Wetland Ecology and Muskrat Population Dynamics

Beginning in 2008, Mike Ervin (M.S. student) and I collaborated with researchers from Ducks Unlimited Canada, Institute for Wetland and Waterfowl Research, and the University of Manitoba to begin study on the effects of altered hydrology and water level management on aquatic vegetation, water chemistry, muskrats, and water birds in the Saskatchewan River Delta. SRD is the largest inland delta in North America and one of the most productive wetland landscapes in North America, but it has also been substantially altered by hydroelectric developments. It is a complex system with slow decomposition rates, floating mats of vegetation, and a long tradition of furbearer trapping by local people. Graduate students face daily challenges keeping airboats running in these remote wetlands, while dodging mosquitoes!

The SRD project is modeled after the Marsh Ecology Research Project (MERP), which was designed to understand the ecological relationships between water levels, nutrient cycles, successional dynamics of vegetation, and animal population responses in prairie wetlands.

We worked on muskrat habitat selection, population dynamics, and density-dependent processes , based on recapture studies. I still pursue analyses to understand the relative importance of dispersal and survival in source sink dynamics of the MERP muskrats using the multi-stage models. The MERP studies were summarized in a book published by the Iowa State Press.