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Bridled Quail-dove Geotrygon mystacea population assessment after hurricanes Irma and Maria, St. Eustatius, Caribbean Netherlands

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 January 2021

FRANK F. RIVERA-MILÁN Open the ORCID record for FRANK F. RIVERA-MILÁN [Opens in a new window] ,
HANNAH MADDEN  and
KEVIN VERDEL
FRANK F. RIVERA-MILÁN*
Affiliation:
United States Fish and Wildlife Service, Division of Migratory Bird Management, Branch of Assessments and Decision Support, 11510 American Holly Drive, Laurel, Maryland20708, USA.
HANNAH MADDEN
Affiliation:
Caribbean Netherlands Science Institute, P.O. Box 65, St. Eustatius, Caribbean Netherlands. NIOZ Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research and Utrecht University, P.O. Box 59, 1790AB Den Burg, Texel, the Netherlands.
KEVIN VERDEL
Affiliation:
Utrecht University, Heidelberglaan 8, De Uithof, 3584CS, the Netherlands.
*
*Author for correspondence; email: frank_rivera@fws.gov
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Summary

Structural vegetation damage and food limitation are important effects of major hurricanes, particularly for fruit/seed-eating, forest-dependent Caribbean birds with restricted distributions and small populations, such as the Bridled Quail-dove Geotrygon mystacea. Motivated by the lack of abundance estimates, corrected for detection probability, we conducted distance-sampling surveys inside and outside the Quill National Park each May in 2016-2019. Detection mode was the most important covariate, with others receiving no support from the data. Detectability of available single individuals and clusters of individuals within 60 m of transect centrelines averaged 0.957 ± 0.114 standard error for audio detections, 0.434 ± 0.052 for visual detections, and 0.693 ± 0.064 for detection modes combined. Availability averaged 0.475 ± 0.138 and the product of detectability and availability averaged 0.329 ± 0.098. Density averaged 1.459 ± 0.277 individuals ha-1 and population size averaged 642 ± 122 individuals in 440 ha. Density did not differ along and away from forest trails, but was higher inside than outside the park and at elevations within 201-400 m than 100-200 m and 401-600 m. Density declined by 76% after hurricanes Irma and Maria in 2017. We suggest that major hurricanes together with free-ranging livestock overgrazing degraded foraging habitats, limited food supply, and caused a population bottleneck. Our methodology can be implemented across the distribution range to assess population status and trends and evaluate the result of management actions at key conservation sites. Bridled Quail-dove populations probably were declining on most islands before the 2017 hurricanes and population status warrants revision.

Keywords

Bridled Quail-Dovedistance samplinghurricanespopulation assessmentSt. Eustatius
Type
Research Article
Information
Bird Conservation International , Volume 31 , Issue 4 , December 2021 , pp. 656 - 667
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of BirdLife International

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