M.S. in Wildlife, Spring 2007

The Use of Stable Isotopes to Determine the Ratio of Resident to Migrant King Rails in Southwestern Louisiana

I grew up in Clarkston, Michigan, a suburb of of Detroit.  I received a B.S. from Central Michigan University.  I majored in biology and had a natural resources minor.  In the fall of 2000, I studied abroad at the University of Exeter in southwest England. While getting my undergraduate degree, I worked as an intern at Seney National Wildlife Refuge in the Upper Pennisula of Michigan in the summer of 2000.  I also ran MAPS banding stations for the Institute for Bird Populations in Texas in the summer of 2001.  After graduation, I worked as an intern at Dow Gardens in Midland, Michigan, doing Japanese Beetle Research.  As a USGS intern, I studied avian malaria in Volcanoes National Park on the Big Island of Hawaii.  I then worked as an intern at Big Oak National Wildlife Refuge in Madison, Indiana.  During this time, I also took a 5 week backpacking trip around Europe.  I came to Louisiana in winter 2004 and worked for Sammy's graduate student, Sergio Pierluissi.  I began my graduate work in fall 2004. 

Research Findings

Over the past 30 years, the king rail (Rallus elegans) has purportedly declined precipitously throughout its range. It is currently listed as endangered in six states and as a species of special concern in thirteen states and provinces. King rails are migratory over most of their range and it is unknown how many of the wintering king rails in Louisiana are residents or migrants from other states. This is of particular conservation concern due to the fact that the king rail is a game bird in Louisiana. Also, very little is known about all rails and few studies have attempted to capture these secretive marsh birds. The objectives of my study are to determine the best method for capturing rails wintering in Louisiana and to determine the ratio of resident to migrant king rails in Southwestern Louisiana using stable isotope analysis of feathers. I have captured 519 rails, including 186 king rails,  69 clapper rails, 106 Virginia rails, 121 Sora, and 37 yellow rails. Most rails were captured by spotlighting from airboats at night, with a capture rate of 2.12 rails per hour. Other capture methods and rates include live traps with drift fences, resulting in 0.0061 rails per trap hour and spotlighting from ATVs at night, resulting in 1.80 rails per hour. Carbon, nitrogen, and hydrogen stable isotopes were analyzed for king rails, Virginia rails and yellow rails captured during the winter of 2004-2005. As expected, the results show similar values for Virginia and yellow rails whose northern breeding ranges are overlapping. The king rail values are not similar to those of the Virginia and yellow rails and show a much broader range of values. Preliminary results show that few king rails in southwest Louisiana are migrants.

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