New extralimital breeding records of saltmarsh sparrows (Ammospiza caudacuta) and Nelson's sparrows (Ammospiza nelsoni) and their implications

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Author(s)Ruskin, Katharine J.
Author(s)Clark, Jonathan D.
Author(s)Hotopp, Alice
Author(s)Kovach, Adrienne I.
Author(s)Guido, Nicole A.
Author(s)Hernandez, Dean L.
Author(s)Peña, Colin
Author(s)Webb, Samantha N.
Author(s)Shriver, W. Gregory
Date Accessioned2024-01-12T18:51:45Z
Date Available2024-01-12T18:51:45Z
Publication Date2023-09-19
DescriptionThis article was originally published in Ecology and Evolution. The version of record is available at: https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.10532. © 2023 The Authors. Ecology and Evolution published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
AbstractSaltmarsh (Ammospiza caudacuta) and Nelson's (A. nelsoni) sparrows are sister taxa that breed in tidal marshes along the coast of the Northeastern United States and Canada. The Saltmarsh Sparrow breeds from mid-coast Maine south to Virginia, while the Acadian Nelson's Sparrow breeds from the Canadian maritime provinces south to northern Massachusetts. Here, we present three extralimital observations of breeding Saltmarsh (n = 2) and Nelson's (n = 1) sparrows. In 2021 and 2022, we observed Saltmarsh Sparrow females attending nests at Mendall Marsh, ME, and Milbridge, ME, respectively, approximately 60 and 110 km beyond the documented northern extent of the Saltmarsh Sparrow breeding range. In 2022, we observed a breeding-condition male Nelson's sparrow singing in the upriver portion of a marsh on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, approximately 115 km beyond the previously documented southern extent of the Nelson's Sparrow breeding range. We confirmed morphological species identification using a panel of microsatellite DNA loci. Due to both the well-documented population declines of these species in the region and the intensity of sampling effort undertaken in recent years, we suggest that these observations likely are not indicative of range expansion. However, they do indicate that these 2 taxa have the capacity to use and successfully reproduce in marshes well beyond their established breeding limits. Our findings provide novel insight into the potential for these taxa to occur and successfully breed outside their documented breeding ranges. Given increased interest in their conservation, these results support the idea that management actions aimed at creating or maintaining nesting habitat across both species ranges could benefit both taxa.
SponsorThis work was primarily funded by Mallinckrodt, US LLC (Award #18A01295, Mendall Marsh, ME) and the National Science Foundation (Award #1826777; Milbridge, ME and Barnstable, MA). Additional support was provided by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (Maine Agricultural Experiment Station Project #ME0-22207). We thank the landowners who allowed access to their marshes, specifically the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife and the Town of Barnstable, MA. We thank the field technicians who helped to collect these data: C. SantaColoma, H. Miller, C. Chipman. We also thank K. Wojtusik, who conducted laboratory work to produce the genotype data and scored alleles and B. Collard for his work on formatting this article. Finally, thank you to the two anonymous reviewers who provided helpful and timely feedback. Appropriate animal care was ensured by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee of the University of Maine under approval A2019-04-02, University of New Hampshire under approval 22041, and University of Delaware under approval AUP1157.
CitationRuskin, K. J., Clark, J. D., Hotopp, A., Kovach, A. I., Guido, N. A., Hernandez, D. L., Peña, C., Webb, S. N., & Shriver, W. G. (2023). New extralimital breeding records of saltmarsh sparrows (Ammospiza caudacuta) and Nelson's sparrows (Ammospiza nelsoni) and their implications. Ecology and Evolution, 13, e10532. https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.10532
ISSN2045-7758
URLhttps://udspace.udel.edu/handle/19716/33838
Languageen_US
PublisherEcology and Evolution
dc.rightsAttribution 4.0 Internationalen
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
KeywordsAmmospiza caudacuta
KeywordsAmmospiza nelsoni
Keywordsrange expansion
Keywordssharp-tailed sparrows
Keywordstidal marsh
TitleNew extralimital breeding records of saltmarsh sparrows (Ammospiza caudacuta) and Nelson's sparrows (Ammospiza nelsoni) and their implications
TypeArticle
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