Piping Plovers and Least Terns of
the Great Plains and Nearby
A draft protocol for assessing piping plover reproductive success
on Great Plains alkali lakes
Methodology -- Section H
Database management
Field data should consist of (1) a site map record for each visit, including notes on the status of each breeding pair (and nest/young as appropriate), date, time and weather, plus predator and other relevant observations; (2) a chronologic record with a line devoted to each breeding pair, columns representing consecutive days of the breeding season, and a brief notation conveying a pair's nesting status on the date of each visit. Examples of these are in Appendix B.
Data can be transferred to summary databases that include (e.g.) total pairs, nest exposure days, numbers of successful and unsuccessful nests, fledglings, etc, depending on objectives and desired output.
Other ecological data such as related landscape attributes or nest habitat measurements can be included.
Previous Section -- Section G - Monitoring frequency
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Next Section -- Section I - Reporting measures of reproductive success
