Gull Point: Defining Role of Area Change and Water Level Rise at Piping Plover Habitat

Orbovich, Leonard

Gull Point: Defining Role of Area Change and Water Level Rise at Piping Plover Habitat

Persistent URL

https://dspace.allegheny.edu/handle/10456/56700

Author(s)

Orbovich, Leonard

Date Issued

May 1, 2023

Abstract

In 1987, the United States Army Corps of Engineers created fifty-eight segmented offshore breakwaters to limit the erosion of Presque Isle’s swimming beaches. These breakwaters have affected the erosion of the eastern Gull Point, a unique habitat site for over 300 species of birds. One of these species, the rare Great Lakes Piping Plover, returned to nest naturally at Gull Point in 2016 after a 60 year migratory hiatus, which can be attributed to increased human interaction with the Presque Isle site. This study is an analysis of the changes in area and water level at Gull Point in the years 1939, 1968, 1993, 2005, 2010, and 2018 to determine the viability of the habitat here for Piping Plovers. The effects of the breakwaters on total site area and water level were especially noted, which is present in years 1993, 2005, 2010, and 2018. Using aerial photographs and the ArcGIS program, polygons were drawn over the site for each survey year to determine total site area. Monthly water level data from the US Army Engineer Corp was used to determine yearly average datums for each survey year. The changes in area and water level were plotted along a combo chart to determine a potential relationship. Changes in area at the Gull Point site have been drastic since the late 1930s. Water level over this same period has remained relatively unchanged, as less than a meter rise has been noted since 1939. Since 1968, continued area loss has been noted at the Gull Point site. Between 1968 and 2018, .162 square kilometers (70.434%) of Piping Plover habitable land has been lost due to limited longshore sediment deposition. This reduction in total habitat area subsequently affects the already-endangered Piping Plover population, putting their prospect of nesting naturally at the site at risk.

Major

Environmental Science

First Reader(s)

Bowden, Richard D.