Kitchens, W. M. DeAngelis, D. L. Unknown model http://sofia.usgs.gov/projects/atlss/kite/ Life history traits and the population dynamics of the snail kite may vary considerably across space and over time. Understanding the influence of environmental (spatial and temporal) variation on demographic parameters is essential to understanding the population dynamics of a given species. Recognition of information needs for management decisions and conservation strategies has resulted in an increased emphasis on correlations to spatial and temporal environmental variation in relation to demographic studies. The purpose if this study is to provide valid estimates of the demographic parameters of the snail kite, including temporal and spatial variability due to environmental factors. These parameters will be used in a predictive model of the snail kite already developed under the ATLSS Program (Mooij et al. 2002). The snail kite (Rostrhamus sociabilis) is an endangered species that resides in the highly fluctuating ecosystem in the central and southern Florida wetlands. Many demographic traits, such as stage-dependent survival, reproduction, and movement of the snail kite vary both temporally and spatially. How these demographic parameters vary as a function of environmental conditions, hydrology in particular, is crucial for understanding how the snail kite will respond to proposed changes in water regulation in South and Central Florida. In particular, these data are needed for testing and improving the existing spatially-explicit, individual-based ATLSS snail kite model, developed by Mooij and Bennetts, which has recently been delivered to Department of Interior and other agencies (Mooij et al. 2002). From these data and the model, projections can be made on snail kite response to any hydrologic scenario. Also, continued estimates will be made of the rate of population growth. Assessing the demographic parameters is critical for identifying and evaluating the effectiveness of management actions and conservation strategies. In addition, new modeling techniques, such as structural modeling are being explored to better understand the effects of hydrology on the snail kite. The objectives of this project are the following: 1. To monitor the status of the snail kite population trends in central and southern Florida. 2. To provide estimates of demographic parameters for the spatially explicit individual-based model in ATLSS. 3. To collaborate with Dr. Wolf Mooij of the Netherlands Institute of Ecology to use snail kite data to validate the snail kite model, EVERKITE 200010 200309 ground condition In Work As needed central and southern Florida wetlands -83.326734 -79.897283 29.138569 24.229188 none ATLSS Across Trophic Levels System Simulation biology monitoring model ISO 19115 Topic Category biota environment inlandWaters 002 008 012 Department of Commerce, 1995, Countries, Dependencies, Areas of Special Sovereignty, and Their Principal Administrative Divisions, Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) 10-4, Washington, D.C., National Institute of Standards and Technology United States US U.S. Department of Commerce, 1987, Codes for the identification of the States, the District of Columbia and the outlying areas of the United States, and associated areas (Federal Information Processing Standard 5-2): Washington, D. C., NIST Florida FL Department of Commerce, 1990, Counties and Equivalent Entities of the United States, Its Possessions, and Associated Areas, FIPS 6-3, Washington, DC, National Institute of Standards and Technology Broward County Collier County Duval County Hendry County Miami-Dade County Osceola County Okeechobee County Martin County Palm Beach County Polk County USGS Geographic Names Information System Everglades National Park Big Cypress National Preserve Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge Lake Okeechobee Holey Land Wildlife Management Area Lake Kissimmee Lake Tohopekaliga East Lake Tohopekaliga St. Johns Marsh none Water Conservation Area 1 Water Conservation Area 2A Water Conservation Area 2B Water Conservation Area 3A Water Conservation Area 3B WCA1 WCA2A WCA2B WCA3A WCA3B Kissimmee Chain of Lakes Loxahatchee Slough ITIS animals apple snails snail kite none single species vertebrates U.S. Department of Agriculture - Agricultural Research Service (ARS) U.S. Department of Agriculture - Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Department of the Interior - U.S. Geological Survey Department of Commerce - National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Smithsonian Institution - National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) 2000 Database Retrieved from the Integrated Taxonomic Information System on-line database, http://www.itis.gov. http://www.itis.gov Mark resighting (reading the bands) of individual birds. During the sampling period from March 1 to June 30 each year starting in 1997 and continuing through 2000, the entire study area was surveyed on 6 separate occasions of 2-3 weeks each. Individuals were categorized and recorded as 1. 'marked' if the bird had a colored leg band with a distinct letter/number combination that could be idetified, 2. 'unmarked' if no leg bands were present or if birds were banded with only a USFWS band or color band without a letter/number combination, or 3. 'unknown' if the banding status was undetermined. Kingdom Animalia animals Phylum Chordata chordates Subphylum Vertebrata vertebrates Class Aves birds Order Ciconiiformes eagles hawks Family Accipitridae eagles hawks kites Genus Rostrhamus snail kites Species Rostrhamus socialbilis snail kite Subspecies Rostrhamus sociabilis plumbeus everglade snail kite Phylum Mollusca molluscs mollusks Class Gastropoda gastropods slugs snails Subclass Prosobranchia Order Architaenioglossa Family Ampullariidae Genus Pomacea Species pomacea paludosa Florida apple snail none These data are subject to change and are not citeable until reviewed and approved for official publication. Wiley Kitchens USGS, Florida Fish & Wildlife Research Unit mailing and physical address

