Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center
Effects of Vegetation Manipulation on Breeding Waterfowl in Prairie Wetlands
— A Literature Review*
Harold A. Kantrud
Abstract: Literature on the effects of fire and grazing on the
wetlands used by breeding prairie waterfowl is reviewed. Both dabbling and diving
ducks and their broods prefer wetlands with openings in the marsh canopy. Decreased
use is commonly associated with decreased habitat heterogeneity caused by tall,
robust hydrophytes such as Typha spp. and other species adapted to form
monotypes in the absence of disturbance. Nearly all previous studies indicate
that reductions in height and density of tall, emergent hydrophytes by fire
and grazing (unless very intensive) generally benefit breeding waterfowl. Such
benefits are an increase in pair density, probably related to increased interspersion
of cover and open water which decreases visibility among conspecific pairs,
and improvements in their invertebrate food resources that result from increased
habitat heterogeneity. Research needs are great because of the drastic changes
that have accrued to prairie wetlands through fire suppression, cultivation,
and other factors. The physical and biological environments preferred by species
of breeding waterfowl during their seasonal and daily activities should be ascertained
from future studies in wetland complexes that exist in the highest state of
natural preservation. Long-term burning and grazing experiments should follow
on specific vegetatively-degraded wetlands judged to be potentially important
breeding areas. Seasonality, frequency, and intensity of treatments should be
varied and combined and, in addition to measuring the response of the biotic
community, the changes in the physical and chemical environment of the wetlands
should be monitored to increase our knowledge of causative factors and possible
predictive values.
This resource is based on the following source (Northern Prairie Publication
764):
Kantrud, Harold A. 1990. Effects of vegetation manipulation on breeding
waterfowl in prairie wetlands — a literature review. Pages 93-123
in Can livestock be used as a tool to enhance wildlife habitat?
U.S. Dept. Agric., For. Serv. Gen. Tech. Rep. RM-194. 123 pp.
This resource should be cited as:
Kantrud, Harold A. 1990. Effects of vegetation manipulation on breeding
waterfowl in prairie wetlands — a literature review. Pages 93-123
in Can livestock be used as a tool to enhance wildlife habitat?
U.S. Dept. Agric., For. Serv. Gen. Tech. Rep. RM-194. 123 pp.
Jamestown, ND: Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center Online.
http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/wetlands/vegmanip/index.htm
(Version 27AUG2002).
Table of Contents
Figures
- Figure 1 -- A prairie wetland unburned
for more than 45 years lie offshore from the wet-meadow zone.
- Figure 2 -- Prescribed spring burn being
used to open a dense stand on the J. Clark Salyer National Wildlife Refuge.
- Figure 3 -- Long-term overgrazing can destroy
nearly all emergent vegetation in those shallow prairie wetlands having
firm bottom soils.
- Figure 4 -- Moderate cattle grazing created
the semiopen and more diverse plant community.
* This article was first published by the United States Department of Interior,
Fish and Wildlife Service, as Fish and Wildlife Technical Report 3, 1986.
Harold A. Kantrud, Wildlife Research Biologist, U. S. Fish
and Wildlife Service, Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center, P.O. Box
2096, Jamestown, North Dakota 58401
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