Abstract
Muskrats (Ondatra zibethicus) are aptly described as “ecosystem engineers” for their influences associated with herbivory, house building, and movement within freshwater wetlands. Sensitivity to flow regime alteration via hydrologic regulation, however, may limit their populations and ability to facilitate wetland diversity and heterogeneity. Muskrat house surveys in coastal wetlands in tributaries (reference wetlands) subject to regional scale water level regulation were compared to treatment sites where local scale water-control structures were installed to alter the regulation effect. Data were used to develop a two-step model to predict wetland occupancy then house density to assess effects associated with proposed water level regulation plans. Field surveys indicated low house densities for cattail-dominated reference wetlands, and nearly 85% of houses located were in treatment sites. House distribution at reference sites was limited to channel edges, whereas houses at treatment sites were found throughout the floodplain. Occupancy of wetlands by muskrats was estimated by winter water depth, and fall water depth, and winter air temperature were selected as predictors of house density. Model validation indicated complete agreement for wetland occupancy, but density tended to be underestimated. Simulations provided a tool to evaluate water management plans and indicated that muskrat populations are suppressed under the current water level regulation regime.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Aldous SE (1947) Muskrat trapping on Sand Lake National Wildlife Refuge, South Dakota. Journal of Wildlife Management 11:77–91
Allen AW, RD Hoffman (1984) Habitat suitability index models: Muskrat. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Office of Biological Services, Washington, DC, USA. FWS/OBS-82/10
Bellrose FC (1950) The relationship of muskrat populations to various marsh and aquatic plants. Journal of Wildlife Management 14:299–315
Bellrose FC, Brown LG (1941) The effect of fluctuating water levels on the muskrat population of the Illinois River Valley. Journal of Wildlife Management 5:206–212
Bishop RA, Andrews RD, Bridges RJ (1979) Marsh management and its relationship to vegetation, waterfowl, and muskrats. Proceedings of the Iowa Academy of Science 86:50–56
Brooks RP, Dodge WE (1986) Estimation of habitat quality and summer population density for muskrats on a watershed basis. Journal of Wildlife Management 50:269–273
Campbell KL, MacArthur RA (1994) Digestibility and assimilation of natural forages by muskrat. Journal of Wildlife Management 58:633–641
Clark WR (1994) Habitat selection by muskrats in experimental marshes undergoing succession. Canadian Journal of Zoology 72:675–680
Clark WR (2000) Ecology of muskrats in prairie wetlands. In: Murkin HR, van der Valk AG, Clark WR (eds) Prairie Wetland Ecology: the contribution of the Marsh Ecology Research Program. Iowa State University Press, Ames, pp 287–313
Clark WR, Kroeker DW (1993) Population dynamics of muskrats in experimental marshes at Delta, Manitoba. Canadian Journal of Zoology 71:1620–1628
Conners LM, Kiviat E, Groffman PM, Ostfeld RS (2000) Muskrat (Ondatra zibethicus) disturbance to vegetation and potential net nitrogen mineralization and nitrification rates in a freshwater tidal marsh. American Midland Naturalist 143:53–63
Danell K (1977) Short-term plant successions following the colonization of a northern Swedish lake by the muskrat, Ondatra zibethica. Journal of Applied Ecology 14:933–947
Danell K (1978a) Intra- and interannual changes in habitat selection by the muskrat. Journal of Wildlife Management 42:540–549
Danell K (1978b) Population dynamics of the muskrat in a shallow Swedish lake. Journal of Animal Ecology 47:697–709
Davis CB, van der Valk AG (1978) The decomposition of standing and fallen litter of Typha glauca and Scirpus fluviatilis. Canadian Journal of Botany 56:662–675
