PTS: 2302BM2.6.0 Title: PWRC-Effects of offroad vehicles on beach fauna [FY04: 2070 A7Y 6] Keywords:wetland, coastal, geomorphology, pothole, submerged aquatic vegetation, SAV, sea level, SLR, subsidence, global climate change, global warming, terrapin, salt marsh, restoration, island, seaduck, scoter, ecosystem, vegetation, diet, OMWM, sea grass, climate, open marsh water management Leaders: * Ginsberg, Howard S., hginsberg@usgs.gov, 401-874-4537, FAX 401-874-6887, University of Rhode Island Narragansett Bay Campus, Narragansett, RI 02882-1197 Communication Plan: The results of this project will be reported in peer-reviewed scientific publications, as well as in presentations at scientific meetings. A report will be produced for the National Park Service. A narrowly-targeted, low cost (in terms of labor and time) monitoring program for beach wrack and associated invertebrates will be provided for CACO. Supporting materials for compiling and interpreting monitoring data will be provided.
The products from this project will provide Resource Management staff at CACO with a monitoring program for beach biota that will be doable by park staff, will fulfill the requirements of the negotiated rules on beach traffic, and will give resource managers clear indications of the effects of their management actions on the beach biota. The reports from this project will provide the first quantitative description of the community structure of the beach wrack biota. This will provide basic understanding of this fauna that will allow assessment of changes in beach fauna, and of the effects of disturbances such as beach nourishment and oil spills, as well as ORV traffic. The project will also provide previously unavailable information about the natural dynamics of organisms that provide food for shore birds, including the listed piping plover. Objectives: This task addresses goal 5 of Terrestrial, Freshwater and Marine Ecosystems: Quantify and understand factors influencing patterns of temporal and spatial variability in key ecosystem components. This task also addresses goal 2 of Status and Trends of Biological Resources: Develop and evaluate inventory and monitoring methods, protocols, experimental designs, analytic tools, models, and technologies to measure biological status and trends.
Community-level dynamics of the beach invertebrate fauna at Cape Cod National Seashore will be described and quantified. A monitoring program will be developed to assess the effects of offroad vehicle traffic on the beach biota.
Results of the experiments will be analyzed, and the preliminary monitoring program will be evaluated based on the validation samples.
Results will be presented to DOI staff with management interests in shoreline change and beach biota (e.g., coastal national parks and FWS staff and others working on piping plovers), and to USGS coastal scientists. Manuscripts and other standard scientific reporting instruments will be prepared. Statement of Problem: Cape Cod National Seashore (CACO) harbors forty miles of pristine sandy beaches that attract millions of visitors each year. ORV use on beaches, primarily for fishing, predates the establishment of CACO in 1961. Until recently, many used the 8.5?mile Off?Road Vehicle (ORV) corridor (designated by the 1981/1985 ORV Management Plan) to access recreation sites. However, growing concern over nesting piping plovers Charadrius melodus (federally?designated threatened in 1986) has resulted in revision of the old ORV rule. The new ORV rule will close a section of the existing off?road vehicle corridor (Exit 8 to High Head North), but simultaneously open a section of the outer beach that was formerly closed (Coast Guard Beach to Longnook). This change could result in shifting impacts on ocean beach invertebrates, which comprise an important part of the piping plover's diet and a major portion of the natural beach community. Optimum foraging habitat appears to be a factor in piping plover nest site selection and reproductive success. As part of the agreement that gave rise to the new ORV rule, CACO is required to send yearly reports to the Secretary of the Interior, describing the effects of vehicle traffic on the beach fauna. This agreement was developed using the ¿Negotiated Rule Making¿ process, so CACO is obligated to carry out its provisions. In fact, CACO has recently come under threat of litigation if it does not carry out the beach biota monitoring provision of the negotiated agreement.
