THE spur-winged plover, Vanellus miles, has a distribution that extends from New Guinea along the east coast of Australia to New Zealand.
The wader self introduced to New Zealand in the 1930s, and has expanded its range in Australia as well as New Zealand over the last few decades.
Charles Darwin and Alfred Wallace suggested the current distribution and abundance of plant and animal species is a consequence of evolution rather than Divine intervention. Consequent to this is the idea that distributions will change, they are not constant.
While the theory of evolution by natural selection is now accepted by the mainstream as a best explanation for the diversity of life on planet Earth, the very recent preoccupation with temperature and in particular the idea that small changes in temperature may result in the extinction of particular species, does not sit well with their theories on the distribution of the many species with a very broad geographic range; like the spur-winged plover.
Darwin and Wallace formed their ideas independently and during a time when there was much interest in the careful collection and recording of life in previously unexplored places.
The interest in places beyond Europe also resulted in a realisation that while photoperiod and cold winters may be key drivers of the distribution and abundance of species in the northern hemisphere, in places like Australia predation, competition, rainfall and changes in land-use can be much more important.
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Notes and Links
The photograph of the spur-winged plover was taken on Great Keppel Island by Jennifer Marohasy. This is part 2 of a new series on the distribution and abundance of species – and temperature gradients. ‘Rainbow Lorikeets and Temperature Gradients’ (Part 1) is here:
http://jennifermarohasy.com/blog/2009/08/rainbow-lorikeets-and-temperature-gradients/
There are two distinct races which until recently were thought to be separate species. The Masked Lapwing of Northern Australia (Vanellus miles miles) has an all-white neck and large yellow wattles, the Spur-winged Plover of the southern and eastern states (Vanellus miles novaehollandiae) has a black neck-stripe and smaller wattles. (Note that the northern hemisphere Spur-winged Plover is a different bird.) http://www.birdforum.net/opus/Vanellus_miles#Distribution
http://ibc.lynxeds.com/species/masked-lapwing-vanellus-miles
Cases are known where shorebirds extensively feed on offal from McDonalds fast food outlets, widely found in many shorebird wintering sites, and species have changed their wintering sites for that very reason. Masked lapwings Vanellus miles, black-winged stilts Himantopus himantopus and South Island pied oystercatchers Haematopus finschi in New Zealand are presumably expanding because pasturalism has created a much larger breeding habitat for them—but, on the other hand, the resultant damage to braided river systems has resulted in severe declines in species specialized to breed in them (e.g. black stilt Himantopus novaezelandiae, black-fronted tern Sterna albostriata) http://www.int-res.com/articles/esr2006/2/n002p089.pdf
COMMON NAMES: Masked Lapwing, Masked Plover, Spur-winged Plover; German Maskenkiebitz. GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION: NATIVE Australia, n. to New Guinea, s. to NZ, east to Lord Howe. First breeding pair in NZ was in 1932 at Invercargill; reached North Island in 1970. COOK ISLANDS STATUS: Native, Vagrant, Non-breeder; S.Group – rare (RR, AK, ?); Land, Wet grasslands. http://cookislands.bishopmuseum.org/species.asp?id=13467
Spatial and temporal variation in the breeding of Masked Lapwings (Vanellus miles) in Australia. Lynda E. Chambers A , D , Heather Gibbs B , Michael A. Weston B , C and Glenn C. Ehmke C . Abstract: Spatial and temporal variation in the breeding of Masked Lapwings (Vanellus miles) in Australia were examined using data from Birds Australia’s Nest Record Scheme (NRS; 1957–2002), the Atlas of Australian Birds (1998–2006), and climatic data (1952–2006). Breeding in north-western Australia was concentrated in summer, while in other regions the peak of breeding occurred during spring. Breeding success varied between regions and years but was generally highest in Tasmania. Clutch-size (mean 3.57 eggs ± 0.033 s.e., n = 549 clutches) did not vary regionally or temporally. In the north-east, breeding became earlier over time (~1.9 days per year, NRS), while in the south-east, breeding became later (~0.9 days per year); in other regions temporal trends were not evident. Only Tasmania showed a significant temporal change in breeding success (decrease of ~1.5% per year). All regions experienced warming climates, and annual rainfall increased in north-western regions and decreased in eastern regions. There were weak or no relationships between the amount or success of breeding, clutch-size and the climatic variables considered (with the possible exception of Tasmania), suggesting either that data limitations precluded us from detecting subtle effects or that Masked Lapwings have been little influenced or are resilient to changes in climate over most of their range. http://elibrary.unm.edu/sora/IWSGB/v100/p00105-p00110.pdf
Australian biota has been isolated from other parts of the globe for a long time and, in conjunction with historical climate, this has resulted in fairly unique flora and fauna (Dunlop and Brown, 2008). Australian winters are generally mild, the country is relatively dry (~50% of the country receiving less than 300 mm per year and ~90% less than 800 mm), and considerable rainfall variability results in highly variable river flows (Crowder, 2000; Dunlop and Brown, 2008). As a result, Australian species may have a greater variety of responses to environmental variation than northern hemisphere species, where photoperiod and cold winter temperatures are the primary phenological drivers (e.g. Menzel, 2003; Dingle, 2008).
http://www.mssanz.org.au/modsim09/G2/chambers.pdf
Jennifer Marohasy BSc PhD is a critical thinker with expertise in the scientific method.
Jennifer,
I really like the deft linking of acceptance of AGW science and its outcomes to believe in creationism and its variants. Almost subtle, and I’m sure you realise why I do find it funny.
And do you like my photograph of the plover?
I just use a 5-year old Fujifilm digital camera but am thinking of upgrading and getting a tripod? Any tips from bird photographers out there re. best equipment?
Small is not only beautiful, but very survivable. When it comes down to species extinction it seems anything reasonably big is prone to go the way of the dinosaur.
Large mammal extinctions are still being debated, yet there is not enough data to support any claim. May the plover live happily ever after and we ‘stand upright glorified apes’ should be watching our backs.
Jen,
Great photo but I would have said that it was a youngish Vanellus novaehollandiae [eastern form], not a miles which is supposed to have no black on the shoulders and is generally referred to as the northern form.
We always called them spur winged plovers and they chased us as kids, with their spurs at the ready, in spring, along with the magpies.
They don’t seem to build a nest, just a scrape with a bit of dead grass from which they raise a goodly clutch of chicks. The experts say 4 but I reckon I’v seen half a dozen.
Sorry, my mistake. These days they are Vanellus miles miles [northern] and Vanellus miles novaehollandiae [eastern], so they are both Vanellus miles.
How the fond memories were recalled on reading your piece. There calls from the wheat fields in WA, particularly while walking home from the school bus.
My farmer uncle and other adults used to hope down from tractors to shift nests when plowing, I learned from them. Even if at night and only moon to guide you.
I always thought they were ancient aussie birds?
lovely to read, fluff
How the fond memories were recalled on reading your piece. There calls from the wheat fields in WA, particularly while walking home from the school bus.
My farmer uncle and other adults used to hope down from tractors to shift nests when plowing, I learned from them. Even if at night and only moon to guide you.
I always thought they were ancient aussie birds?
lovely to read, fluff
Jen,
A friend of mine had a $100 digital camera and a similar priced bird scope with 20 to 60 magnification on a tripod. He had a bit of hard plastic tube [drainpipe] to connect the camera to the scope and he took great photos of waders from a long distance.
The camera had a bit of a snout that you could push the tube over and this tube [about 10 cm long] slid over the eye-piece of the scope. The camera zoom could still work inside the tube.
I must confess that I hate plovers. Not only are they an ugly bird they make an awful screeching noise that grates on the ear. They are like crows, the avian equivalent of the cockroach, but at least they are slightly more colorful. Nevertheless I would not advocate in any way their extinction of course except by natural causes.
The Spur Winged Plover is one of the few land birds that operate by night as well as by day. Sea birds do but most land birds sleep either day or night.
The SW Plover only visits us at night when I hear its lonesome cry. Spends all day just up the road and drops in after midnight. And how about that deliberate, mincing gait.
“The Plovers pass, mince through the grass”
Btw, did you see any Beach Stone Curlews at the Keppels? Not many around these days.
We have plovers in the Mallee but they seem to be a different bird than the one shown here.
It seems that given enough time all species (animal life at least) are likely to become extinct, a Nat Geo add on my pay tv keeps reminding me that 99.9% of all species have become exticnt.
