| | Accession Number | 5004627 |
| | Title | Habitat and breeding densities of a Swainson's Warbler source population, Bond |
| | Swamp National Wildlife Refuge, Georgia |
| | Project Description | Swainsons Warbler (Limnothlypis swainsonii) inhabits swamps and river floodplain forests during |
| | the breeding season in the Coastal Plain of southeastern United States. The species is ranked as |
| | high priority and in need of research to determine management needs. One swamp in particular, |
| | Bond Swamp, has been documented as a high density population from the 1940s through the |
| | 1960s. A portion of this area is currently Bond Swamp National Wildlife Refuge (2,500 ha). The |
| | density of the birds population is unknown on the refuge. The Ocmulgee Rivers pulses of flood |
| | waters provide tremendous amounts of subsidized energy to the habitat of the Swainsons Warbler |
| | in Bond Swamp. This subsidized imported energy may be important to maintenance of optimum |
| | habitat and a high density population. Breeding bird data for Swainsons Warbler will be collected |
| | using transects and distance sampling techniques. Once Swainsons territories are located, |
| | additional bird and habitat data will be collected to determine the importance of soils, litter, cane |
| | stands (understory), overstory cover, and large trees on the presence of breeding Swainsons |
| | Warblers (compared to unmated birds territories, unoccupied cane, and random areas, t = 4). |
| | ANOVA and logistic regression analysis will be used to determine the importance of habitat and |
| | its structure in predicting Swainsons Warbler breeding presence. The habitat model will be verified |
| | in the second year using Swainsons Warbler territories not used in model development in 2002 in |
| | Bond Swamp and also in other areas on the Ocmulgee River bottomland forests. GIS will we |
| | used in 2002 to determine associations of flooding patterns with Swainsons Warbler territories. |
| | Patterns of flooding related to high density of Swainsons Warbler will provide important information |
| | for management recommendations and research. |
| | Keywords | birds, bond swamp, density, flooding pulses, floodplain, forests, georgia, habitat, migratory, |
| | models, ocmulgee river, swainsons warbler, wetlands, |
| | Principal | J M Meyers, USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center-Athens, GA: joe_meyers@usgs.gov; |
| | Investigators |
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