| | Accession Number | 5004487 |
| | Title | Effects of impoundment management on vegetation change on Moosehorn NWR |
| | wetlands. |
| | Project Description | Intensive counts of waterfowl broods were performed by quite observation during June and July of |
| | 1984 and 1985 (J.R. Longcore, unpubl. data). At that time all managed wetlands on Moosehorn |
| | National Widlife Refuge were classified with the National Wetlands Inventory System (Cowardin et |
| | al. 1979) and amount of surface water was determined along with hectares of life forms of |
| | vegetation. Nearly 200 (152 to 192) waterfowl broods (mostly canada geese 147 and 50 and |
| | American black duck 53 and 44)were counted those years. Since that time vegetation in Howard |
| | Mill Pond, Lower Magurrewock, and Lower Barn Meadow has been manipulated, and two new |
| | wetlands have been constructed (i.e., Hatton, Seeley Flowages). Marsh bird use data are available |
| | for 32 of the largest impoundments along with basic water chemistry (Gibbs et al. 1991). Refuge |
| | managers have an interest in evaluating the effects of habitat manipulation on use by duck broods |
| | and other marsh birds (e.g., herons, bitterns, grebes, shorebirds). It is of interest to document |
| | changes in vegetation during the past 15 years of management at the refuge. It is timely inasmuch |
| | as water control structures on the larger impoundment complexes were replaced in 1999-2000 |
| | and a study of invertebrates and shorebirds is being initiated. Abundance of aquatic invertebrates |
| | is influenced by vegetative structure, stem density, and differences in plant species, thus this |
| | study to update impoundment vegetation maps is relevant to other ongoing work at the refuge. |
| | This two-year study will be a M.S. study by a minority graduate student and Patuxent personnel |
| | will serve in a mentoring role. Existing USGS wetland data for Moosehorn NWR will be available to |
| | the student as benchmark data for comparison. |
| | Keywords | gis mapping, impoundments, moosehorn nwr, vegetation, |
| | Principal | Cynthia Loftin, USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center: |
| | Investigators | Cyndy.loftin@apollo.umenfa.maine.edu; |
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