That’s an awful lot of beasties over the last many millions of years and humans can’t be blamed either.
A note from Wet-Blanket Larry. The Warmies have correctly pointed out that some species occupying specialized cool-climate niches in isolated mountain ranges would be SOL in the event of rapid global warming. Their local habitat would be compromised, and some of them would be unable to migrate the long distance to mountains at higher latitudes. But I don’t think that rapid global warming would be an issue for birds having a large latitude range, like the Spur-Winged Plover.
Fortunately or unfortunately, we’re in a global cooling trend of indeterminate duration. When the continental glaciers do advance again, there may be a mirror-image problem for specialized, high-latitude, temperate-climate species. If their escape routes to lower latitudes are blocked by high mountains, they too could be SOL. If we’re not too busy trying to save ourselves, we may want to consider some sort of Noah’s Ark or ferry service for endangered high-latitude species.
Jennifer
“The wader self introduced to New Zealand in the 1930s, and has expanded its range in Australia as well as New Zealand over the last few decades.”
On what observations was this based?
The term “self introduced” is problematical – what do you mean by that statement? That the plover flew from it’s source to NZ by purpose?
This interpretation falls into the same one Flannery made when discussing the existence of Peruvian Fishing Bats in NZ – another demonstrable nonsense when physical reality is added to the discussion.
Larry,
I’m wanting an example – which cool climate species is likely to go extinct from warming?
Louis,
OK. I mean it flew across – was not introduced by one of us/homo sapien. What term do you suggest I use?
You assume that the various this and thats can get from here to there. Birds can fly, fish can swim, but a lot of creepy crawlies ain’t gonna make it across that suburban subdivision. In addition to climate change, land use change makes a double whammy.
Jennifer wrote:
“I’m wanting an example – which cool climate species is likely to go extinct from warming? ”
I did not say “is likely”. I was opining that the principle is correct. But as almost everyone knows, we’ve been in a cooling trend for more than 10 years, and we won’t be testing the principle anytime soon. However I’m glad that you asked.
A moth, Xanthothrix ranunculi albipuncta, was thought to be extinct for more than 90 years. A friend of an entomologist hiking acquaintance has rediscovered it. To the best of my knowledge, this moth only lives in the canyon of the Middle Fork of the American River, in Northern California.
The climate there would be best described as temperate–toasty in the Summer, but occasionally dipping below freezing in the Winter. If the climate were to warm up a few degrees, the moth could become extinct. Heck, if you looked at the moth cross-eyed, it could become extinct. It’s existence is that tenuous.
the very recent preoccupation with temperature and in particular the idea that small changes in temperature may result in the extinction of particular species, does not sit well with their theories on the distribution of the many species with a very broad geographic range; like the spur-winged plover.
Once again, you have said that species with a broad geographic range can move. You have ignored the many species that don’t have a broad geographic range. You have also ignored the vast ocean at the bottom of Australia. Where are the southern species going to move to?
Jen you might ponder the impact of species moving from warmer into colder climes. e.g. sharks.
“Rises in the sea level around Antarctica in the past decade are almost entirely due to a warming ocean, not ice melting, says an Australian scientist leading a major international research program.
The finding comes after a US scientist warns that climate change could make Antarctica’s ocean temperatures warm enough for sharks, which would threaten the region’s unique marine life.
The 15-year study of temperature and salinity changes in the Southern Ocean found average temperatures warmed by about 0.3°C.”
http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2008/02/18/2165549.htm
Luke, SJT…,
I thought y’all believed in evolution and the survival of the fittest???
Afraid you Utopians warmers won’t measure up??
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
I thought y’all believed in evolution and the survival of the fittest???
Adaptation takes time with evolution. The warming will happen too quickly for many species to adapt. The process of adaptation is not a simple one, it means the death of those that don’t adapt and the survival of those that do.
SJT wrote:
“The warming will happen too quickly for many species to adapt.”
Will that happen before or after The Rapture?
>which cool climate species is likely to go extinct from warming?
Yikes Jen, I used to believe you had a PhD in the biological sciences (entomology). This latest crap, ably supported by your horde of Jurassic fans, has convinced me once and for all that you can’t possibly have been to university and studied science. Really??? I come here for a laugh nowadays. Unlike the weather, nothing here ever changes LOL. A shake of the head, a hearty guffaw, and I await the predicted assault from the usual crowd. Ho bloody hum. Spin that broken record guys, pfffft!!!
