Abstract
Wetlands in southern Ontario are at risk of degradation and alteration due to human activities. This is a concern because wetlands provide essential habitat for species from a range of taxa, such as birds and anurans (frogs and toads). One wetland-dwelling species whose decline may be linked to loss of wetland wildlife habitat is the muskrat (Ondatra zibethicus). The decline of muskrats may also be linked to declines of other species because muskrats engage in activities that could support taxa such as birds and anurans by increasing habitat heterogeneity. We investigated whether bird and anuran species richness is related to muskrat density or if it is better predicted by land cover variables that describe the wetland and surrounding area at 30 coastal wetlands on Lake Ontario. We estimated bird and anuran species richness using data from the Great Lakes Marsh Monitoring Program and the Great Lakes Coastal Wetland Monitoring Program, and muskrat density based on muskrat house counts. Our results suggest that muskrat activity did not predict richness of anurans or birds overall; however, it did predict richness for the subset of birds that nest in emergent aquatic vegetation. Our results indicate that muskrat abundance in emergent marshes may increase habitat quality for birds that nest in emergent vegetation but may not have a measurable effect on anuran diversity in these same wetlands.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Data Availability
Our final dataset and R coding script are available on Dryad.
References
Ahlers AA, Heske EJ (2017) Empirical evidence for declines in muskrat populations across the United States: muskrat population declines. The Journal of Wildlife Management 81:1408–1416. https://doi.org/10.1002/jwmg.21328
Albert DA, Ingram J, Thompson D, Wilcox D (2003) Great lakes coastal wetlands classification first revision. Great lakes coastal wetland consortium. https://www.glc.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/CWC-GLWetlandsInventory-wetlands-classrev1-2003.pdf. Accessed 30 May 2023
Albert DA, Wilcox DA, Ingram J, Thompson TA (2005) Hydrogeomorphic classification for great lakes coastal wetlands. Journal of Great Lakes Research 31:129–146
Alisauskas RT, Arnold TW (1994) American coots. In: Tacha TC, Braun CE (eds) Migratory shore and upland game bird management in North America. International Association of Fish and Game Agencies, Washington, pp 127–144
Ashley EP, Robinson JT (1996) Road mortality of amphibians, reptiles and other wildlife on the Long Point Causeway, Lake Erie, Ontario. Canadian Field-Naturalist 110:403–412
Batzer D, Cooper R, Wissinger S (2006) Wetland animal ecology. In: Batzer D, Sharitz R (eds) Ecology of Freshwater and Estuarine wetlands. University of California Press, Berkeley, pp 242–284
Bellrose FC (1950) The relationship of muskrat populations to various marsh and aquatic plants. Journal of Wildlife Management 14:299–315. https://doi.org/10.2307/3796150
Benoit LK, Askins RA (1999) Impact of the spread of Phragmites on the distribution of birds in Connecticut tidal marshes. Wetlands 19:194–208. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03161749
Bird Studies Canada (2009a) Marsh monitoring program participant’s handbook for surveying amphibians. Bird Studies Canada in cooperation with Environment Canada and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Port Rowan
Bird Studies Canada (2009b) Marsh monitoring program participant’s handbook for surveying marsh birds. Bird studies Canada in cooperation with environment Canada and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Port Rowan
Boers AM, Zedler JB (2008) Stabilized water levels and Typha invasiveness. Wetlands 28:676–685. https://doi.org/10.1672/07-223.1
Boers AM, Veltman RLD, Zedler JB (2007) Typha×glauca dominance and extended hydroperiod constrain restoration of wetland diversity. Ecological Engineering 29:232–244. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoleng.2006.04.011
Bogner HE, Baldassarre GA (2002) Home range, movement, and nesting of least bitterns in western New York. Wilson Bull 114:297–308
Bomske CM, Ahlers AA (2021) How do muskrats Ondatra zibethicus affect ecosystems? A review of evidence. Mammal Review 51:40–50. https://doi.org/10.1111/mam.12218
Boutin S, Birkenholz DE (1987) Muskrat and round-tailed muskrat. In: Novak M, Baker JA, Obbard ME, Malloch B (eds) Wild furbearer management and conservation in North America. Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, Toronto, Ontario, pp 314–325
Brietzke C (2015) Muskrat ecology in the Mackenzie Delta: insights from local knowledge and ecological field surveys. Arctic 68:527. https://doi.org/10.14430/arctic4538
Brown M, Dinsmore JJ (1986) Implications of marsh size and isolation for marsh bird management. Journal of Wildlife Management 50:392–397. https://doi.org/10.2307/3801093
Burnham KP, Anderson DR, Huyvaert KP (2011) AIC model selection and multimodel inference in behavioral ecology: some background, observations, and comparisons. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 65:23–35. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-010-1029-6
Cadman MD, Sutherland DA, Beck GG et al (eds) (2007) Atlas of the breeding birds of Ontario. Bird studies Canada, Environment Canada, Ontario Field ornithologists. Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, and Ontario Nature, Toronto
Carr L, Fahrig L (2001) Effect of road traffic on two amphibian species of differing vagility. Conservation Biology 15:1071–1078. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1523-1739.2001.0150041071.x
Cerda-Peña C, Rau JR (2023) The importance of wetland habitat area for waterbird species-richness. Ibis. https://doi.org/10.1111/ibi.13205
MacFarlane D, Clamen M (eds) (2020) The first century of the international joint commission. University of Calgary Press, 1st edn. vol 10. JSTOR. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvvb7kmv.
