Developing a wintering waterfowl community baseline for environmental monitoring of Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island.

ABSTRACT: In 2004, the Atlantic Ecology Division of the US Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Research and Development began an annual winter waterfowl survey of Rhode Island's Narragansett Bay. Herein, we explore the survey data gathered from 2004 to 2011 in order to establish a benchmark understanding of our waterfowl communities and to establish a statistical framework for future environmental monitoring. The abundance and diversity of wintering waterfowl were relatively stable during the initial years of this survey, except in 2010 when there was a large spike in abundance and a reciprocal fall in diversity. There was no significant change in ranked abundance of most waterfowl species, with only Bufflehead ( Bucephala albeola) and Hooded Merganser ( Lophodytes cucllatus) showing a sligh

SUBMITTER: Kreakie BJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4806708 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature