Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Population Dynamics of Benthic Species on Tidal Flats: the Possible Roles of Shorebird Predation

  • Chapter
Ecological Comparisons of Sedimentary Shores

Part of the book series: Ecological Studies ((ECOLSTUD,volume 151))

Abstract

In late summer millions of shorebirds leave their breeding grounds in the Arctic and move to tidal mudflats in the temperate and tropical zones. These mudflats can either be used as stopover sites during migration, or as overwintering areas. Shorebirds necessarily have high feeding rates and the densities of these salient predators can be high. Not surprisingly, many researchers have asked the question what the impact is of shorebirds on their intertidal invertebrate prey, and whether this impact may differ, for example, between temperate and tropical regions (Piersma and Beukema 1993). Generally, two approaches have been adopted to answer these questions. First, estimates of annual consumption by shorebirds were compared with annual invertebrate production estimates. Second, experiments were carried out using exclosure cages. We argue that neither of the two methods is very relevant in answering the questions posed. We suggest a more appropriate, but time-consuming, approach based on long-term observations.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  • Baird D, Milne H (1981) Energy flow in the Ythan estuary. Estuarine Coastal Shelf Sci 13:455–472

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baird D, Evans PR, Milne H, Pienkowski MW (1985) Utilization by shorebirds of benthic invertebrate production in intertidal areas. Oceanogr Mar Biol (Annu Rev) 23:573–597

    Google Scholar 

  • Beukema JJ (1974) Seasonal changes in the biomass of the macrobenthos of a tidal flat area in the Dutch Wadden Sea. Neth J Sea Res 8:94–107

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Beukema JJ (1976) Biomass and species richness of the macro-benthic animals living on the tidal flats of the Dutch Wadden Sea. Neth J Sea Res 10:236–261

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Beukema JJ (1981) The role of the larger invertebrates in the Wadden Sea ecosystem. In: Wolff WJ (ed) Ecology of the Wadden Sea. Balkema, Rotterdam

    Google Scholar 

  • Beukema JJ (1982) Annual variation in reproductive success and biomass of the major macrozoobenthic species living in a tidal flat area of the Wadden Sea. Neth J Sea Res 16:37–45

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Beukema JJ (1988) An evaluation of the ABC-method (abundance/biomass comparison) as applied to macrozoobenthic communities living on tidal flats in the Dutch Wadden Sea. Mar Biol 99:425–433

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Beukema JJ (1989) Tidal-current transport of thread-drifting postlarval juveniles of the bivalve Macoma balthica from the Wadden Sea to the North Sea. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 52:193–200

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Beukema JJ (1992) Expected changes in the Wadden Sea benthos in a warmer world: lessons from periods with mild winters. Neth J Sea Res 30:73–79

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Beukema JJ (1993) Successive changes in the distribution patterns as an adaptive strategy in the bivalve Macoma balthica (L.) in the Wadden Sea. Helgolander Meeresunters 47:287–304

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Beukema JJ (1997) Caloric values of marine invertebrates with an emphasis on the soft parts of marine bivalves. Oceanogr Mar Biol (Annu Rev) 35:387–414

    Google Scholar 

  • Beukema JJ, Knol E, Cadee GC (1985) Effects of temperature on the length of the annual growing season in the tellinid bivalve Macoma balthica (L.) living on tidal flats in the Dutch Wadden Sea. J Exp Mar Biol Ecol 90:129–144

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Beukema JJ, Essink K, Michaelis H, Zwarts L (1993) Year-to-year variability in the biomass of macrobenthic animals on tidal flats of the Wadden Sea: how predictable is this food source for birds? Neth J Sea Res 31:319–330

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Beukema JJ, Essink K, Michaelis H (1996) The geographic scale of synchronized fluctuation patterns in zoobenthos populations as a key to underlying factors: climatic or man-induced. ICES J Mar Sci 53:964–971

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Beukema JJ, Honkoop PJC, Dekker R (1998) Recruitment in Macoma balthica after mild and cold winters and its possible control by egg production and shrimp predation. Hydrobiologia 375/376:23–34

