Department of Fish and Wildlife Grant for Studying Migrant Bird Resources on Lower Delmarva Peninsula

The Recipient will:
¿ Develop a study design that is based on the proper spatial and temporal levels of data to be collected. Fruit abundance can vary widely between locations. Similarly, fruit availability and depletion changes over time. Sampling will occur at a minimum of 40-50 locations and occur at two week intervals per location to capture both spatial and temporal variation. Individual fruiting species will be monitored at fixed stations to capture the phenology of fruiting, and fruit ripeness periods.
¿ Collect field data from August through November. This period includes the migration periods for Neotropical and temperate migrants and fruit availability. During this time, CCB will assess the standing crop of fruits across study plots and monitor them throughout the migration period.
¿ Analyze the nutrient content of collected fruits of native species such as devils walking stick, wax myrtle, poison ivy, Virginia creeper, pokeweed, sassafras, hackberry and beautyberry, and introduced species to include autumn olive and privet. Fruit will be collected and sent to a subcontractor for analyses. CCB will be responsible for subcontracting this work.
¿ Produce a data summary and analysis to include projecting the stock values collected during vegetation sampling to project kg fruit/ha. Values calculated from fruit nutrient assays will be used to express the amount of energy available in kcals/ha.
¿ Compare the availability of the standing stock of fruit and resource demand.
¿ Produce a final report that will include the locations of all study sites, summary of data collected, and synthesis of standing stock and resource demands.