Colony Initiation Attempts: Translocations and Decoys
Winner! Best Student Talk, Graduate Student Symposium, UL Lafayette, Fall 2011 - Awarded $250 prize from CEET
Various threats to brown pelicans in Louisiana have led to management actions designed to initiate additional colony sites in order to reduce the susceptibility of the statewide population that is currently concentrated on few islands. Our attempts to attract breeding adults to un-colonized islands, via translocations and decoys, did not result in new nesting activity over three years. Consequently, management practices focused on the protection and restoration of current colony sites may be a more appropriate strategy to maintain a viable brown pelican population.
I am interested in ecological studies that shed light on wildlife and habitat interactions, and how this information can be used to develop wildlife habitat management plans. The brown pelican, the research subject of my dissertation, presents an ideal study organism for assessment of habitat requirements. Since the extirpation of Louisiana's population in 1963, the species has represented an important conservation concern in the region. My research on coastal barrier islands in Louisiana will hopefully yield information in relation to how nest success, movement patterns, and habitat use vary over spatial and temporal scales.
