Patterns of Horseshoe Crab Egg Depletion by Foraging Shorebirds in Delaware Bay
It has been postulated that the declining population of red knots (Calidris canutus rufa) is limited by the amount and availability of horseshoe crab eggs at Delaware Bay, a major stopover site. To test this hypothesis, we quantified rates of horseshoe crab egg depletion by foraging shorebirds from 15 May 2005-3 June 2005 on eight beaches on Delaware Bay. We compared the 1) numbers of eggs lost and 2) proportion of eggs lost directly between plots where birds were allowed to forage versus plots from which they were excluded in three beach microhabitats: wrack line (e.g., intertidal zone...
