The goal of this project is to provide a broader ecological understanding of the ways in which the breaches and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) breach-fill projects affect piping plover populations, their red fox predators and their invertebrate prey communities. Virginia Tech (VT) compared the dynamics of bird use and invertebrate densities in an open breach area, two filled breach areas, two restoration areas, overwash areas, and other areas. Ultimately VT results will help refine their understanding of the time frame and manner in which piping plover habitat develops and persists.
The work described in this report was funded under the Breach Contingency Plan (BCP; USACE 1996), the Fire Island Inlet to Moriches Inlet Stabilization Coastal Storm Risk Reduction Project (FIMI; USACE 2014), the USFWS North Atlantic Landscape Conservation Cooperative Beach Resiliency Project (Resiliency Project), and by Virginia Tech. Both the FIMI project and the Resiliency Project were funded under the Disaster Relief Appropriations Act of 2013 (Public Law 113-2). Because these projects were so closely coordinated, Virginia Tech provide one report, to provide the best overview of conditions of the piping plover population, the habitat that supports it, the red fox predator population and its interactions with piping plovers, and populations of other shorebirds in the study area.
Authors: Amanda M. Carey, Kathleen Miles, Samantha G. Robinson, Katie M. Walker, Eunbi Kwon, Julia D. Monk, Henrietta A. Bellman, Audrey Derose-Wilson, Kelsi Hunt, James D. Fraser, Daniel H. Catlin, Shannon Ritter, Sarah M. Karpanty, and Denise Sanger.
