rocky intertidal and shallow subtidal zones of the Gulf of MaineJ. Exp. Mar. Biol. Ecol. 324 31CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2007 Regulation of intertidal food webs by avian predators on New England rocky shoresEcology 88 853CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
2005 Stable isotope analysis reveals that agricultural habitat provides an important dietary component for nonbreeding DunlinAvian Conserv. Ecol. 1 http://www.ace-eco.org/vol1/iss1/art3/Google Scholar
1970 Aspects of the ecology of an exposed shore population of Dogwhelks (L.)Oecologia 5 1CrossRefGoogle Scholar
1985 Birds as predators on rocky shoresThe Ecology of Rocky Coasts249LondonHodder and StoughtonGoogle Scholar
2000 Abundance, diet and contamination of gull feeding at sewage outfallsWater Res. 34 2653CrossRefGoogle Scholar
1998 Effects of recreational disturbance on the foraging behaviour of waders on a rocky beachBird Study 45 157CrossRefGoogle Scholar
1988 Piping Plover status in Nova Scotia related to its reproductive and behavioral responses to human disturbanceJ. Field Ornithol. 59 321Google Scholar
2003
1986 Populations of breeding waders (Charadrii) and their habitats on the crofting lands of the Outer HebridesBiol. Conserv. 37 333CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2001 Why behavioural responses may not reflect the population consequences of human disturbanceBiol. Conserv. 97 265CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2006 Critical thresholds of disturbance by people and raptors in foraging wading birdsBiol. Conserv. 127 88CrossRefGoogle Scholar
1996 Distribution of wintering Common Eiders over mussel beds: does the ideal free distribution apply?Oikos 76 435CrossRefGoogle Scholar
1993 Habitat selection by common eiders in winter and its interaction with flock sizeCan. J. Zool. 71 1259CrossRefGoogle Scholar
1971 The feeding ecology of Oystercatchers L. in winter in northern ScotlandJ. Anim. Ecol. 40 651CrossRefGoogle Scholar
1972 The comparative ecology of Oystercatchers () in inland and coastal habitatsJ. Anim. Ecol. 41 23CrossRefGoogle Scholar
1999 Choice of foraging area with respect to predation risk in Redshanks: the effects of weather and predator activityOikos 87 295CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2001 Spatio-temporal variation of avian foraging in the rocky intertidal food webJ. Anim. Ecol. 70 122CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2001 An unpredictable indirect effect of algal consumption by gulls on crowsEcology 82 3251CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2006 Effects of avian grazing on the algal community and small invertebrates in the rocky intertidal zoneEcol. Res. 106 768CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2003 Shorebird use of an exposed sandy beach in southern CaliforniaEstuar. Coast. Shelf Sci. 58 169CrossRefGoogle Scholar
1997 Diet and habitat preferences of wintering passerines on the Taff/Ely saltmarshesBird Study 44 367CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2004 Predicting the effects of marine climate change on the invertebrate prey of the birds of rocky shoresIbis 146 40CrossRefGoogle Scholar
1990 Numbers, distribution and habitat preferences of waders wintering on the Isles of ScillyWader Study Group Bull. 57 47Google Scholar
1997 Ecological significance and commercial harvesting of drifting and beach-cast macro-algae and seagrasses in Australia: a reviewJ. Appl. Phycol. 9 311CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2001 Birds at a Southern California beach: seasonality, habitat use and disturbance by human activityBiodivers. Conserv. 10 1949CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2006 Restoration of breeding by Snowy Plovers following protection from disturbanceBiodivers. Conserv. 15 2217CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2007 Predicting the population consequences of human disturbance for Ringed Plovers : a game theory approachIbis 149 82CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2008 Climate change causes rapid changes in the distribution and site abundance of birds in winterGlob. Change Biol. 14 2489Google Scholar
1986 Rocky intertidal community organization: the impact of avian predators on mussel recruitmentEcology 67 771CrossRefGoogle Scholar
1994 Piping Plover mortalities caused by off-road vehicles on Atlantic coast beachesWildlife Soc. Bull. 22 409Google Scholar
1984 The effects of habitat on the vigilance of shorebirds: is visibility important?Anim. Behav. 106 981CrossRefGoogle Scholar
