Our LIvinii Rt'suurces — Blni\ 



77 



Research Needs 



Research needs include assessing the effects 

 of prescribed burns and other mechanical tech- 

 niques on habitat restoration and crane use; 

 assessing the effects of water levels, water-level 

 fluctuations, and hydrology on crane nesting 

 and fledging success; determining the level of 

 propagation and captive release conditioning 

 needed to maintain population size during 

 restoration; developing genetic management to 

 protect the gene pool; and determining disease 

 and contaminant sources for tumors and poor 

 reproductive success in captive and wild Hocks. 



References 



Aldrich. J. 1972. A new subspecies of sandliill cranes from 

 Mississippi. Proceedings of the Biological Society of 

 Washington 8.'i(5):63-70. 



Dessauer, H.C.. G.F. Gee. and J.S. Rogers. 1992. Allozyme 

 evidence for crane systematics and polymorphisms wilh- 

 m populations of sandhill, sarus. Siberian, and whooping 

 cranes. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 1(4):279- 

 288. 



Jarvi. S.I.. G.F. Gee. MM. MUler. and W.E. Briles. 1994. 

 Detection of haplotypes of the major histocompatibility 

 complex in Florida sandhill cranes. Journal of Heredity. 

 In press. 



For further information: 



George F. Gee 



National Biological Service 



Patuxent Environmental Science 



Center 



Laurel. MD 20708 



The piping plover {Charadriiis melodiis) is a 

 wide-ranging, beach-nesting shorebird 

 whose population viability continues to decline 

 as a result of habitat loss from development and 

 other human disturbance (Haig 1992). In 1985 

 the species was listed as endangered in the 

 Great Lakes Basin and Canada and threatened 

 in the northern Great Plains and along the U.S. 

 Atlantic coast. The U.S. Fish and" Wildlife 

 Service (USFWS) is proposing that birds in the 

 northern Great Plains also be listed as endan- 

 gered. 



Each year, many breeding areas are censused 

 and some winter surveys are conducted. In 

 1991 biologists from Canada, the United States, 

 Mexico, and various Caribbean nations cairied 

 out a simultaneous census of piping plovers at 

 all known breeding and wintering sites. Census 

 goals were to establish baseline population lev- 

 els for all known piping plover sites and to cen- 

 sus additional potential breeding and wintering 

 sites (Figure). 



Status 



This census covered 2,099 sites, resulting in 

 the highest number of breeding and wintering 

 piping plovers ever recorded. It will be repeated 

 three or four more times over the next l.'i-20 

 years for more accurate assessment of popula- 

 tion trends. 



Winter Census 



The total number of wintering birds (3,451) 

 reported constituted 63% of the breeding birds 

 (5.486) counted (Tables I. 2). Most birds (55%; 

 A' = 1.898) were found along the Texas coast 

 where the census concentrated on birds in previ- 

 ously uncensused stretches of Laguna Madre's 

 back bays. The highest concentration of birds in 

 local sites was also reported in Texas (Haig and 

 Plissner 1993). Although the 1991 census dis- 

 covered more wintering birds than had been pre- 



viously reported, a large proportion of piping 

 plovers were not seen in the winter census. 



Better census efforts in Louisiana, northern 

 Cuba, and on many of the smaller Caribbean 

 islands may reveal additional winter sites. 

 Previous reviews of their distribution did not 

 indicate that birds moved farther south than the 

 Caribbean (Haig and Oring 1985). Relatively 

 few birds are seen on the Atlantic coast in win- 

 ter, a contrast to the 36% of plovers that breed 

 along the Atlantic coast. Thus, the largest gap in 

 our understanding of piping plover distribution 

 during winter appears to be in locating winter 

 sites for Atlantic coast breeders. 



Breeding Census 



All known piping plover breeding sites were 

 censused in 1991 (Table 2). Piping plovers were 

 widely distributed in small populations across 

 their breeding range (Figure); most adults 

 (63.2%) bred in the northern Great Plains and 

 prairies of the United States and Canada. Thirty- 

 six percent were found on the Atlantic coast and 



Piping Plovers 



by 



Susan Haig 



National Biological Senice 



Jonathan H. Plissner 



Umversity of Georgia 



Editor's note: This paper is largely a 

 synopsis of a paper by Haig and Plissner 

 (1993) in Condor. 



Figure. Distribution of piping plovers throughout the annual cycle in 1991. 