Connors LM, Kiviat E, Groffman PM, Ostfeld RS (2000) Muskrat (Ondatra zibethicus) disturbance to vegetation and potential net nitrogen mineralization and nitrification rates in a freshwater tidal marsh. The American Midland Naturalist 143:53–53
Crowder AA, Bristow JM (1988) The future of waterfowl habitats in the Canadian lower Great Lakes wetlands. Journal of Great Lakes Research 14:115–127. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0380-1330(88)71539-7
de Szalay FA, Cassidy W (2001) Effects of muskrat (Ondatra zibethicus) lodge construction on invertebrate communities in a great lakes coastal wetland. The American Midland Naturalist 146:300–300
Desgranges J-L, Ingram J, Drolet B et al (2006) Modelling wetland bird response to water level changes in the Lake Ontario – St. Lawrence River hydrosystem. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment 113:329–365. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-005-9087-3
Donohoe RW (1966) Muskrat reproduction in areas of controlled and uncontrolled water-level units. Journal of Wildlife Management 30(2):320–326. https://doi.org/10.2307/3797820
Dozier HL, Markley MH, Llewellyn LM (1948) Muskrat investigations on the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge, Maryland, 1941–1945. Journal of Wildlife Management 12:177. https://doi.org/10.2307/3796414
Eigenbrod F, Hecnar SJ, Fahrig L (2008) The relative effects of road traffic and forest cover on anuran populations. Biological Conservation 141:35–46. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2007.08.025
Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI) (2011) ArcGIS Desktop: release 10. Version 10.7.1. Environmental Systems Research Institute, Redlands
Fahrig L, Rytwinski T (2009) Effects of roads on animal abundance: an empirical review and synthesis. Ecol Soc 14:1. JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26268057. Accessed 5 Mar 2024
Fahrig L, Pedlar JH, Pope SE et al (1995) Effect of road traffic on amphibian density. Biological Conservation 73:177–182. https://doi.org/10.1016/0006-3207(94)00102-V
Farrell JM, Murry BA, Leopold DJ et al (2010) Water-level regulation and coastal wetland vegetation in the upper St. Lawrence River: inferences from historical aerial imagery, seed banks, and Typha dynamics. Hydrobiologia (incorporating JAQU) 647:127–144. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-009-0035-z
Findlay C, Bourdages J (2001) Response time of wetland biodiversity to road construction on adjacent lands. Conservation Biology 14:86–94. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1523-1739.2000.99086.x
Findlay CS, Houlahan J (1997) Anthropogenic correlates of species richness in southeastern Ontario wetlands. Conservation Biology 11:1000–1009
Finlayson M, Cruz RD, Davidson N et al (2005) Millennium ecosystem assessment: ecosystems and human well-being: wetlands and water synthesis. World Resources Institute, Washington
Gibbs JP (1995) Hydrologic needs of wetland animals. In: Fath B (ed) Encyclopedia of ecology, 2nd edn. Academic Press, New York, pp 267–276
Gibbs JP (1998) Amphibian movements in response to forest edges, roads, and streambeds in southern New England. Journal of Wildlife Management 62:584–589. https://doi.org/10.2307/3802333
Grabas GP, Crewe TL, Timmermans STA (2008) Bird community indicators. Great Lakes Coastal wetlands monitoring plan. Great Lakes Wetlands Consortium and Great Lakes Commission, Ann Arbor, pp 116–142
Greenhorn JE, Sadowski C, Holden J, Bowman J (2017) Coastal wetlands connected to Lake Ontario have reduced muskrat (Ondatra zibethicus) abundance. Wetlands 37:339–349. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13157-016-0874-0
Gregory GJ, Dibblee R, Daoust P-Y, van den Heuvel MR (2019) Declines in muskrat (Ondatra zibethicus) population density in Prince Edward Island, Canada. Canadian Wildlife Biology and Management 8:46–60
Guadagnin DL, Maltchik L (2007) Habitat and landscape factors associated with neotropical waterbird occurrence and richness in wetland fragments. Biodiversity and Conservation 16:1231–1244. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-006-9127-5
