{"pk":62708,"title":"Distribution and Habitat Associations of California Black Rail (\nLaterallus jamaicensis cortuniculus\n) in the Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta","subtitle":null,"abstract":"Past studies documenting the distribution and status of state “Threatened\" California black rail (\nLaterallus jamaicensis coturniculus\n; hereafter black rail) have largely omitted the Sacramento—San Joaquin Delta (hereafter Delta). During March to May of 2009–2011, we conducted call–playback surveys to assess the status of the species within a wide range of wetland habitats of the central Delta region. We detected black rails at 21 of 107 discrete wetland sites, primarily on in-channel islands with dense cover. To better understand the habitat and land cover characteristics, we developed a model of habitat suitability from these occurrence data and a fine-scale vegetation and land use dataset using MaxEnt. We also evaluated differences in the size of wetlands at sites where black rails were detected versus where they were not. Through surveys and quantitative modeling, we found black rail presence differed from other regions within California and Arizona, in that it was positively associated with tall (1 to 5 m) emergent vegetation interspersed with riparian shrubs. Specific plants correlated with black rail presence included emergent wetland (\nBolboschoenus\n \nacutus\n, \nB. californicus\n, \nB. acutus\n, \nTypha angustifolia\n, \nT. latifolia\n, \nPhragmites australis\n) and riparian (\nSalix exigua\n, \nS. lasiolepis\n, \nRosa californica\n, \nRubus discolor\n, \nCornus sericea\n) species. Median patch size was significantly larger and perimeter-to-area ratios were significantly lower at wetland sites where black rails were found. These results provide a preliminary characterization of black rail habitat in the Delta region and highlight the need for better understanding of this listed species’ population size and habitat use in the region, in light of anticipated climate change effects and proposed large-scale restoration in the Delta.","language":"en","license":{"name":"Creative Commons Attribution 4.0","short_name":"CC BY 4.0","text":"Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.\n\nNo additional restrictions — You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0"},"keywords":[{"word":"California black rail, Laterallus jamaicensis coturniculus, Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta"}],"section":"Research Article","is_remote":true,"remote_url":"https://escholarship.org/uc/item/6cn2h9tt","frozenauthors":[{"first_name":"Danika","middle_name":"C.","last_name":"Tsao","name_suffix":"","institution":"Division of Environmental Services, California Department of Water Resources","department":""},{"first_name":"Ronald","middle_name":"E.","last_name":"Melcer, Jr.","name_suffix":"","institution":"FloodSAFE Environmental Stewardship and Statewide Resources Office, California Department of Water Resources","department":""},{"first_name":"Michael","middle_name":"","last_name":"Bradbury","name_suffix":"","institution":"Executive Division, California Department of Water Resources","department":""}],"date_submitted":"2015-12-14T03:30:33+01:00","date_accepted":"2015-12-14T03:30:33+01:00","date_published":"2015-12-17T09:00:00+01:00","render_galley":null,"galleys":[{"label":"","type":"pdf","path":"https://journalpub.escholarship.org/jmie_sfews/article/62708/galley/48390/download/"}]}