Table 15. Correlation measures between nesting waterbird 



b c 



numbers, wetland area , and coastline length in nine 



northeastern States (Maine excluded). 



Species 



Numbers vs. 

 wetland area 



Correlation 



Numbers vs. 

 coastline length 



All species 

 All seabirds 

 All wading birds 



Herring gull 

 Common tern 

 Least tern 

 Black skimmer 



r 

 r 

 r 



r 



r 

 r 

 r 



0.72* 

 0.67* 

 0.93** 



-0.1 

 0.43 

 0.63* 

 0.60 



Snowy egret r = 0.85** 



Black-crowned night heron r = 0.47 



All r values listed are from Spearman Rank tests, a non-parametric 

 correlation method; * = P < 0.05, ** = P < 0.01. 



Wetland areas, in Km , from Spinner (1969). 



Coastal length in Km. 



Nesting occurred in only the five States from New York to Virginia. 



18 



