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Declines of Greater and Lesser Scaup Populations: Issues, Hypotheses, and Research Directions

Summary Report for the Scaup Workshop
9-10 September 1998, Jamestown, ND

U.S. Geological Survey Report
Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center, Jamestown, ND
February 1999

Authors:
Jane E. Austin¹, Alan D. Afton², Michael G. Anderson³,
Robert G. Clark⁴, Christine M. Custer⁵, Jeffrey S. Lawrence⁶,
J. Bruce Pollard⁷, James K. Ringelman⁸

Sponsors:
U.S. Geological Survey
Ducks Unlimited Canada

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This resource is based on the following source:

Austin, Jane E., Alan D. Afton, Michael G. Anderson, Robert G. Clark, Christine
     M. Custer, Jeffrey S. Lawrence, J. Bruce Pollard, and James K. Ringleman.
     1999.  Declines of greater and lesser scaup populations:  issues,
     hypotheses, and research directions.  Summary Report for the Scaup Workshop.
     U.S. Geological Survey, Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center, Jamestown,
     North Dakota.  18pp.

This resource should be cited as:

Austin, Jane E., Alan D. Afton, Michael G. Anderson, Robert G. Clark, Christine
     M. Custer, Jeffrey S. Lawrence, J. Bruce Pollard, and James K. Ringleman.
     1999.  Declines of greater and lesser scaup populations:  issues,
     hypotheses, and research directions.  Summary Report for the Scaup Workshop.
     U.S. Geological Survey, Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center, Jamestown,
     North Dakota.  Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center Online. 
     http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/birds/blubill/index.htm
     (Version 19MAR99).

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Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Review Of Current Knowledge
  • Population status and trends
    • Breeding Populations
    • Winter Populations
    • Harvest and Age and Sex Ratios
  • Breeding Ecology
    • Distribution of Studies
    • Studies of Basic Breeding Biology and Recruitment
    • Duckling Survival
    • Philopatry and Annual Survival
    • Habitat
  • Contaminants
• Summary Of Issues
  • 1. Has reproduction or survival of scaup changed sufficiently to cause population declines and, if so, what is the cause?
    • Breeding Season Hypotheses
    • Nonbreeding Season Hypotheses
  • 2. Have changes in western Canadian boreal forests resulted in reduced reproductive success of scaup?
    • Sources of Possible Landscape-Levels Impacts
    • Recommendations
  • 3. Have physiological changes, including nutrient acquisition patterns and contaminants, affected reproductive success of scaup?
    • Contaminants
    • Nutrient and Food Limitations
  • 4. What information is needed to manage greater and lesser scaup separately?
    • Examination of Issues
    • Recommendations
• Conclusions
• Literature Cited
• Appendices
  • I. List of Workshop participants
  • II. List of abstracts, by author, distributed at Scaup Workshop
• Acknowledgments

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¹U.S. Geological Survey, Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center, Jamestown, ND USA 58401; jane_austin@usgs.gov
²U.S. Geological Survey, Louisiana Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA USA 70803-6202; aafton@lsu.edu
³Ducks Unlimited Canada, Institute for Wetland and Waterfowl Research, Stonewall, MB Canada R0C 2Z0; M_Anderson@ducks.ca
⁴Environment Canada, Canadian Wildlife Service, Prairie and Northern Wildlife Research Center, Saskatoon, SK Canada S7N 0X4; bob.clark@ec.gc.ca
⁵U.S. Geological Survey, Upper Mississippi Science Center, LaCrosse, WI USA 54602; christine_custer@usgs.gov
⁶Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, Wetland Wildlife Populations and Research Group, Bemidji, MN USA 56601; jeff.lawrence@dnr.state.mn.us
⁷Ducks Unlimited Canada, Institute for Wetland and Waterfowl Research, Stonewall, MB Canada R0C 2Z0; B_Pollard@ducks.ca
⁸Ducks Unlimited, Inc., Great Plains Region Office, Bismarck, ND USA 58501; jringelman@ducks.org

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