The Oystercatcher From Individuals to Populations [Hardcover]

This book reviews what is known about the behavior and population ecology of the oystercatcher. The plight of this popular shorebird highlights the many conflicts of interest in coastal zones, between human activities such as shellfishing, land reclamation, and industrial pollution, and the needs of wildlife for food and suitable habitats. As well as detailing the oystercatcher's natural history--including the well-known specialization in feeding technique shown by individuals--the authors use their field studies of individual variations in behavior to produce population models. This novel approach provides tools for predicting how populations will respond to the many environmental changes to which the coastal zone is subject. Thus it can play a role in coastal management plans that seek to balance the needs of people and wildlife, and suggests that the same methods can be applied in other situations.

Introduction
Part I: Individual Adaptations
1. Food and feeding behaviour
2. Prey size selection and intake rate
3. Specialization
4. Feeding with other Oystercatchers
5. Where to feed
6. How Oystercatchers survive the winter
7. Why do Oystercatchers migrate?
8. Life history decisions during the breeding season
9. Rearing to independence
10.Haematopus ostralegusin perspective: comparisons with other Oystercatchers
Part II: Population Ecology
11. Oystercatchers and man in the coastal zone
12. The carrying capacity of coastal habitats for Oystercatchers
13. Population dynamics: predicting the consequences of habitat change at the continental scale
Conclusions
References
Index

This species of shorebird is the prime subject for field investigations. . . .This volume gives in-depth overviews of the bird's feeding strategies, winter survival and migration, breeding season biology, population dynamics, and conservation. --Choice

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