Hawaiian Waterbirds and Indigenous Wetland Agroecosystems

Date
2022
Authors
Opie, Eryn
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Price, Melissa R.
Department
Natural Resources and Environmental Management
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Abstract
Conventional methods of land management often decrease regional biodiversity and heterogeneity, a key driver of landscape, community, and ecosystem dynamics. For example, Ameri-European colonization of the Hawaiian Islands in the early 1800’s led to deforestation, the diversion of water for export agriculture, and the introduction of invasive species and disease, resulting in a loss of native biodiversity. Restoration of heterogeneous landscapes using multi-objective approaches, as found in Indigenous resource management (IRM), may increase biodiversity. However, few studies to date have examined outcomes of IRM for avian biodiversity. To address this research gap, in this study I: (1) assessed the distribution and abundance of native and non-native avian species across restored and unrestored ecosystems in Heʻeia, Oʻahu, within the Heʻeia National Estuarine Research Reserve, a landscape managed using Indigenous resource management practices; and (2) determined the habitat preferences of two endangered waterbirds, Aeʻo (Hawaiian Stilt; Himantopus mexicanus knudseni) and ʻAlae ʻula (Hawaiian Gallinule; Gallinula gallinula sandvicensis), within loʻi kalo agroecosystems. I found that ecosystems in active and restored states supported higher native shorebird and waterbird species richness and abundance compared to unrestored systems. However, native forest birds and seabirds were not detected. Aeʻo and ʻAlae ʻula adults and juveniles partitioned the loʻi kalo habitat temporally and spatially, resulting in year-round use of the site for foraging and nesting. Aeʻo prefered loʻi with low vegetation height and low kalo canopy cover. ʻAlae ʻula prefered loʻi with higher kalo density and more open water. Further, waterbirds foraged more often in loʻi managed at a higher frequency, suggesting that farming activities increased foraging opportunities. These results demonstrate that resource management practices rooted in Indigenous knowledge can contribute to the recovery of native waterbird and shorebird abundance and should be integrated with strategic planning to compensate for habitat lost to sea level rise. Targeted actions such as disease control, removal of invasive predators, and restoration of preferred plant species will be critical to enable recolonization by native forest birds and seabirds.
Description
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Wildlife conservation, Wildlife management, Ecology, agroecosystem, biodiversity, habitat use, indigenous resource management, waterbirds, wetlands
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82 pages
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