Presented by B. Cody Martin - Email: bcm22830@uamont.edu
Moist-soil wetlands in the Mississippi Alluvial Valley and Southern Coastal Plain provide essential foraging habitat for migrating and wintering waterfowl. National Wildlife Refuges focus resources on managing and monitoring moist-soil wetlands to maximize seed yield which increases the number of migratory and wintering waterfowl each wetland can support. Currently available seed production assessment methods range from rapid ocular estimates with moderate or unknown precision to labor-intensive morphometric measurements with relatively high precision but limited spatial validation. Our objective was to test several published rapid seed production assessment methods against the Integrated Waterbird Monitoring and Management Program method using standard soil core sampling procedure as a control. This study was conducted on 16 moist-soil wetlands across 6 National Wildlife Refuges in Arkansas, Missouri, Mississippi, and North Carolina. Average seed yield estimates derived using the Naylor et al. 2005 and the IWMM method appear to be more conservative compared to estimates using the Laubhan 1992 method. This research is expected to assist in the validation and refinement of rapid seed yield assessment protocols for the Integrated Waterbird Monitoring and Management Program. Word count: 179Q.2-15: Assessment of rapid seed yield monitoring protocols to assess foraging habitat quality in moist-soil wetlands on National Wildlife Refuges in the Southeast
B. Cody Martin, University of Arkansas, Monticello, AR 71656, USA
Heath M. Hagy, United States Fish and Wildlife Service, Stanton, TN 38069, USA
Douglas C. Osborne, Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station, Division of Agriculture, University of Arkansas, Monticello, AR 71656, USA
Heath M. Hagy, United States Fish and Wildlife Service, Stanton, TN 38069, USA
Douglas C. Osborne, Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station, Division of Agriculture, University of Arkansas, Monticello, AR 71656, USA