| | Accession Number | 5004660 |
| | Title | Ecosystem response of salt marshes to OMWM: coastal refuges of FWS Region 5 |
| | Project Description | By the 1930s, most salt marshes throughout the northeastern US had been ditched for mosquito |
| | control purposes, and to a lesser extent, for salt hay farming. Documented impacts of this |
| | extensive network of ditching include drainage of marsh pools and pannes, lowered water table |
| | levels, vegetation changes, and associated trophic responses. To restore the ecological functions |
| | of ditched salt marshes, while maintaining effective mosquito control, the USFWS Region 5 is |
| | conducting studies to evaluate the effectiveness of the practice known as Open Marsh Water |
| | Management (OMWM) and ditch plugging. The purpose of this study is to compare and evaluate |
| | marshes that have undergone OMWM or ditch plugging with parallel ditched marshes. Physical |
| | (hydrology, water table level, surface flooding, marsh development), chemical (soil salinity, soil |
| | sulfide), and ecological (vegetation, nekton, waterbirds, cryptic birds, marsh invertebrates, |
| | mosquito production) factors will be evaluated. Over a 3 year period, study sites will be |
| | established at coastal Refuges from Maine to Delaware. |
| | Keywords | birds, fish, marsh management, salt marsh, vegetation, |
| | Principal | R. M Erwin, USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center: rme5g@virginia.edu ; Matthew |
| | Investigators | Perry, USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center: matthew_perry@usgs.gov ; |
| | William Kendall, USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center: William_Kendall@usgs.gov ; |
| | Glenn Guntenspergen, USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center: |
| | glenn_guntenspergen@usgs.gov ; Donald Cahoon, USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center: |
| | don_cahoon@usgs.gov |
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