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Beukema JJ, Flach EC, Dekker R, Starink M (1999) A long-term study of the recovery of the macrozoobenthos on large defaunated plots on a tidal flat in the Wadden Sea. J Sea Res 42:235–254

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Botto F, Iribarne OO, Martinez MM, Delhey K, Carrete M (1998) The effect of migratory shorebirds on the benthic species of three southwestern Atlantic Argentinean estuaries. Estuaries 21:700–709

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Botton ML (1984) Effects of laughing gull and shorebird predation on the intertidal fauna at Cape May, New Jersey. Estuarine Coastal Shelf Sci 18:209–220

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boulding EG (1984) Crab-resistant features of shells of burrowing bivalves: decreasing vulnerability by increasing handling time. J Exp Mar Biol Ecol 74:201–223

    Google Scholar 

  • Cadée GC (1990) Lokale sterfte van kokkels op het wad tijdens een Noctiluca bloei. Het Zeepaard 50:119–128

    Google Scholar 

  • Cadée GC (1995) Birds as producers of shell fragments in the Wadden Sea, in particular the role of the herring gull. Geobios 18:77–85

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Crisp DJ (1984) Energy flow measurements. In: Holme NA, McIntyre AD (eds) Methods for the study of marine benthos. Blackwell, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • De Boer WF, Longamane FA (1996) The exploitation of intertidal food resources in Inhaca Bay, Mozambique, by shorebirds and humans. Biol Conserv 78:295–303

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • De Goeij P, Luttikhuizen PC (1998) Deep-burying reduces growth in intertidal bivalves: field and mesocosm experiments with Macoma balthica. J Exp Mar Biol Ecol 228:327–337

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • De Wilde P, Beukema JJ (1984) The role of zoobenthos in the consumption of organic matter in the Dutch Wadden Sea. NIOZ Publ Ser 10:145–158

    Google Scholar 

  • Evans PR, Herdson DM, Knights PJ, Pienkowski MW (1979) Short-term effects of reclamation of parts of Seal Sands, Teesmouth, on wintering waders and shellduck. Oecologia 41:183–206

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Faldborg K, Jensen KT, Maagaard L (1994) Dynamics, growth, secondary production and elimination by waterfowl of an intertidal population of Mytilus edulis L. Ophelia Suppl 6:187–200

    Google Scholar 

  • Honkoop PJC, Beukema JJ (1997) Loss of body mass in winter in three intertidal bivalve species: an experimental and observational study of the interacting effects between water temperature, feeding time and feeding behaviour. J Exp Mar BioI Ecol 212:277–297

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Honkoop PJC, Van der Meer J (1997a) Experimentally induced effects of water temperature and immersion time on reproductive output of bivalves in the Wadden Sea. J Exp Mar Biol Ecol 220:227–246

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Honkoop PJC, Van der Meer J (1997b) Reproductive output of Macoma balthica populations in relation to winter-temperature and intertidal-height mediated changes of body mass. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 149:155–162

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Honkoop PJC, Van der Meer J, Beukema JJ, Kwast D (1999) Reproductive investment in the intertidal bivalve Macoma balthica. J Sea Res 41:203–212

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hulscher JB (1976) Localisation of cockles (Cardium edule L.) by the oystercatcher (Haematopus ostralegus L.) in darkness and daylight. Ardea 64:292–310

    Google Scholar 

  • Hulscher JB (1982) The oystercatcher Haematopus ostralegus as a predator of the bivalve Macoma balthica in the Dutch Wadden Sea. Ardea 64:292–311

    Google Scholar 

  • Hulscher JB (1983) Oystercatcher (Haematopus ostralegus L.). In: Wolff WJ (ed) Ecology of the Wadden Sea. Balkema, Rotterdam

    Google Scholar 

  • Kalejta B (1992) Time budgets and predatory impact of waders at the Berg River Estuary, South Africa. Ardea 75:175–187

    Google Scholar 

  • Kaletja B (1993) Intense predation cannot always be detected experimentally: a case study of shorebird predation on nereid polychaetes in South Africa. Neth J Sea Res 31:385–393

