Because of the importance of the Central Valley of California, USA, to shorebirds along the Pacific Flyway, conservation investments have been made in the area’s agricultural fields and managed wetlands. Increasingly, landowner incentive programs are being used to deliver shorebird habitat, presenting opportunities to answer remaining questions about which implementation strategies and field management practices are most effective at attracting birds. To provide management guidance for these investments, we collected and analyzed 5 years of data (2014-2018) on shorebird abundance in flooded rice fields enrolled in a dynamic habitat incentive program. The program incentivized flooding in fallow and post-harvest rice fields in seasons when habitat is relatively sparse, specifically the early fall and late spring. Across nearly 9,000 field observations over 5 years, we explored the relationship between abundance and density (birds/ha) of shorebirds and vegetation cover, soil clay, landscape-level flooding, and local flood timing, duration, and depth. We observed more shorebirds in fields that were approximately 50% flooded, had water depths of 5-10 cm, and had minimal rice straw or stubble cover, with strong or very strong evidence for each of these relationships. We found that the timing of habitat provisioning was important, with moderate evidence that earlier fall flooding and strong evidence that the duration of fall flooding was associated with higher shorebird density. We observed lower shorebird densities in locations with ample flooded rice habitat in surrounding areas, potentially because shorebirds spread out across the landscape. We found very strong evidence that flooding consistency, either at a site that was continually flooded over many months or a site that had been flooded in previous years, was associated with higher shorebird density. Soil clay content was associated with decreased observed shorebird density, potentially through its influence on the ability of shorebirds to forage for invertebrate prey. These results suggest best practices for shorebird habitat creation in agricultural landscapes, providing important information for conservation and population recovery.

Abstract The interactive role of life-history traits and environmental forcing on plant-water relations is crucial for understanding species response to climate change but remains poorly understood in secondary tropical montane forests (TMFs). Comparing contrasting life-history traits (pioneer vs late-successional species) in a biodiverse Eastern Himalayan secondary TMF, we investigated sap flow responses in co-occurring pioneer species, Symplocos racemosa (n=5) and Eurya acuminata (n=5), and late-successional species, Castanopsis hystrix (n=3), using modified Granier’s Thermal Dissipation probes. The fast-growing pioneers S. racemosa and E. acuminata) had 2.1- and 1.6-times higher sap flux density than the late-successional C. hystrix, respectively, and exhibited characteristics of long-lived pioneer species. Significant radial and azimuthal variability in sap flow (V) between species was observed and attributed to life history traits and the canopy’s access to sunlight. Nocturnal V (1800-0500 hr) was 13.8 % of daily V and is attributed to stem recharge for evening V (1800-2300 hr) and to endogenous stomatal controls for pre-dawn V (0000-0500 hr). Both the shallow-rooted pioneer species exhibited midday depression in V attributed to photosensitivity and diel moisture stress response. In contrast, deep-rooted C. hystrix transpired unaffected across the dry season likely accessing groundwater. Thus, the secondary broadleaved TMFs, with the dominance of shallow-rooted pioneers, are more prone to the negative impacts of drier and warmer winters than primary forests, which are dominated by deep-rooted species. The study provides an empirical understanding of life-history traits and microclimate modulating plant-water use in widely distributed secondary TMFs in Eastern Himalaya and highlights their vulnerability against warmer winters and reduced snowfall due to climate change.

This dataset includes climate data used in the Seedlot Selection Tool. Data were generated by ClimateNA and converted to NetCDF format. Data are organized by region. The regions codes are below: ak2 - Alaska mexico1 - Mexico nc1 - North Central (central Canada, North-central United States) ne1 - North East (Eastern Canada, North-Eastern United States) uscentral1 - Central United States useast1 - Eastern United States west2 - Western United States

This dataset includes climate data used in the Seedlot Selection Tool. Data were generated by ClimateNA and converted to NetCDF format. Data are organized by region. The regions codes are below: ak2 - Alaska mexico1 - Mexico nc1 - North Central (central Canada, North-central United States) ne1 - North East (Eastern Canada, North-Eastern United States) uscentral1 - Central United States useast1 - Eastern United States west2 - Western United States