How Is a Piping Plover Important to Its Ecosystem?

The piping plover, or Charadrius melodus, is a small shorebird native to the east coast of North America. The species feeds and nests on sandy beaches along shorelines, and is in integral part of the coastal ecosystem. Habitat loss, predation from domestic animals and nest destruction by human activity have negatively impacted piping plover population numbers. The United States Fish and Wildlife Service officially listed the species as endangered in 1986.

Invertebrate Population Control

The piping plover feeds along sandy shorelines, gleaning small invertebrates, such as beetles, marine worms, crustaceans, mollusks and fly larvae. In this way the piping plover, like all predatory species, acts as a population control factor for its prey. Predators keep prey populations at sustainable, ecologically healthy levels and tend to cull the weak or sick individuals from the breeding population.

Pest Control

According to the fact sheet "Charadrius melodus Ord. Piping Plover" prepared by Michigan State University, gizzard content analysis indicates that fly larvae make up a significant portion of the piping plover's diet. While all population controls serve an important ecological function, control of pest species is especially useful to breeding mammals in the area and also to human neighbors.

Avian Food Source

Nest predation is a significant threat to piping plover populations, but also marks an important food source to other nesting birds in the ecosystem. Michigan State University identifies at least eight bird species, including gulls, crows, owls, merlins and falcons, that capitalize on plover eggs and chicks as a food source.

Mammalian Food Source

Similarly, the ground-nesting plovers provide a ready meal for several mammalian species in the ecosystem. Red foxes, coyotes and striped skunks are just a few of the mammal species that feed on eggs and juvenile plovers. While people may see this predation as a negative activity, if piping plover populations were at a sustainable level natural predation would have an overall positive ecological impact on both the mammalian predators and the plovers.

An Umbrella of Protection

Perhaps the most important role the piping plover serves in its ecosystem is that of an umbrella species. This is an ecological term used to describe a species whose environmental protection shelters a number of other organisms in the ecosystem as well. The piping plover has an enormous range and shares its habitat with American avocets, lesser nighthawks and great horned owls, to name just a few. Protecting the habitat of the piping plover will protect the home of these and many other species by association.

References

• The Goodwin-Niering Center for Conservation Biology and Environmental Studies, Connecticut College: The Piping Plover as an Umbrella Species for Barrier Beach Ecosystems
• Michigan Natural Features Inventory: Charadrius melodus Ord. Piping Plover

Resources

• National Audubon Society Watchlist: Piping Plover