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Unveiling the migratory route of the Great Lakes Piping Plover
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Unveiling the migratory route of the Great Lakes Piping Plover
Animal Population
Fauna
Piping Plovers
Project Abstract:
The Piping Plover (Charadrius melodus) is a migratory ground-nesting shorebird that is currently endangered and the flagship species of the Great Lakes coastal dune ecosystem. Although Piping Plovers once nested along the shorelines of all five Great Lakes, numbers began to decline in the mid 20th century and by the time the population was listed as endangered in 1986, only 17 Piping Plover pairs nested along Northern Michigan’s shorelines. We propose to use light-level geolocators (British Antarctic Survey) to ascertain the migratory paths of Great Lakes Piping Plovers. Except for the approximately 2 months of the year when plovers are nesting or raising chicks, we have very little idea where Great Lakes piping plovers spend their time. An understanding of Piping Plover movement among unmonitored areas throughout the breeding season and during migration en route to the breeding grounds will yield vital information regarding Piping Plover habitat that is currently unmonitored. Reconstructing the common migratory routes used by Piping Plovers en route to the breeding grounds could reveal important fly over areas, which may be more likely recolonized in the Great Lakes region, thus facilitating our recovery goal of expanding the breeding Great Lakes population into other Great Lakes states.We will use these data to identify migratory routes within the Great Lakes, to identify future recolonization sites, identify areas of the Great Lakes used by Piping Plovers when they are no longer breeding, and reveal common migratory routes used by Great Lakes Piping Plovers.
Investigator(s):
Erin Roche
Investigators:
cuthb001
Status of Research Project:
Complete (archive)
Related projects:
Great Lakes Piping Plover Population: Research and Recovery
Related data sets:
Great Lakes Piping Plover Population: Research and Recovery
Great Lakes Piping Plover Population: Research and Recovery
Years Active:
2013
Methods:
counting birds