Harris SW, Marshall WH (1963) Ecology of water-level manipulations on a northern marsh. Ecology 44:331–343. https://doi.org/10.2307/1932180
Herdendorf CE (1992) Lake Erie coastal wetlands: an overview. Journal of Great Lakes Research 18:533–551. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0380-1330(92)71321-5
Hewitt N, Miyanishi K (1997) The role of mammals in maintaining plant species richness in a floating Typha marsh in southern Ontario. Biodiversity and Conservation 6:1085–1102. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1018380000881
Higgins C, Mitsch WJ (2001) The role of muskrats (Ondatra zibethicus) as ecosystem engineers in created freshwater marshes. https://kb.osu.edu/bitstream/handle/1811/358/muskrat%20engineers.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y. Accessed 30 May 2023
Hohman TR, Howe RW, Tozer DC et al (2021) Influence of lake levels on water extent, interspersion, and marsh birds in Great Lakes coastal wetlands. Journal of Great Lakes Research 47:534–545. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jglr.2021.01.006
IJC (2016) Lake Ontario-St. Lawrence River Plan 2014: summary of benefits and impacts. https://legacyfiles.ijc.org/tinymce/uploaded/LOSLR/Plan2014FactSheet_EN.pdf . Accessed 30 May 2023
Kaminski RM, Prince HH (1981) Dabbling duck and aquatic macroinvertebrate responses to manipulated wetland habitat. Journal of Wildlife Management 45:1–15. https://doi.org/10.2307/3807868
Keddy PA, Reznicek AA (1986) Great lakes vegetation dynamics: the role of fluctuating water levels and buried seeds. Journal of Great Lakes Research 12:25–36. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0380-1330(86)71697-3
Keough JR, Thompson TA, Guntenspergen GR, Wilcox DA (1999) Hydrogeomorphic factors and ecosystem responses in coastal wetlands of the Great lakes. Wetlands 19:821–834. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03161786
Kiviat E (1978) Vertebrate use of muskrat lodges and burrows. Estuaries 1:196–200. https://doi.org/10.2307/1351464
Knutson MG, Sauer JR, Olsen DA et al (1999) Effects of landscape composition and wetland fragmentation on frog and toad abundance and species richness in Iowa and Wisconsin, U.S.A. Conservation Biology 13:1437–1446. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1523-1739.1999.98445.x
Kroegera SB, Hanslinb HM, Lennartssonc T, D'Amicod M, Kollmannb J, Fischerg C, Albertsena E, Speed JDM (2022) Impacts of roads on bird species richness: a meta-analysis considering road types, habitats and feeding guilds. Sci Total Environ 812:151478
Kroll RW, Meeks RL (1985) Muskrat population recovery following habitat re-establishment near southwestern Lake Erie. Wildlife Society Bulletin 13:483–486
Kua ZX, Stella JC, Farrell JM (2020) Local disturbance by muskrat, an ecosystem engineer, enhances plant diversity in regionally-altered wetlands. Ecosphere 11:e03256. https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.3256
Kushlan JA (1989) Avian use of fluctuating wetlands. In: Sharit RR, Gibbons JW (eds) Freshwater wetlands and Wildlife. Office of Scientific and Technical Information, Department of Energy, Oak Ridge, pp 593–604
Langen TA, Machniak A, Crowe EK et al (2007) Methodologies for surveying herpetofauna mortality on rural highways. Journal of Wildlife Management 71:1361–1368. https://doi.org/10.2193/2006-385
LeClair G, Chatfield MWH, Wood Z et al (2021) Influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on amphibian road mortality. Conserv Sci Pract 3:e535. https://doi.org/10.1111/csp2.535
Lishawa SC, Dunton EM, Pearsall DR et al (2020) Wetland waterbird food resources increased by harvesting invasive cattails. Journal of Wildlife Management 84:1326–1337. https://doi.org/10.1002/jwmg.21912
Markle CE, Chow-Fraser G, Chow-Fraser P (2018) Long-term habitat changes in a protected area: implications for herpetofauna habitat management and restoration. PLoS One 13:e0192134–e0192134. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0192134
Mazerolle MJ (2023) AICcmodavg: Model selection and multimodel inference based on (Q)AIC(c). R package version 2.3.3, https://cran.r-project.org/package=AICcmodavg
Messier F, Virgl JA (1992) Differential use of bank burrows and lodges by muskrats, Ondatra zibethicus, in a northern marsh environment. Canadian Journal of Zoology-Revue Canadienne De Zoologie 70:1180–1184. https://doi.org/10.1139/z92-165
Mitchell ME, Lishawa SC, Geddes P et al (2011) Time-dependent impacts of cattail invasion in a great lakes coastal wetland complex. Wetlands 31:1143–1149. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13157-011-0225-0
Mitra S, Wassmann R, Vlek PLG (2003) Global inventory of wetlands and their role in the carbon cycle. ZEF – Discussion Papers On Development Policy No. 64, Center for Development Research, Bonn, pp 44
Mitsch WJ, Gosselink JG (2000) The value of wetlands: importance of scale and landscape setting. Ecological Economics 35:25–33. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0921-8009(00)00165-8
Morelli F, Beim M, Jerzak L, Jones D, Tryjanowski P (2014) Can roads, railways and related structures have positive effects on birds? – a review. Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment 30:21–31. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trd.2014.05.006
Mott CL, Bloomquist CK, Nielsen CK (2013) Within-lodge interactions between two ecosystem engineers, beavers (Castor canadensis) and muskrats (Ondatra zibethicus). Behaviour 150:1325–1344. https://doi.org/10.1163/1568539X-00003097
Nummi P, Väänänen V-M, Malinen J (2006) Alien grazing: indirect effects of muskrats on invertebrates. Biological Invasions 8:993–999. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-005-1197-x
Nyman JA, Chabreck RH, Kinler NW (1993) Some effects of herbivory and 30 years of weir management on emergent vegetation in Brackish Marsh. Wetlands 13:165–175. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03160877
OMNR (2000) Significant wildlife habitat technical guide. Printed in Ontario, Canada by the Queen’s printer for Ontario, p 151. https://dr6j45jk9xcmk.cloudfront.net/documents/3620/significant-wildlifehabitat-technical-guide.pdf
Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources (2015) Southern Ontario Land Resource Information System (SOLRIS) land use data. Printed in Ontario, Canada by the King’s Printer for Ontario. https://ws.gisetl.lrc.gov.on.ca/fmedatadownload/Packages/SOLRIS_Version_3_0.zip. Accessed 5 Mar 2023
Palomino D, Carrascal LM (2007) Threshold distances to nearby cities and roads influence the bird community of a mosaic landscape. Biological Conservation 140:100–109. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2007.07.029
Parris KM (2006) Urban amphibian assemblages as metacommunities. The Journal of Animal Ecology 75:757–764. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2656.2006.01096.x
Penfound E, Vaz E (2022) Analysis of 200 years of change in Ontario wetland systems. Applied Geography 138:102625. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apgeog.2021.102625
Prince HH, Padding PI, Knapton RW (1992) Waterfowl use of the Laurentian Great Lakes. Journal of Great Lakes Research 18:673–699. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0380-1330(92)71329-X
Proulx G, Gilbert FF (1983) The ecology of the muskrat, Ondatra zibethicus, at Luther Marsh, Ontario. Canadian Field-Naturalist 97:377–390
Proulx G, Gilbert FF (1984) Estimating muskrat population trends by house counts. Journal of Wildlife Management 48:917. https://doi.org/10.2307/3801438
Pulugurtha SS, Mathew S (2021) Modeling AADT on local functionally classified roads using land use, road density, and nearest nonlocal road data. Journal of Transport Geography 93:103071. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2021.103071
Quinn P (2013) Road density as a proxy for population density in regional-scale risk modeling. Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences 65:1227–1248. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-012-0379-y
R Core Team (2013) R: language and environment for statistical computing. Version 2022.12.0, Build 353. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria. https://www.R-project.org/