1985 Survival, winter population stability and site-fidelity in the Turnstone Bird Study 32 207CrossRefGoogle Scholar
1977 Prey depletion and foraging strategy in the Oystercatcher Oecologia 27 75CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
1981 How foraging plovers cope with environmental effects on invertebrate behaviour and availabilityFeeding and Survival Strategies of Estuarine Organisms179New YorkPlenum PressCrossRefGoogle Scholar
1992 The role of the Orkney Islands as a staging post for Turnstones Ring. Migr. 13 83CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2001 Effects of cleaning a tidal river of sewage on gull numbers: a before-and-after study of the River Tyne, northeast EnglandBird Study 48 48CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2004 The possible impact of climate change on the future distributions and numbers of waders on Britain’s non-estuarine coastIbis 146 70CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2000 Beach-foraging behavior of Northwestern Crows as a function of tide heightNorthwest. Nat. 81 18CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2008 Differential effects of native and invasive algal wrack on macrofaunal assemblages inhabiting exposed sandy beachesJ. Exp. Mar. Biol. Ecol. 358 1CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2004 Foraging ecology and interactions between Herring Gulls and Great Black-backed Gulls in New EnglandWaterbirds 27 200CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2003 Evidence that human disturbance reduces Snowy Plover chick survivalJ. Field Ornithol. 74 300CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2009 Observations of body-icing on Rock Sandpipers during winter in upper Cook Inlet, AlaskaWader Study Group Bull. 116 88Google Scholar
2002 Effect of sewage-derived nutrients on an estuarine macrobenthic communityMar. Ecol. Prog. Ser. 243 67CrossRefGoogle Scholar
1993 Kentish plovers and tourists: competitors on sandy coasts?Wader Study Group Bull. 68 83Google Scholar
2003 Non-intertidal habitat use by shorebirds: a reflection of inadequate intertidal resources?Biol. Conserv. 106 359CrossRefGoogle Scholar
1969 Observations on oil pollution and wintering Purple Sandpipers, (Brunnich), in Nova ScotiaCan. Field Nat. 83 19Google Scholar
1990 Diet and diurnal activity of Purple Sandpipers wintering in northern NorwayFauna norv. Ser. C, Cinclus 13 75Google Scholar
1988 Waders on the coast of Shetland in winter: numbers and habitat preferencesScott. Birds 15 71Google Scholar
2002 Habitat preferences of waders (Charadrii) on the coast of the Orkney IslandsBird Study 49 60CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2004 The dispersion of wintering Purple Sandpipers in relation to the tidal cycle and shore zonationWader Study Group Bull. 103 32Google Scholar
2001 Numbers, migration phenology and survival of Purple Sandpipers at Gourdon, eastern ScotlandBird Study 48 139CrossRefGoogle Scholar
1990 Tidal and sexual differences in the diet of Purple Sandpipers in ScotlandBird Study 37 187CrossRefGoogle Scholar
1990 Wintering Purple Sandpipers in Troms county, northern NorwayOrnis Scand. 21 248CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2002 Rocky intertidal communities: past environmental changes, present status and predictions for the next 25 yearsEnviron. Conserv. 29 168CrossRefGoogle Scholar
1981 The importance of field feeding to the survival of wintering male and female Curlews on the Tees EstuaryFeeding and Survival Strategies of Estuarine Organisms261New YorkPlenum PressCrossRefGoogle Scholar
2007 Interference competition, the spatial distribution of food and free-living foragersAnim. Behav. 74 1493CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2002 Predicting the impacts of disturbance on shorebird mortality using a behaviour-based modelBiol. Conserv. 106 319CrossRefGoogle Scholar
1992 Indirect effects, prey susceptibility, and habitat selection: impacts of birds on limpets and algaeEcology 73 981CrossRefGoogle Scholar
1997 Estimates and tests of per capita interaction strength: diet abundance and impact of intertidally foraging birdsEcol. Monogr. 67 45CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2006 Environmental factors and spatial scale influence shorebirds’ responses to human disturbanceBiol. Conserv. 128 47CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2006 The potential impact of tourism development on habitat availability and productivity of Malaysian Plovers J. Appl. Ecol. 43 978CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- 1
- Cited by