Human land cover can degrade estuaries directly through habitat loss and fragmentation or indirectly through nutrient
inputs that reduce water quality. Strong precipitation events are occurring more frequently, causing greater hydrological
connectivity between watersheds and estuaries. Nutrient enrichment and dissolved oxygen depletion that occur following
these events are known to limit populations of benthic macroinvertebrates and commercially harvested species, but the
consequences for top consumers such as birds remain largely unknown. We used non-metric multidimensional scaling
(MDS) and structural equation modeling (SEM) to understand how land cover and annual variation in rainfall interact to
shape waterbird community composition in Chesapeake Bay, USA. The MDS ordination indicated that urban subestuaries
shifted from a mixed generalist-specialist community in 2002, a year of severe drought, to generalist-dominated community
in 2003, of year of high rainfall. The SEM revealed that this change was concurrent with a sixfold increase in nitrate-N
concentration in subestuaries. In the drought year of 2002, waterbird community composition depended only on the direct
effect of urban development in watersheds. In the wet year of 2003, community composition depended both on this direct
effect and on indirect effects associated with high nitrate-N inputs to northern parts of the Bay, particularly in urban
subestuaries. Our findings suggest that increased runoff during periods of high rainfall can depress water quality enough to
alter the composition of estuarine waterbird communities, and that this effect is compounded in subestuaries dominated by
urban development. Estuarine restoration programs often chart progress by monitoring stressors and indicators, but rarely
assess multivariate relationships among them. Estuarine management planning could be improved by tracking the
structure of relationships among land cover, water quality, and waterbirds. Unraveling these complex relationships may
help managers identify and mitigate ecological thresholds that occur with increasing human land cover.
Human land cover can degrade estuaries directly through habitat loss and fragmentation or indirectly through nutrient
inputs that reduce water quality. Strong precipitation events are occurring more frequently, causing greater hydrological
connectivity between watersheds and estuaries. Nutrient enrichment and dissolved oxygen depletion that occur following
these events are known to limit populations of benthic macroinvertebrates and commercially harvested species, but the
consequences for top consumers such as birds remain largely unknown. We used non-metric multidimensional scaling
(MDS) and structural equation modeling (SEM) to understand how land cover and annual variation in rainfall interact to
shape waterbird community composition in Chesapeake Bay, USA. The MDS ordination indicated that urban subestuaries
shifted from a mixed generalist-specialist community in 2002, a year of severe drought, to generalist-dominated community
in 2003, of year of high rainfall. The SEM revealed that this change was concurrent with a sixfold increase in nitrate-N
concentration in subestuaries. In the drought year of 2002, waterbird community composition depended only on the direct
effect of urban development in watersheds. In the wet year of 2003, community composition depended both on this direct
effect and on indirect effects associated with high nitrate-N inputs to northern parts of the Bay, particularly in urban
subestuaries. Our findings suggest that increased runoff during periods of high rainfall can depress water quality enough to
alter the composition of estuarine waterbird communities, and that this effect is compounded in subestuaries dominated by
urban development. Estuarine restoration programs often chart progress by monitoring stressors and indicators, but rarely
assess multivariate relationships among them. Estuarine management planning could be improved by tracking the
structure of relationships among land cover, water quality, and waterbirds. Unraveling these complex relationships may
help managers identify and mitigate ecological thresholds that occur with increasing human land cover.
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