Wading Bird Colony Location, Size, Timing, and Reproductive Success in Lake Okeechobee

Background The Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) of 2000 authorized the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP) as a framework for modifications and operational changes to the Central and Southern Florida Project needed to restore the south Florida ecosystem. Provisions within WRDA 2000 provided for specific authorization for an adaptive assessment and monitoring program. The CERP Monitoring and Assessment Plan (MAP) was developed as a framework for measuring and understanding system responses to CERP, determining how well CERP is meeting its goals and objectives, and identifying opportunities for improving the performance of CERP where needed. REstoration, COordination, VERification (RECOVER) is a multiagency, multidisciplinary group responsible for implementing the CERP MAP. Wading birds are a dominant guild of predators in the Everglades ecosystem and their breeding population responses are considered to be integrative and reflective of many aspects of wetland habitat and systemwide hydrologic conditions; thus wading birds have been identified as a key suite of indicator species of restoration success. Restoration has been centered on several trophic hypotheses regarding wading birds (e.g., appropriate hydrology will increase fish and macroinvertebrate populations, enhanced foraging opportunities will increase wading bird breeding, and the return of flow to coastal regions will restore wading bird nesting in those areas). Without the appropriate monitoring of wading bird colonies, these hypotheses cannot be assessed and CERP may not achieve its goals. To determine if restoration effects are system-wide or local, it is necessary to monitor all patches of wading bird breeding activity across the south Florida ecosystem. The Lake Okeechobee basin is just one patch of the landscape hosting breeding wading birds, but the information gathered is vital to determine the success of CERP. This project will draw upon prior research conducted in the Everglades and in Lake Okeechobee basin and will continue to study how CERP restoration influences breeding and reproductive success of wading bird populations. Program Description/Objective The purpose of this research is to continue a long-term dataset used to record and monitor changes in annual numbers and reproductive success of breeding wading bird populations in the Lake Okeechobee basin. The project objectives include: Objective 1: Provide an annual summary with monthly temporal resolution of the size, location, and species composition of nesting colonies of wading birds breeding in the Lake Okeechobee basin. Objective 2: Provide an annual summary of quantitative information on nest success and nest productivity of the wading bird community; and Objective 3: The standardization of methods and integration of results from all projects monitoring wading birds in the south Florida ecosystem. Additionally, there is potential work related to using blue-listed unmanned aerial vehicles to develop and assess alternative monitoring methods of wading bird breeding activity. The budget and scope should be developed as an Optional Task in addition to the work described above. There is also potential work related to the development of a predictive model of Lake Okeechobee wading bird breeding to be used as a RECOVER Performance Measure. The budget and scope should be developed as an Optional Task in addition to the work described above. Public Benefit This project will play a critical role in building the knowledge base for the population dynamics of wading birds near and in Lake Okeechobee as it relates to ecological conditions including restoration. Data to be collected includes nesting characteristics such as breeding timing, colony formation and size, nesting characteristics, nesting success, and species interactions. Wading birds are an ecological indicator of ecosystem health which is important to the public. Improvements in ecosystem health as result of ecological restoration and habitat management provide a direct benefit to the public by improving outdoor recreation opportunities and the economy of South Florida.