Offshore Facilities Abandonment

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UTILIZATION OF SANDY

BEACHES BY SHOREBIRDS: RELATIONSHIPS TO POPULATION CHARACTERISTICS OF MACROFAUNA

PREY SPECIES AND BEACH MORPHODYNAMICS

Principal Investigator: Jenifer Dugan (UCSB)

Introduction

Sandy beaches comprise three-quarters of the world's shorelines and cover much of the California coast including 93% of the Ventura County coast. Their high prevalence means that sandy beaches are likely to receive the majority of contamination from a spill or other impact associated with oil and gas activities. Many species of migratory, wintering and breeding shorebirds utilize Southern California's sandy beaches. Lethal and sublethal effects of oil spills on birds are well known yet, little information exists on the potential risk from oil related impacts to shorebirds and to resources which they depend upon on sandy beaches of Southern California. To address this gap in information needed for oil spill contingency planning and damage assessment, the distribution and abundance of shorebirds on Ventura County beaches were studied by Minerals Management personnel. This study complements that project by examining factors which could affect the distribution and abundance of shorebirds on beaches, including prey availability and beach type. The combined results of the Minerals Management Service study and the proposed study will address a major gap in our understanding of the vulnerability of sandy beach resources to oil related impacts.

Many shorebirds utilize sandy beaches for feeding, roosting and breeding in Ventura county. Shorebirds occurring on sandy beaches consist of migrant, wintering, and breeding or resident species. The distribution, abundance and utilization patterns or shorebird species on a beach may be related to a variety of factors including: prey availability, beach morphodynamic type, width and condition, macrophyte wrack cover, time of year, and human activity. The research investigates the abundance and distribution of macrofauna prey of shorebirds and beach morphodynamics, factors which potentially affect the distribution of shorebirds on sandy beaches and their utilization of sandy beach resources.