117 Newins-Ziegler Hall

Gainesville FL 32611 USA 352 392-1861 352 846-0841 kitchensw@wec.ufl.edu Other project personnel include Julien Martin. Dr. Wolf Mooij of the Nederlands Institute of Ecology is collaborating in the development of an individual-based model on snail kites in Florida. Kitchens, W. M. Bennetts, R. E., DeAngelis, D. L. 2001 Book chapter Boca Raton, FL CRC Press in The Everglades, Florida Bay and the Coral Reefs of the Florida Keys: an Ecosystem Handbook J. W. Porter and K. G. Porter, eds. Beissinger S. R. 1995 report Ecological Applications Vol. 5, no. 3 Washington, DC Ecological Society of America Search for the article title. The article is available for download with conditions. http://www.jstor.org/journals/10510761.html Pradel, R. 1996 report Biometrics Vol. 52, no.2 Washington, DC International Biometric Society Lebreton, J. D. Burnham, K. P., Clobert, J., Anderson, D. R. 1994 report Ecological Monograph Vol. 62 Washington, DC Ecological Society of America Nichols, J. D. Hines, J. E., Lebreton, J. D., Pradel, R 2000 report Ecology Vol. 81, no. 12 Washington, DC Ecological Society of America Comiskey, Jane Curnutt, John, Gross, Louis 1998 report Knoxville, TN The Institute for Environmental Modeling, University of Tennessee http://atlss.org/kite_mod.html Bennetts, R. E. Collopy, M. W., Rodgers, Jr., J. A. 1994 Book chapter Delray Beach, FL St. Lucie Press in Everglades: The System and Its Restoration Davis, S. M. And Ogden, J. C, eds. Bennetts, R. E. Kitchens, W. M., Dreitz, V. J. 2002 report Wetlands v. 22 McLean, VA Society of Wetland Scientists Mooij, W. M. Bennetts, R. E., DeAngelis, D. L., Kitchens, W. M. 2002 report Ecological Modelling v. 149, issues 1&2 Amsterdam, Netherlands Elsevier Science BV A journal subscription is required to download the full article from the Ecological Modelling website Dreitz, V. J. Nichols, J. D., Hines, J. E., Bennetts, R. E., Kitchens, W. M., DeAngelis, D. L. 2002 report Journal of Applied Statistics v. 29, n. 1-4 Abingdon, Oxfordshire, UK Routledge (Taylor & Francis Group) The abstract is available online, the full article requires purchase http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/routledg/cjas Dreitz, V. J. Bennetts, R. E., Toland, B., Kitchens, W. M., Collopy, M. W. 2001 report The Condor v. 103, issue 3 California The Cooper Ornithological Society Bennetts, R. E. Link, W. A., Sauer, J. A., Sykes, P. W. 1999 report The Auk v. 116 McLean, VA The American Ornithologists' Union Bennetts, R. E. Dreitz, V. J., Kitchens, W. M., Hines, J. E., Nichols, J. D. 1999 report The Auk v. 116 McLean, VA The American Ornithologists' Union Bennetts, R. E. Kitchens, W. M. 1999 report Jouranl of Field Ornithology v. 70 Lawrence, KS Association of Field Ornithologists Bennetts, R. E. Golden, K., Dreitz, V. J., Kitchens, W. M. 1998 report Florida Field Naturalist v. 26 Gainesville, FL Florida Ornithological Society Bennetts, R. E. Shannon, M. R., Kitchens, W. M. 1998 report Florida Field Naturalist v. 26 Gainesville, FL Florida Ornithological Society Valentine-Darby, P. E. Bennetts, R. E., Kitchens, W. M. 1998 report Journal of Raptor Research v. 32 Hastings, MN Raptor Research Foundation Bennetts, R. E. Kitchens, W. M. 1997 report Colonial Waterbirds v. 20 DeLeon Springs, FL The Waterbird Society not applicable not available Field Mark resighting methods have a long and solid statistical foundation for estimating survival and population size. And more recently, mark-resighting methods have been developed to estimate recruitment and the rate of population change. In 1992, a mark-resighting program was initiated to estimate survival of snail kite. More recently, this approach has been used to estimate the population size and rate of population change in snail kites. Our study design continues the use of mark-resighting techniques to monitor the snail kite population. Our approach also attempted to incorporate spatial and temporal components of environmental variation (i.e., habitat conditions in wetland units, hydrological dynamics, apple snail densities) to assess how these factors influence the demographic