Ruth Boettcher

• VA Dept. of Wildlife Resources

Atlantic ghost crabs (Ocypode quadrata) are predators of beach-nesting shorebird nests and chicks on the United States’ Atlantic and Gulf coasts. Ghost crabs may also disturb birds, altering foraging, habitat use, or nest and brood attendance patterns. Shorebird conservation strategies often involve predator and disturbance management to improve re...

Nesting colonial seabirds are prime examples of central-place foragers, animals that must return to a central location (e.g., a breeding colony) after each bout of foraging. They must balance the costs and benefits of foraging with the need to return to their colonies frequently to form pair bonds during courtship, incubate, provision mates and off...

Shorebird reproductive success monitoring often relies on surveys of nest and brood survival. However, conclusions may be inaccurate due to the challenges of gathering and interpreting evidence of nest and brood fate. We tested the efficacy of in-person versus camera-based monitoring to quantify productivity and evaluate threats to reproductive suc...

Capture–mark–recapture (CMR) studies on marine turtle nesting beaches provide data on reproductive periodicity that inform population trends and models. Annual survival is estimated from observations of remigration, the return of females in subsequent nesting seasons. However, a significant proportion of tagged females are never encountered remigra...

Named storms can cause substantial impacts on the habitat and reproductive output of threatened species, such as marine turtles. To determine the impacts of named storms on marine turtles and inform management, it is necessary to determine the exposure of marine turtle nesting grounds to recent storm activities. To address this, remote sensing info...

Effective management of wildlife populations requires identification of the factors limiting their growth. The Piping Plover (Charadrius melodus) is an imperiled, disturbance-dependent, shorebird species that nests on broad, sparsely vegetated beaches, sandbars, and lakeshores. In areas minimally affected by human use, plover habitat loss occurs th...

Information on demographic parameters needed to inform conservation strategies for American Oystercatchers (Haematopus palliatus) is lacking. The population dynamics of American Oystercatchers in Virginia, USA, were examined using a multi-state analysis framework that modeled movement of American Oystercatchers into and out of the State. Change in...

Background/Question/Methods: Population monitoring for marine turtles is often limited to assessing trends in nest counts, but individual reproductive data are required to better characterize the population dynamics underlying these nesting trends. Nest site fidelity can be low relative to the scale of tagging effort at individual nesting beaches...

Coastal areas provide nesting habitat for marine turtles that is critical for the persistence of their populations. However, many coastal areas are highly affected by coastal development, which affect the reproductive success of marine turtles. Knowing the extent to which nesting areas are exposed to these threats is essential to guide management i...

The extensive breeding range of many shorebird species can make integration of survey data problematic at regional spatial scales. We evaluated the effectiveness of standardized repeated count surveys coordinated across 8 agencies to estimate the abundance of American Oystercatcher (Haematopus palliatus) breeding pairs in the southeastern United St...

Nest and chick census data gathered from 1975–2005 at all known breeding colonies of Royal (Sterna maxima) and Sandwich (S. sandivicensis) Terns in three mid-Atlantic States are reported. Nest census data were gathered sporadically in North Carolina, Virginia, and Maryland throughout this period. Royal Tern chick counts based on annual banding effo...

From 1986-2005, Virginia supported between 6% and 13% of the federally threatened Atlantic Coast Piping Plover (Charadrius melodus) breeding population with an annual average of 111 nesting pairs (SD ± 25.0, range = 84-192 pairs). The statewide population remained relatively static from 1986-2003 (x̄ = 104.4 pairs, SD ± 12.0, range = 84-127 pairs)....

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The conservation status of the American Oystercatcher (Haematopus palliatus palliatus) along the Chesapeake Bay, coastal bays, and barrier island shorelines of Maryland and Virginia has been investigated in detail in recent years. The region supports approximately 700 breeding pairs with more than 80% occurring on the east coast of the Delmarva Pen...

Surveys of the American Oystercatcher (Haematopus palliatus) were conducted in all suitable nesting habitat in coastal Virginia, USA during the 2003 breeding season. The total of 588 pairs more than doubles previous estimates for the state, and provides a benchmark for the comparison of future surveys. These results suggest that Virginia supports t...

Leatherback turtles (Dermochelys coriacea) nest circumglobally, primarily on beaches in the tropics, many of which have experienced severe population declines in recent decades (NMFS & USFWS 1992, 1998; Spotila et al. 1996). However, extremes in nesting distribution occur in temperate regions in the Western Atlantic. In South America, leatherback n...

We compared avian behavior and mortality associated with two 115-kV transmission lines on the central South Carolina coast during 3,392 hours of observation from May 1991 through May 1994. One line was marked with 30-cm-diameter yellow aviation markers. The second line was unmarked, but was similar in most other aspects. We conducted ground searche...

Changes in local environmental conditions can cause shifts in the distribution of nonbreeding shorebirds at sites that offer a wide choice of habitats. We assessed effects of water level-related variables and salinity on the distribution of nonbreeding American Avocets (Recurvirostra americana) among eight brackish water impoundments and two intert...

We examined temporal changes in diurnal behavior among nonbreeding American Avocets (Recurvirostra americana) in South Carolina during 1991 and 1992. We also assessed effects of ambient temperature on foraging, and studied relationships between maintenance activities (e.g., foraging and loafing), nearest neighbor distances (NND), and microhabitat s...

Avian activity in two South Carolina coastal habitats was monitored on a weekly basis over a three year period in Charleston County, South Carolina. The Isle of Palms study site was saltmarsh habitat while the Breach Inlet area was a front-beach site adjacent to Isle of Palms. Individual species or ecological groups of species (e.g., gulls, shorebi...

Thesis (M.S.)--Clemson University, 1994.