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kent AC, Day RW (1983) Population dynamics of an infaunal polychaete: the effect of predators and an adult-recruit interaction. J Exp Mar BioI Ecol 73:185–203

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kersten M, Piersma T (1987) High levels of energy expenditure in shorebirds; metabolic adaptations to an energetically expensive way of life. Ardea 75:175–187

    Google Scholar 

  • Meire PM, Seys J, Ysebaert T, Meininger PL, Baptist HJM (1989) A changing delta: effects of large coastal engineering works on feeding ecological relationships as illustrated by birds. In: Hooghart JC, Posthumus WS (eds) Hydroecological relations in the delta waters of the south-west Netherlands. Lakerveld, The Hague

    Google Scholar 

  • Meire PM, Schekkerman H, Meininger PL (1994) Consumption of benthic invertebrates by waterbirds in the Oosterschelde estuary, SW Netherlands. Hydrobiologia 282/283:525–546

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Meltofte H, Blew J, Frikke J, Roesner HU, Smit CJ (1994) Numbers and distribution of waterbirds in the Wadden Sea. CWSS/IWRB/WSG, Wilhelmshaven

    Google Scholar 

  • Mercier F, McNeil R (1994) Seasonal variations in intertidal density of invertebrate prey in a tropical lagoon and effects of shorebird predation. Can J Zool 72:1755–1763

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moreira F (1997) The importance of shorebirds to energy fluxes in a foodweb of a south European estuary. Estuarine Coastal Shelf Sci 44:67–78

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Piersma T (1987) Production by intertidal benthic animals and limits to their predation by shorebirds: a heuristic model. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 38:187–196

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Piersma T, Beukema JJ (1993) Foodwebs in intertidal ecosystems: trophic interactions between shorebirds and their invertebrate prey. Neth J Sea Res 31:299–300

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Piersma T, Hoekstra R, Dekinga A, Koolhaas A, Wolf P, Battley P, Wiersma P (1993) Scale and intensity of intertidal habitat use by knots Calidris canutus in the western Wadden Sea in relation to food, friends and foes. Neth J Sea Res 31:331–337

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Piersma T, Van Gils J, De Goeij P, Van der Meer J (1995) Holling’s functional response model as a tool to link the food-finding mechanism of a probing shorebird with its spatial distribution. J Anim Ecol 64:493–504

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Quammen ML (1981) Use of exclosures in studies of predation by shorebirds on intertidal mudflats. Auk 98:812–817

    Google Scholar 

  • Quammen ML (1984) Predation by shorebirds, fish, and crabs on invertebrates in intertidal mudflats: an experimental test. Ecology 65:529–537

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Raffaelli D, Hawkins S (1996) Intertidal ecology. Chapman and Hall, London

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Raffaelli D, Milne H (1987) An experimental investigation of the effects of shorebird and flatfish predation on estuarine invertebrates. Estuarine Coastal Shelf Sci 24:1–13

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Raffaelli D, Moller H (2000) Manipulative field experiments in animal ecology: do they promise more than they can deliver? Adv Ecol Res 30:299–338

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Reise K (1978) Experiments on epibenthic predation in the Wadden Sea. Helgolander Wiss Meeresunters 31:55–101

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sewell MA (1996) Detection of the impact of predation by migratory shorebirds: an experimental test in the Fraser River estuary, British Columbia (Canada). Mar Ecol Prog Ser 144:23–40

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smit C (1981) Production of biomass by invertebrates and consumption by birds in the Dutch Wadden Sea area. In: Wolff WJ (ed) Ecology of the Wadden Sea. Balkema, Rotterdam

    Google Scholar 

  • Stuart JJ, Meininger PL, Meire PM (1989) Watervogels van de Westerschelde. WWE 14. Univ Gent, Gent

    Google Scholar 

  • Summers RW (1977) Distribution, abundance and energy relationships of waders (Aves: Charadrii) at Langebaan Lagoon. Trans R Soc S Afr 42:483–494

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Szekely T, Bamberger Z (1992) Predation of waders (Charadrii) on prey populations: an exclosure experiment. J Anim Ecol 61:447–456

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Van der Meer J, Duin RNM, Meininger PL (1996) Statistical analysis of long-term monthly oystercatcher counts. Ardea 84A:39–56

    Google Scholar 

  • Velasquez CR, Kaletja B, Hockey PAR (1991) Seasonal abundance, habitat selection and energy consumption of waterbirds at the Berg River Estuary, South Africa. Ostrich 62:109–123

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vermeij GJ (1987) Evolution and escalation. An ecological history of life. Princeton Univ Press, Princeton

    Google Scholar 

  • Wiersma P, Piersma T (1994) Effects of microhabitat, flocking, climate and migratory goal on energy expenditure in the annual cycle of knots. Condor 96:257–279

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wilson WHJ (1991) The foraging ecology of migratory shorebirds in marine soft-sediment communities: the effects of episodic predation on prey populations. Am Zool 31:840–848

    Google Scholar 

  • Wolff WJ (1991) The interaction of benthic macrofauna and birds in tidal flat estuaries: a comparison of Banc d’ Arguin, Mauritania, and some estuaries in the Netherlands. In: Elliot M, Ducrotoy JP (eds) Proceedings 19th ECSA Symp Int Symp Ser

    Google Scholar 

  • Wolff WJ, De Wolf L (1977) Biomass and production of zoobenthos in the Grevelingen Estuary, The Netherlands. Estuarine Coastal Mar Sci 5:1–24

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wolff WJ, Smit CJ (1990) The Banc d’Arguin, Mauritania, as an environment for coastal birds. Ardea 78:17–38

    Google Scholar 

  • Wolff WJ, Van Haperen AMM, Sandee AJJ, Baptist HJM, Saeijs HLF (1976) The trophic role of birds in the Grevelingen estuary, The Netherlands, as compared to their role in the saline Lake Grevelingen. In: Persoone G, Jaspers E (eds) Proceedings of the 10th European Symposium on Marine Biology. Universa Press, Wetteren

    Google Scholar 

  • Wolff WJ, Duiven AG, Duiven P, Esselink P, Gueye A, Meijboom A, Moerland G, Zegers J (1993) Biomass of macrobenthic tidal flat fauna of the Banc d’Arguin, Mauritania. Hydrobiologia 258:151–163

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yodzis P (1988) The indeterminacy of ecological interactions as perceived through perturbation experiments. Ecology 69:508–515

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zwarts L (1991) Seasonal variation in body weight of the bivalves Macoma balthica, Scrobicularia plana, Mya arena ria and Cerastoderma edule in the Dutch Wadden Sea. Neth J Sea Res 28:231–245

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zwarts L, Blomert AM (1992) Why knots Calidris canutus take medium sized Macoma balthica when six prey species are available. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 83:113–128

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zwarts L, Drent RH (1981) Prey depletion and the regulation of predator density: oyster-catchers (Haematopus ostralegus) feeding on mussels (Mytilus edulis). In: Jones NV, Wolff WJ (eds) Feeding and survival strategies of estuarine organisms. Plenum, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Zwarts L, Blomert AM, Wanink JH (1992) Annual and seasonal variation in the food supply harvestable by knots Calidris canutus staging in the Wadden Sea in late summer. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 83:129–139

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zwarts L, Ens BJ, Goss-Custard JD, Hulscher JB, Kersten M (1996) Why oystercatchers Haematopus ostralegus cannot meet their daily energy requirements in a single low water period. Ardea 84A:269–290

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Authors
  1. J. van der Meer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. T. Piersma
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. J. J. Beukema
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Alfred-Wegener-Institut für Polar- und Meeresforschung, Wattenmeerstation Sylt, 25992, List, Germany

    Karsten Reise

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2001 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

van der Meer, J., Piersma, T., Beukema, J.J. (2001). Population Dynamics of Benthic Species on Tidal Flats: the Possible Roles of Shorebird Predation. In: Reise, K. (eds) Ecological Comparisons of Sedimentary Shores. Ecological Studies, vol 151. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-56557-1_16

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-56557-1_16

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-62517-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-56557-1

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation