Factors Affecting Wetland Use by Spring Migrating Ducks in the Southern Prairie Pothole Region

Abstract

There is increasing recognition of the importance of wetlands in the prairie pothole region (PPR) of the northern United States for stopover habitat for spring-migrating waterfowl. The quality and quantity of stopover habitat found near breeding areas can affect speed and success of migration and subsequent breeding events. Conservation and management of wetlands in the region has traditionally focused narrowly on reproductive phases of the life cycle, and little to no research has examined how ducks use a diversity of available wetlands in the region during migration. We conducted weekly surveys on 1,061 wetlands during spring 2018 and 2019 to examine factors affecting duck use of wetlands in the intensively modified southern PPR landscape of Iowa, USA, for wetland restoration and conservation strategies. We compared wetland types, which included farmed, seasonal, and semi-permanent wetlands, and lakes. The highest duck use per unit area occurred on semi-permanent wetlands, followed by seasonal, and then farmed wetlands, and lakes. Ducks were highly clustered in our study, with 75% of all use-days occurring on only 37 wetlands comprising 41% of all wetland area surveyed. We used hurdle models to examine how local and landscape factors measured within and around wetlands influenced duck use during spring migration. Multiple factors related to duck use at local and landscape scales, such as wetland area, vegetation abundance, and number of wetlands in the surrounding landscape. Among semi-permanent wetlands, local factors within wetlands were more important than landscape factors in determining duck use. Collectively, our findings suggest semi-permanent wetlands within the PPR play a key role in transitioning birds from wintering areas to breeding areas and that management of semi-permanent wetlands should promote interspersion of emergent vegetation and open water and growth of submersed aquatic plants to improve their function for migrants.

Wetland management practices and secretive marsh bird habitat in the Mississippi Flyway: a review

“…Finally, some of the other conditions produced by waterfowl habitat management in the Flyway have potential to benefit SMBs, but research is either lacking or inconclusive. For example, interspersion of vegetation and water is an important habitat characteristic for breeding and non‐breeding waterfowl within the Mississippi Flyway (Kaminski and Prince 1981, Webb et al 2010, Hagy and Kaminski 2012, Ballard et al 2021) and is often created or maintained in managed wetlands by partial mowing or disking of emergent vegetation just before wetlands are flooded. Research on how interspersion affects SMBs is less conclusive across species and latitudes within the Flyway (Bolenbaugh et al 2011, Baschuk et al 2012, Malone et al 2021).…”

“…Finally, some of the other conditions produced by waterfowl habitat management in the Flyway have potential to benefit SMBs, but research is either lacking or inconclusive. For example, interspersion of vegetation and water is an important habitat characteristic for breeding and non-breeding waterfowl within the Mississippi Flyway (Kaminski and Prince 1981, Webb et al 2010, Hagy and Kaminski 2012, Ballard et al 2021 (Malone et al 2021). There is evidence that some SMB species may prefer little or no interspersion.…”

Wetland occupancy by duck broods in cropland‐dominated landscapes of the United States Prairie Pothole Region

“…This result was loosely consistent with the negative relationship with vegetation reported in Walker et al (2013 a ) and non‐linear relationships reported in studies of brood abundance (Carrlson et al 2018). The influence of emergent vegetation on wetland use has been widely studied in this region among waterfowl (Bishop et al 1979, Bloom 2010, Ballard et al 2021) and other marsh birds (Harms and Dinsmore 2013, Vanausdall and Dinsmore 2019). Other researchers reported peak abundance (Weller and Spatcher 1965, Weller and Fredrickson 1974, Vanausdall and Dinsmore 2019) and greatest breeding‐pair densities (Kaminski and Prince 1981) of waterfowl and waterbirds in wetlands with approximately 50% emergent vegetation and open water.…”

Using learner‐generated poetry to help students understand technical scientific literature

“…During the last 2 weeks of the semester, we compared students’ perceived understanding of peer‐reviewed scientific literature by using a pre‐ and post‐survey design. We created pool of recently published articles (2016–2021) in Journal of Wildlife Management that broadly covered topics relevant to the course, including wetlands and waterfowl management (Anderson et al., 2018; B. M. Ballard et al., 2021, D. C. Ballard, 2021; Croston et al., 2018; Dyson et al., 2018; Finger et al., 2016; Fino et al., 2017; Fowler et al., 2020; Kemink et al., 2019; Livolsi et al., 2021; Marty et al., 2020; Meehan et al., 2021; Messmer et al., 2021; Triezenberg & Knuth, 2018; Williams et al., 2021). Much of the science covered in these papers was already broadly addressed in lectures and laboratory exercises during the semester.…”