Rehm EM, Baldassarre GA (2007) The influence of interspersion on marsh bird abundance in New York. The Wilson Journal of Ornithology 119:648–655
Riffell SK, Keas BE, Burton TM (2001) Area and habitat relationships of birds in great lakes coastal wet meadows. Wetlands 21:492–507. https://doi.org/10.1672/0277-5212(2001)021[0492:AAHROB]2.0.CO;2
Roberts NM, Crimmins SM (2010) Do trends in muskrat harvest indicate widespread population declines? Northeastern Naturalist 17:229–238. https://doi.org/10.1656/045.017.0206
Robichaud CD, Rooney RC (2022) Invasive grass causes biotic homogenization in wetland birds in a Lake Erie coastal marsh. Hydrobiologia (incorporating JAQU) 849:3197–3212. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-022-04925-6
Roman CT, Niering WA, Warren RS (1984) Salt marsh vegetation change in response to tidal restriction. Environmental Management 8:141–149. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01866935
Rosenzweig ML (1995) Species diversity in space and time. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Russi D, Brink PT, Badura T et al (2013) The economics of ecosystems and biodiversity for water and wetlands. IEEP, London and Brussels
Rytwinski T, Fahrig L (2012) Do species life history traits explain population responses to roads? A meta-analysis. Biological Conservation 147:87–98. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2011.11.023
Sadowski C, Bowman J (2021) Historical surveys reveal a long-term decline in muskrat populations. Ecology and Evolution 11:7557–7568. https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.7588
Schummer ML, Palframan J, McNaughton E et al (2012) Comparisons of bird, aquatic macroinvertebrate, and plant communities among dredged ponds and natural wetland habitats at Long Point, Lake Erie, Ontario. Wetlands 32:945–953. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13157-012-0328-2
Shay JM, de Geus PMJ, Kapinga MRM (1999) Changes in shoreline vegetation over a 50-year period in the Delta Marsh, Manitoba in response to water levels. Wetlands 19:413–425. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03161773
Smith IM, Fiorino GE, Grabas GP, Wilcox DA (2021) Wetland vegetation response to record-high Lake Ontario water levels. Journal of Great Lakes Research 47:160–167. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jglr.2020.10.013
Snell EA (1987) Wetland distribution and conversion in southern Ontario. Inland Waters and Lands Directorate, Environment Canada, Ottawa
Studholme KR, Fiorino GE, Grabas GP, Tozer DC. 2023. Influence of surrounding land cover on marsh-breeding birds: Implications for wetland restoration and conservation planning. J Great Lakes Res 49(1):318–331
Thurber JR, Peterson RO, Drummer T (1991) The effect of regulated lake levels on muskrats, Ondatra zibethicus, in Voyageurs National Park, Minnesota. Canadian Field-Naturalist 105:34–40
Timmermans STA, Crewe TL, Grabas GP et al (2008) Amphibian community indicators. In: Burton TM, Brazner JC, Ciborowksi JJH et al (eds) Great Lakes Coastal wetlands Monitoring Plan. Great Lakes Wetlands Consortium and Great Lakes Commission, Ann Arbor, pp 116–142
Toner J, Farrell JM, Mead JV (2010) Muskrat abundance responses to water level regulation within freshwater coastal wetlands. Wetlands 30:211–219. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13157-010-0034-x
Tozer DC (2016) Marsh bird occupancy dynamics, trends, and conservation in the southern Great Lakes basin: 1996 to 2013. Journal of Great Lakes Research 42:136–145. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jglr.2015.10.015
Tozer DC, Mackenzie SA (2019) Control of invasive Phragmites increases marsh birds but not frogs. Canadian Wildlife Biology and Management 8:66–82
Tozer DC, Nol E, Abraham KF (2010) Effects of local and landscape-scale habitat variables on abundance and reproductive success of wetland birds. Wetlands Ecology and Management 18:679–693. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11273-010-9187-x
