On Friday, May 9, at 8:45, Anja Bock will present her master's thesis in Coastal and Marine Management, titled: Characteristics of Sandy Beaches used by Resident Shorebirds in Tasmania. 

Her thesis advisors are Dr Eric Woehler, Honorary Research Associate at the University of Tasmania, and Professor Dr Mike Phillips, Pro Vice-Chancellor at the University of Wales, and the reader is Dr Gunnar Þór Hallgrímsson, an Associate Professor at the University of Iceland.

The presentation will start at 8:45 and takes place in room 6 at the Universtity Centre. Everyone is welcome.

Abstract

Across nations sandy beaches are highly valued for their social and economic importance. Their importance is especially high in Australia where 80% of the population live within 100 km of the coast and beaches have been viewed as a national icon. Despite that fact, biodiversity and the environmental value of sandy beaches as ecosystems is often ignored. There has been lack of research on resident shorebirds and their habitat requirements, particularly regarding the importance of abiotic sandy beach characteristics for shorebirds.
This study is aimed to identify important abiotic characteristics for selected breeding shorebird species in Tasmania, emphasising the underlying distribution and abundance patterns. Predictors were found to contribute to different extent for the three species investigated in this study, with the surf zone width being one of the most important abiotic predictors, and invertebrate abundance the most important biotic predictors. Species-specific differences were also revealed with regards to all investigated variables, and also regarding the distributions of the species among regions and beaches.

Key words: Shorebirds, Tasmania, Habitat use, Environmental factors, Sandy beaches, Distribution and abundance, Beach attributes