Theses and Dissertations

Issuing Body

Mississippi State University

Advisor

King, Tommy D.

Committee Member

Minnis, Richard

Committee Member

Strickland, K. Bronson

Date of Degree

12-13-2008

Document Type

Graduate Thesis - Open Access

Major

Wildlife and Fisheries Science

Degree Name

Master of Science

College

College of Forest Resources

Department

Department of Wildlife and Fisheries

Abstract

Interior Double-crested cormorant reproduction was examined on a large geographical scale to evaluate management actions. Three distinct breeding areas across Ontario were selected. Beginning in 2002, over 11,000 preledged cormorants have been marked. During 2006 and 2007, re-observation of banded birds, colony data such as nest, egg, and chick measurements, and island morphology, were collected. Data revealed no significant regional differences in adult size. However, eggs in eastern Lake Ontario (ELO) were larger than North Channel of Lake Huron (NChan) and Lake of the Woods (LOW). Chicks in ELO throughout development were smaller than NChan and LOW. Number of gulls was correlated inversely to cormorant fledge rate. Survival estimates were <20% for young of the year, but increased to >80% after year 2. Elasticity analysis revealed that a 50% reduction in adult survival combined with 100% fecundity reduction would result in a 42% reduction in population growth.

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11668/15603

Comments

Double-crested cormorant||survival estimates||population dynamics||reproduction||Phalacrocorax auritus

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