Survival of chestnut-collared longspurs (Calcarius ornatus) and Baird's sparrow (Centronyx bairdii) on the breeding grounds in southeastern Alberta

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dc.contributor.authorCarey, Hannah
dc.contributor.examiningcommitteeDavis, Stephen (Environment and Climate Change Canada)en_US
dc.contributor.examiningcommitteeRobinson, Barry (Natural Resources Institute)en_US
dc.contributor.supervisorKoper, Nicola (Natural Resources Institute)en_US
dc.date.accessioned2021-09-21T13:42:52Z
dc.date.available2021-09-21T13:42:52Z
dc.date.copyright2021-09-20
dc.date.issued2021en_US
dc.date.submitted2021-08-25T18:44:14Zen_US
dc.date.submitted2021-09-20T21:16:52Zen_US
dc.degree.disciplineNatural Resources Instituteen_US
dc.degree.levelMaster of Natural Resources Management (M.N.R.M.)en_US
dc.description.abstractThe grasslands of Alberta have suffered extreme destruction and habitat loss for over 150 years, including destruction that continues from energy industry development. Oil wells that are built through this development have an ongoing impact on wildlife from the physical footprint of the infrastructure and the additional footprint of noise emitted from oil extraction. Chronic noise from oil extraction may impede conspecific communication during the critical post-fledging stage, which may result in lower survival of fledglings and could be a source of population declines. To investigate the effects of oil extraction noise on chestnut-collared longspurs adult (Calcarius ornatus) and fledgling survival, and adult Baird’s sparrow (Centronyx bairdii) survival, I used an experimental design that isolates noise recorded from active oil wells. I used handheld, very high frequency radio-telemetry to track tagged individuals daily. Adult survival for both adult chestnut-collared longspurs and Baird’s sparrow was close to 100% in 2017 and 2018. I found no effect of oil well infrastructure or noise on post-fledging survival of chestnut-collared longspurs. Older, heavier fledglings had a higher likelihood of survival. These results suggest that population declines are not coming from the adult life stage for these species on the breeding grounds of southeastern Alberta. The post-fledging survival results support previous studies that fledgling weight and age are positively corelated with survival. Ongoing research of the full annual cycle of these two species should be prioritized to inform conservation and management decisions.en_US
dc.description.noteOctober 2021en_US
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1993/36007
dc.language.isoengen_US
dc.rightsopen accessen_US
dc.subjectSongbirdsen_US
dc.subjectPost-fledging survivalen_US
dc.subjectRadio-telemetryen_US
dc.subjectOil well noiseen_US
dc.subjectDisturbanceen_US
dc.subjectGrasslandsen_US
dc.subjectAdult survivalen_US
dc.subjectFull annual cycleen_US
dc.subjectchestnut-collared longspuren_US
dc.subjectBaird's sparrowen_US
dc.titleSurvival of chestnut-collared longspurs (Calcarius ornatus) and Baird's sparrow (Centronyx bairdii) on the breeding grounds in southeastern Albertaen_US
dc.typemaster thesisen_US
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