parameters (i.e., survival and reproduction). The most efficacious approach, manipulative experiments are impractical for threatened and endangered species. We believe that the proposed approach employing observational studies that concentrate on valid parameter estimation, model selection, exploration of process variation (i.e., understanding the components of variance estimates), and examination of different factors under varying environmental conditions is the only feasible alternative. Mark-resighting data were collected from March 1 to June 30 of each year starting in 1997 and continuing through 2000. This sampling period was chosen because it coincides with the major period of breeding activity. During the breeding season adults remain in close proximity to their nest, which increases our ability to read the band (i.e., a resighting). Sampling during this period also coincides with our banding of juveniles at the time of fledgling (24-30 d). Prior to 1997, over 1000 snail kites had been banded as either adults or juveniles. Juvenile snail kites have the potential to breed at nine months, thus; they advance to the adult age class the following breeding season. During the sampling period, the entire study area was surveyed on 6 separate 2 to 3-week sampling occasions. Except for the repetitive sources, the format of the surveys was similar to the quasi-systematic transects conducted by airboat for the annual surveys. However, specific survey methodology depended on size, water levels, and vegetation structure in the individual wetland units. During each 2 to 3-week sampling occasion, we categorized and recorded an individual as 1) 'marked' if the bird had a colored leg band with a distinct letter/number combination so that individuals could be identified, 2) 'unmarked' if no leg bands were present or if birds were banded with only a USFWS band or color band without a letter/number combination, or 3) 'unknown' if the banding status was not determined. Initially, it was hoped that resighting data could be used with capture-recapture models for closed populations because of the ability to model sources of variation in capture probability with these models. Thus, the first step in the analyses was testing for demographic closure. The closure test implemented in program CAPTURE and program CLOSTEST were used to test the assumption of demographic closure of the sampled population. The closure test in CAPTURE is unaffected by heterogeneity in resighting probabilities; however, it is insensitive to temporary violation of closure occurring during the middle of the sampling period. While program CLOSTEST is more robust to time-specific variation in resighting probabilities in the absence of behavioral or individual heterogeneity, its use is recommended in conjunction with the closure test in program CAPTURE in order to better detect closure violations in resighting data sets. 2002 Current FY work includes: 1. Monitoring the status of the snail kite populaiton trends in central and southern Florida 2. Providing estimates of demographic parameteres for the spatially explicit individual-based model in ATLSS 3. Continued collaboration with W. Mooij of the Netherlands Institute of Ecology to use snail kite data to validate the snail kite model EVERKITE Not complete Wiley Kitchens USGS, Florida Fish & Wildlife Research Unit mailing and physical address

117 Newins-Ziegler Hall

Gainesville FL 32611 USA 352 392-1861 352 846-0841 kitchensw@wec.ufl.edu ATLSS Wiley Kitchens USGS, Florida Fish & Wildlife Research Unit mailing and physical address

117 Newins-Ziegler Hall

Gainesville FL 32611 USA 352 392-1861 352 846-0841 kitchensw@wec.ufl.edu snail knite monitoring data No warrantees are implied or explicit for the data Contact Wiley Kitchens for data and information for this project. none 20070130 Heather Henkel U.S. Geological Survey mailing and physical address

600 Fourth Street South

St. Petersburg FL 33701 USA 727 803-8747 ext 3028 727 803-2030 sofia-metadata@usgs.gov Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata Part 1: Biological Data Profile FGDC-STD-001.1-1999