Tozer DC, Stewart RLM, Steele O, Gloutney M (2020) Species-habitat relationships and priority areas for marsh-breeding birds in Ontario. Journal of Wildlife Management 84:786–801. https://doi.org/10.1002/jwmg.21840
Tuchman NC, Larkin DJ, Geddes P et al (2009) Patterns of environmental change associated with Typha x glauca invasion in a great lakes coastal wetland. Wetlands 29:964–975. https://doi.org/10.1672/08-71.1
Uzarski DG, Brady VJ, Cooper MJ, Wilcox DA, Albert DA, Axler RP, Bostwick P, Brown TN, Ciborowski JJH, Danz NP, Gathman JP, Gehring TM, Grabas GP, Garwood A, Howe RW, Johnson LB, Lamberti GA, Moerke AH, Murry BA, Niemi GJ, Norment CJ, Ruetz CR, Steinman AD, Tozer DC, Wheeler R, O’Donnell TK, Schneider JP (2017) Standardized measures of coastal wetland condition: implementation at a Laurentian Great Lakes basin-wide scale. Wetlands 37:15–32. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13157-016-0835-7
van der Hoek Y, Tuyisingize D, Eckardt W et al (2019) Spatial variation in anuran richness, diversity, and abundance across montane wetland habitat in Volcanoes National Park, Rwanda. Ecology and Evolution 9:4220–4230. https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.5054
van der Valk AG, Davis CB (1978) The role of seed banks in the vegetation dynamics of prairie glacial marshes. Ecology 59:322–335. https://doi.org/10.2307/1936377
Vierling KT (1999) Habitat quality, population density and habitat-specific productivity of Red-winged blackbirds (Agelaius phoeniceus) in Boulder County, Colorado. The American Midland Naturalist 142:401–409. https://doi.org/10.1674/0003-0031(1999)142[0401:HQPDAH]2.0.CO;2
Vierling KT (2000) Source and sink habitats of Red-Winged Blackbirds in a rural/suburban landscape. Ecological Applications 10:1211–1218. https://doi.org/10.1890/1051-0761(2000)010[1211:SASHOR]2.0.CO;2
Walpole A, Bowman J, Tozer D, Giesbrecht D (2012) Community-level response to climate change: shifts in anuran calling phenology. Herpetological Conservation and Biology 7:249–257
Ward EM, Gorelick SM (2018) Drying drives decline in muskrat population in the Peace-Athabasca Delta, Canada. Environmental Research Letters 13:124026. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aaf0ec
Weller MW, Spatcher CS (1965) Role of habitat in the distribution and abundance of marsh birds. Iowa State University, Ames
Wilcox DA, Apfelbaum SI, Hiebert RD (1984) Cattail invasion of sedge meadows following hydrologic disturbance in the Cowles Bog Wetland Complex, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. Wetlands 4:115–128. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03160491
Wilcox DA, Kowalski KP, Hoare HL et al (2008) Cattail invasion of sedge/grass meadows in Lake Ontario: photointerpretation analysis of sixteen wetlands over five decades. Journal of Great Lakes Research 34:301–323. https://doi.org/10.3394/0380-1330(2008)34[301:CIOGMI]2.0.CO;2
Funding
The authors declare that no funds, grants, or other support were received during the preparation of this manuscript.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
C. Sadowski collected muskrat data and J. Greenhorn summarized muskrat and habitat data. D. Tozer provided data from CWMP and GLMMP. All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Statistical analyses and the first draft of the manuscript were conducted by J.E. Baici, J.Bowman, T. Burgess, S.R. Kielar, K.D. Martin, L. Menelon, G.P. Melvin, S.L. Newar, R.N. Persad, K. Solmundson, and M. Ward and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Competing Interests
The authors have no relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose.
Additional information
Publisher’s Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Supplementary Information
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
ESM 1
(DOCX 26.3 KB)
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
Baici, J.E., Martin, K.D., Newar, S.L. et al. Relationships Between Muskrat Density and Avian and Anuran Richness in Great Lakes Coastal Wetlands. Wetlands 44, 38 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13157-024-01791-x
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13157-024-01791-x