Will that happen before or after The Rapture?
Yet another person with absolutely nothing to say.
D’you think that warming will go something like this?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hJQ18S6aag
I also thought that bunnies not only could cope with with land use change but they were responsible for a fair bit of it themselves.
A magnificent photograph by which you draw attention to the fashion these days among birdies and zoologists generally, of attributing every change in species status to global warming. This does conservation a serious disservice – there are very few species that would be seriously threatened by even a two degree rise in temperature – if that were true then they would have died out millennia ago. There are many ‘unnatural’ reasons why a species may go into decline : pollution, over exploitation, habitat destruction etc. Often there would be something we can do to reverse these factors but if species decline is glibly attributed to climate change – something we can probably do nothing about – then it gives governments and other authorities the excuse to do nothing.
DH,
Just so true. A little warming would be the least of their problems.
Today, I have many feral dogs, foxes and cats chewing into our wildlife and I am desperately trying to locate the Eastern Bristle Bird which should be calling in spring but which I have not heard for some years. I live in hope that it is still in existence.
It’s not the possible warming that’s wiping them out.
SJT: “Adaptation takes time with evolution. The warming will happen too quickly for many species to adapt. The process of adaptation is not a simple one, it means the death of those that don’t adapt and the survival of those that do.”
Is this based on observation, or on your interpretation of history as written by your peers?
Further to David Harrison’s comment: a small column in the local paper about how various authorities are preparing a meeting to discuss preserving native wildlife from feral predators.
These sporadic talks have been going on for decades but nothing is ever done anymore. They used to, years ago.
Nowadays, the “threat” of AGW means that the solution is in the hands of higher authorities so all that is needed is impractical recommendations and nothing will be done once more.
BTW, this morning a flock of Spangled Drongos arrived, the first of the spring-summer visitors.
And you thought you had problems with only one.
Us Rabetts tend to wait for food to wander by.
“Us Rabetts…”
There’s only one Rabett – and that’s you Josh. Got any new insults to throw at me, or would you prefer to slink off now?
This is the Eastern Bristlebird. I’m sure the AGW advocates could make a good case for its demise to be due to “the warming”.
http://images.google.com.au/imgres?imgurl=http://www.animalpicturesarchive.com/ArchOLD-2/1109309210.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.animalpicturesarchive.com/view.php%3Ftid%3D3%26did%3D8850%26lang%3Dkr&usg=__CEhPySsjtfz4TYD2FMoVFLOKLMw=&h=640&w=848&sz=130&hl=en&start=5&um=1&tbnid=VN8DWNGQNZWygM:&tbnh=109&tbnw=145&prev=/images%3Fq%3Deastern%2Bbristlebird%26hl%3Den%26rlz%3D1W1GGIE_en%26sa%3DX%26um%3D1
AFAIK there is only one known pair left in Queensland.
http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/determinations/EasternBristlebirdEndSpListing.htm
This is the Eastern Bristlebird. I’m sure the AGW advocates could make a good case for its demise to be due to “the warming”.
Why? My first guess would be loss of habitat, or introduced pests.
Neil, Ms. Rabett would like a word. You may check your head at the door on the way out.
“Why? My first guess would be loss of habitat, or introduced pests.”
SJT,
See, you’re a sceptic after all.
But you’re quite right. These sort of nervous, shy little animals just cannot cope with overburgeoning human civilisation.
I urge a program of genetic engineering and selective breeding to produce plovers with white wings and backs. They would reflect solar radiation back into space unlike the present dark-coloured plovers which absorb heat then re-radiate it at night. A large enough population of white-backed plovers (Vanellus marohasyi) would increase the earth’s average albedo without any of the unpredictable side effects of geo-engineering.
Alan,
The GM plovers would need to eat more food to compensate for the *extra* reflected sunlight that doesn’t contribute to the maintenance of their body temperatures. That may translate into a genetic survival disadvantage. To compensate, we may need volunteers to man feeding stations in known plover haunts. In order to maximize their contribution to the Earth’s albedo, the volunteers should all drive white utes and wear tinfoil hats when they’re walking around outside.