Updating movement estimates for American black ducks (Anas rubripes)

PeerJ
By: , and 

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Abstract

Understanding migratory connectivity for species of concern is of great importance if we are to implement management aimed at conserving them. New methods are improving our understanding of migration; however, banding (ringing) data is by far the most widely available and accessible movement data for researchers. Here, we use band recovery data for American black ducks (Anas rubripes) from 1951–2011 and analyze their movement among seven management regions using a hierarchical Bayesian framework. We showed that black ducks generally exhibit flyway fidelity, and that many black ducks, regardless of breeding region, stopover or overwinter on the Atlantic coast of the United States. We also show that a non-trivial portion of the continental black duck population either does not move at all or moves to the north during the fall migration (they typically move to the south). The results of this analysis will be used in a projection modeling context to evaluate how habitat or harvest management actions in one region would propagate throughout the continental population of black ducks. This analysis may provide a guide for future research and help inform management efforts for black ducks as well as other migratory species.

Publication type Article
Publication Subtype Journal Article
Title Updating movement estimates for American black ducks (Anas rubripes)
Series title PeerJ
DOI 10.7717/peerj.1787
Volume 4
Year Published 2016
Language English
Publisher PeerJ
Contributing office(s) Coop Res Unit Atlanta
Description e1787; 11 p.
First page 1
Last page 11
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