Effects of oil and gas development on duck nest survival in the Western Boreal Forest

• Published in: Avian conservation and ecology 2024-04, Vol.19 (1), p.12, Article art12
• Main Authors: Dyson, Matthew, Slattery, Stuart, Fedy, Bradley
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: adaptive peak; alberta; canada; industrial development; nest success; petroleum; upland nesting; waterfowl
• ISSN: 1712-6568; 1712-6568
• DOI: 10.5751/ACE-02593-190112

Nest survival drives population demographics of most avian species. Researchers and managers have focused studies on investigating nest success in association with climate, land use change (e.g., agriculture), and predators in the Prairie and Arctic biomes. The Boreal Forest is also an important breeding area for ducks and it has undergone rapid land use change caused by industrial development (e.g., oil and gas; forestry). However, duck nesting ecology has received little attention in this biome. Therefore, we investigated nest survival of upland nesting ducks in the Western Boreal Forest of Alberta, Canada, from 2016–2018. We evaluated how daily nest survival rates (N = 96) were affected by a suite of natural and anthropogenic variables measured at the nest-site (microhabitat) and landscape level (macrohabitat). Nest survival was low (0.212 [85% CI: 0.152–0.282]) and comparable to nest survival estimates for ducks elsewhere in North America, including the Prairies. Nest survival increased with nest age and varied annually. At the microhabitat scale, nest survival increased with greater graminoid, forb, and shrub cover at the nest. At the macrohabitat scale, habitat influenced nest survival at coarse spatial scales with lower survival for nests with greater mineral wetland cover within 2500 m and greater survival with more forest cover within 5000 m. For anthropogenic variables, nests had greater survival with increased densities of pipelines and roads within 90 and 30 m of a nest, respectively. Contrary to our predictions, we did not find evidence that oil and gas development negatively affected duck nest survival. Comparisons with research on nest-site selection reveals both adaptive and maladaptive strategies for nest survival and suggests that some resources might be selected at an adaptive peak. Our findings highlight the importance of investigating the effects of anthropogenic disturbance at multiple scales and life history stages to gain a more nuanced understanding of species responses to land use change.