In this project we will: (1) inventory the beach fauna at CACO, assess underlying variability, and set up a long-term monitoring program that can assess the status of the natural community on beaches open vs. closed to ORV traffic;. and (2) monitor the relationships between major environmental factors and beach invertebrate communities to determine whether ORV traffic or environmental differences account for the observed differences in beach biota between sites. Status of the beach biota will be assessed by monitoring species richness, abundance of indicator species, dominance-diversity relationships, and guild structure of the beach communities.
2005 Statement of Work: Analysis of field experiments on the effects of ORV traffic on the beach invertebrate fauna will be completed. Analysis of studies on dynamics of the beach invertebrate fauna will be completed. A monitoring program to assess the effects of ORV traffic on beach invertebrates will be completed and presented to Cape Cod National Seashore staff. Results will be written for scientific publication. 2006 Statement of Work: Analysis will be completed and results written up for publication. 2007 Statement of Work: Field work is completed and data have been analyzed. Completion of reports and scientific manuscripts will be performed during FY07. 2008 Statement of Work: Field work has been completed on this project, data have mostly been analyzed, and reports are now being written. Manuscripts will be completed during FY08. Product: Newsletters Delivered Ginsberg, H.S. & J.M. Steinback. 2000. The
biotic community of sandy beaches.
RINHewS 7(2):2-3. Product: Posters Delivered Steinback, J., H. Ginsberg, and R. Cerrato. 2004. Effects of Off-Road Vehicles (ORVs) on beach invertebrates. poster, Expanding the Ark: the Emerging Science and Practice of
Invertebrate Conservation, American Museum of Natural History, NY Product: Posters Delivered HOWARD GINSBERG
JACQUELINE STEINBACK, 2003, SANDY BEACH MACROINVERTEBRATES: COMMUNITY DYNAMICS AND EFFECTS OF OFF-ROAD VEHICLES, USGS Product: Posters Delivered Maria Aliberti and Howard Ginsberg, 2006, Natal habitat use by dragonflies along an urbanization gradient in Rhode Island, Environmental Protection Agency Vulnerable Wetlands Forum Product: Presentations Delivered Aliberti, M.A. & H.S. Ginsberg. Does anyone prefer urban wetlands? A landscape pattern for conservation consideration in New England. presentation. 2008 North American Benthological
Society (NABS) Annual Meeting - upcoming Product: Presentations Delivered Aliberti, M.A. & H.S. Ginsberg. 2007. Urban vs. rural colonists ¿ teasing out the patterns of wetland use by dragonflies on our urbanizing New England landscape. presentation. 2007 North
American Benthological Society (NABS) Annual Meeting, Columbia, SC. Product: Presentations Delivered HOWARD GINSBERG
JACQUELINE STEINBACK, 2002, MONITORING THE EFFECTS OF OFF-ROAD VEHICLE TRAFFIC ON THE BEACH INVERTEBRATE FAUNA, National Park Service, Cape Cod National Seashore Product: Presentations Delivered M.A. Aliberti and H.S. Ginsberg, 2006, Persistence of dragongly exuviae on vegetation and rock substrates: a useful tool for monitoring wetland fauna, New England Association of Environmental Biologists Product: Presentations Delivered M.A. Aliberti and H.S. Ginsberg, 2006, The assemblage of dragonfly species emerging from small wetlands along an urbanization gradient, North American Benthological Society Product: Report Delivered Raithel, C.J., H.S. Ginsberg, & M.L. Prospero. 2006. Population trends and flight behavior
of the American burying beetle, Nicrophorus americanus (Silphidae), on Block Island,
RI. Journal of Insect Conservation 10:317-322 Product: Report Planned M.A. Aliberti and H.S. Ginsberg, Persistence of dragonfly exuviae on vegetation and rock substrates, Northeastern Naturalist Product: Report Planned J.M. Steinback & H.S. Ginsberg, The effect of off-road vehicles on barrier beach invertebrates of the temperate Atlantic Coast, U.S.A., National Park Service Product: Report Planned Steinback, J.M., R.M. Cerrato, & H.S. Ginsberg. , Guild structure of the sandy beach invertebrate fauna on Fire island, NY, Marine Biology
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