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Foraging guilds of aquatic birds on productive boreal lakes: environmental relations and concordance patterns

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Limnology and Aquatic Birds

Part of the book series: Developments in Hydrobiology ((DIHY,volume 189))

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Abstract

We surveyed aquatic birds on 41 eutrophic lakes at the southern edge of the boreal forest in Alberta, Canada to determine if patterns of species composition of five foraging guilds paralleled patterns of lake characteristics (morphometry, water chemistry, fish assemblage, and landscape features) and if composition patterns were concordant among guilds. We encountered 49 species of nonpasserine birds that could be classified into five foraging guilds: Diving Carnivores, Diving Omnivores, Herbivores, Surface-foraging Carnivores, and Shoreline Omnivores. Individual lakes supported three to five guilds and guild composition was most strongly and frequently related to lake area, maximum depth, water color, pH, a fish assemblage index, and catchment slope. Randomization tests of matrix concordance based on Principal Components Analyses indicated similar patterns between lake characteristics and species composition for four of five guilds (Diving Carnivores excepted). Randomization tests also showed that patterns of species composition among lakes were similar between foraging guilds for eight out of 10 pairwise comparisons (both exceptions involved Surface-foraging Carnivores). Because of the largely concordant patterns among different guilds, monitoring the status of one guild should provide a useful bioindicator of the status of the aquatic bird assemblages as a whole.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, T6G 2E9, Canada

    Cynthia A. Paszkowski & William M. Tonn

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  1. Cynthia A. Paszkowski
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  2. William M. Tonn
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Canadian Wildlife Service, Environment Canada, P.O. Box 6227, Sackville, New Brunswick, E4L 1G6, Canada

    Alan R. Hanson

  2. Canadian Wildlife Service, Environment Canada, 45 Alderney Drive, 7th Floor-Queen Square, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, B2Y 4N6, Canada

    Joseph J. Kerekes

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Paszkowski, C.A., Tonn, W.M. (2006). Foraging guilds of aquatic birds on productive boreal lakes: environmental relations and concordance patterns. In: Hanson, A.R., Kerekes, J.J. (eds) Limnology and Aquatic Birds. Developments in Hydrobiology, vol 189. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-5556-0_3

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