Guidelines for Management of Migratory Shorebird Habitat in Southern East Coast Estuaries, Australia

Abstract

This research provides guidelines for the management of migratory shorebird (wader) habitat in the estuaries of the southern east coast of Australia. The guidelines are in the form of both principles and specific habitat criteria. The need for clearly defined criteria has been expressed in management strategies and through a survey of estuary managers. The shorebirds dealt with are the trans-equatorial migrant Charadrii (whimbrel, godwits, plovers, sandpipers etc) which feed on the intertidal estuarine flats of the southern east coast of Australia from spring to autumn. Development on estuaries frequently impacts on shorebird habitat. The guidelines from this research relate to these impacts, rather than the many diverse causes of them. The impacts dealt with are: habitat loss and fragmentation; changes to vegetation, erosion and deposition; changes to tide, salinity, nutrients, and invertebrate populations; and the disturbance of shorebirds. The guidelines are relevant coast-wide within the study region, while being applicable to specific sites within estuaries. They complement existing management guidance from surveys, estuary and shorebird studies, reviews, and management plans. They were developed using simple habitat suitability models based on work by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.