habitat characteristics

Habitat Evolution Mapping Project Decadal Update 2019 & 2021 Final Report

ariela — Thu, 10 Nov 2022 00:14:02 +0000

Habitat Evolution Mapping Project Decadal Update 2019 & 2021 Final Report

Field photo of marsh habitat

ariela Wed, 11/09/2022 - 16:14

Document Category

Scientific Reports

Author(s)

Date

2022-10

Summary

Despite fluctuations in acreages between years, the marshes and mudflat south of the San Mateo bridge appear relatively stable between the period 2009 – 2021, in that the relative proportions between different habitat types have not changed significantly. Within a number of restored ponds (e.g., A21, A20, E8A, and North Creek Marsh) there has been larger growth in marsh vegetation when compared to the entire study area. Although the most significant floral colonization and growth of vegetation in many of the restored ponds occurred over the eight years between the end of HEMP1 (2011) and the beginning of HEMP2 (2019), the rate of vegetative growth within some of these restored ponds significantly increased over the two years between 2019 and 2021 suggesting that areas of these ponds may have reached an elevation conducive to vegetation establishment. Marsh expansion also continues to occur outside of some restored ponds including at Calavaras Marsh, the fringe marsh above Pond A6, and at Ogilvie Island. At the same time, there is also evidence of marsh erosion in some locations, including up to 50 meters at Whale’sTail and 10 meters at the mouth of Ravenswood Slough.

Overall, the tidal mudflats directly facing the bay (i.e., not within ponds or sloughs) south of the San Mateo bridge appear to be relatively unchanged since imagery collected in 2016. Although tidal mudflats directly exposed to the bay remain relatively unchanged since 2016 there are some locations with evidence of accretion and/or erosion. There is also a decrease in the acreage of mudflats within restored ponds due to floral colonization.

There may be correlative environmental, climatic, and anthropogenic factors influencing biotic and abiotic distributions that are not accounted for in this study. These include but are not limited to: temperature, precipitation, tidal changes, sediment accretion/erosion, soil and water salinity, and the restoration itself. We encourage the use of these datasets to inform other studies and help elucidate any role these factors might have in vegetation/habitat distributions and the evolution of marshes in the South Bay.

Keywords

habitat evolution

habitat characteristics

tidal marshes

mudflats

mapping

multispectral imagery

Pond Complex

Alviso

Eden Landing

Ravenswood

Content available here

https://bfa.egnyte.com/dl/8ppJyNlBa4

South Bay Salt Pond Restoration Project: Annual Report 2014

ariela — Thu, 23 Jun 2022 20:23:43 +0000

South Bay Salt Pond Restoration Project: Annual Report 2014

2014 Annual Report cover

ariela Thu, 06/23/2022 - 13:23

Document Category

Progress Reports

Author(s)

SBSP Project Management Team

Date

02-2015

Summary

A yearly snapshot of Project milestones and assessment of progress toward meeting restoration, public access and flood management goals

Keywords

habitat characteristics

trail use/public access

fish

mercury

Western Snowy Plover Monitoring in the San Francisco Bay Annual Report 2021

ariela — Fri, 18 Mar 2022 00:40:28 +0000

Western Snowy Plover Monitoring in the San Francisco Bay Annual Report 2021

Banded snowy plover chick in depression with oyster shell. Credit: SFBBO

ariela Thu, 03/17/2022 - 17:40

Document Category

Scientific Reports

Author(s)

Date

2022-02

Summary

The San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory (SFBBO), USFWS Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge (Refuge), California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW), Hayward Area Recreation and Park District (HARD), East Bay Regional Park District (EBRPD), USFWS Bay Delta Fish and Wildlife Office, USDA-Wildlife Services, and Vollmar Natural Lands Consulting form the Western Snowy Plover (Charadrius nivosus nivosus; Snowy Plover) Recovery Unit 3 working group. The goal of this collaboration is to survey managed ponds and other habitats for Snowy Plovers, track breeding success, and contribute to the management and recovery of this species in the San Francisco Bay. During the 2022 breeding season, SFBBO monitored Snowy Plover population size, nesting and fledging success, the use of experimental habitat enhancement sites, and potential predators.

As part of the Pacific Coast breeding season window survey (May 16-22), we counted 263 adult Snowy Plovers in the San Francisco Bay. Over the course of the breeding season (March-September), SFBBO staff determined and documented the fates of 209 Snowy Plover nests in Recovery Unit 3, with 207 located in the South Bay and two located in San Pablo Bay. EBPRD documented the fate of three Snowy Plover nests at Hayward Shoreline. Vollmar Consulting Biologists documented the fate of two nests at Montezuma Wetlands in Suisun Bay near the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. Of the total nests, 48% were depredated, 3% abandoned, 2% unknown, 1% flooded, and 1% failed to hatch. Apparent nest success (defined as the percentage of nests that successfully hatched at least one egg out of the total nests monitored) was 45%.

Keywords

bird eggs

birds

nesting density

habitat characteristics

Pond Complex

Alviso

Eden Landing

Ravenswood

Trends and habitat associations of waterbirds using the South Bay Salt Pond Restoration Project, San Francisco Bay, California: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2018–1040

Biruk — Fri, 11 May 2018 17:59:54 +0000

Trends and habitat associations of waterbirds using the South Bay Salt Pond Restoration Project, San Francisco Bay, California: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2018–1040

Cover of report.

Biruk Fri, 05/11/2018 - 10:59

Document Category

Scientific Reports

Author(s)

Susan E. W. De la Cruz

Date

2018

Summary

The aim of the South Bay Salt Pond Restoration Project is to restore 50–90 percent of former salt evaporation ponds to tidal marsh in San Francisco Bay. However, hundreds of thousands of waterbirds use these ponds over winter and during fall and spring migration. To ensure that existing waterbird populations are supported while tidal marsh is restored in the Project area, managers plan to enhance the habitat suitability of ponds by adding islands and berms to change pond topography, manipulating water salinity and depth, and selecting appropriate ponds to maintain for birds. To help inform these actions, we used 13 years of monthly (October–April) bird abundance data from Project ponds to (1) assess trends in waterbird abundance since the inception of the Project, and (2) evaluate which pond habitat characteristics were associated with highest abundances of different avian guilds and species. For comparison, we also evaluated waterbird abundance trends in active salt production ponds using 10 years of monthly survey data.

We assessed bird guild and species abundance trends through time, and created separate trend curves for Project and salt production ponds using data from every pond that was counted in a year. We divided abundance data into three seasons—fall (October–November), winter (December–February), and spring (March–April). We used the resulting curves to assess which periods had the highest bird abundance and to identify increasing or decreasing trends for each guild and species.

Keywords

roosting

waterbird abundance

habitat characteristics

Content available here

https://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publication/ofr20181040