De Szalay FA, Cassidy W (2001) Effects of muskrat (Ondatra zibethicus) lodge construction on invertebrate communities in a Great Lakes coastal wetland. American Midland Naturalist 146:300–310
Donohoe RW (1966) Muskrat reproduction in areas of controlled and uncontrolled water-level units. Journal of Wildlife Management 30:320–326
Dozier HL (1948) Estimating muskrat populations by house counts. Transactions of the North American Wildlife Conference 13:372–389
Errington PL (1939) Reactions of muskrat populations to drought. Ecology 20:168–186
Errington PL (1940) Natural restocking of muskrat-vacant habitats. Journal of Wildlife Management 4:173–185
Errington PL (1961) Muskrats and marsh management. Wildlife Management Institution Publication, Wildlife Management Institute, Ames
Farrell JM, Murry BA, Leopold DJ, Halpern A, Rippke M, Godwin KS, Hafner SD (2010) Water-level regulation and coastal wetland vegetation in the upper St. Lawrence River: inferences from historical aerial imagery, seed banks, and Typha dynamics. Hydrobiologia. doi:10.1007/s10750-009-0035-z
Friend M, Cummings GE, Morse JS (1964) Effect of changes in winter water levels on muskrat weights and harvest at the Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge. New York Fish and Game Journal 11:125–132
Hamerstrom FN Jr, Blake J (1939) Central Wisconsin muskrat study. American Midland Naturalist 21:514–520
Herdendorf CE (1987) The ecology of coastal marshes of western Lake Erie: a community profile. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Biological Report 85(7.9)
Kaminski RM, Prince HH (1981) Dabbling duck and aquatic macroinvertebrate responses to manipulated wetland habitat. Journal of Wildlife Management 45:1–15
Kangas PC (1985) Vegetation on muskrat mounds in a Michigan marsh. American Midland Naturalist 13:392–396
Kiviat E (1978) Vertebrate use of muskrat lodges and burrows. Estuaries 1:196–200
Limno-Tech Inc. (2005) Development of an integrated ecological response model (IERM) for the Lake Ontario – St. Lawrence River Study. Report for the USACE-Institute for Water Resources and the International Joint Commission as a contribution to the IJC LOSL Study
Lynch JJ, O’Neil T, Lay DW (1947) Management significance of damage by geese and muskrats to Gulf Coast marshes. Journal of Wildlife Management 11:50–76
Messier F, Virgil JA (1992) Differential use of bank burrows and lodges by muskrats, Ondatra zibethicus, in a northern marsh environment. Canadian Journal of Zoology 70:1180–1184
Nadeau S, Decarie R, Lambert D, St-Georges M (1995) Nonlinear modeling of muskrat use of habitat. Journal of Wildlife Management 59:110–117
Nyman JA, Chabreck RH, Kinler NW (1993) Some effects of herbivory and 30 years of weir management on emergent vegetation in a brackish marsh. Wetlands 13:165–175
Ouellet V, Morin J (2006) Impact of water levels on an aquatic mammal: the muskrat. In: Talbot A (ed) Water availability issues for the St. Lawrence River: an environmental synthesis. Environment Canada, Montreal, pp 116–125
Pelikan J, Svoboda J, Kvet J (1970) On some relations between the production of Typha latifolia and a muskrat population. Zoologika Listy 19:303–320
Proulx G, Gilbert FF (1983) The ecology of the muskrat, Ondatra zibethicus, at Luther Marsh, Ontario. Canadian Field Naturalist 97:377–390
Proulx G, Gilbert FF (1984) Estimating muskrat population trends by house counts. Journal of Wildlife Management 48:917–922
SAS Institute Inc (1998) SAS/STAT User’s Guide, Release 6.03 Edition. Cary, NC, USA
Thurber JM, Peterson RO, Drummer TD (1991) The effect of regulated lake levels on muskrats, Ondatra zibethicus, in Voyageurs National Park, Minnesota. Canadian Field-Naturalist 105:34–40
Toner JA (2006) Muskrat house abundance and cattail use in upper St. Lawrence River tributary wetlands: modeling the effects of water level regulation. MS Thesis, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Syracuse, NY, USA
Voigts DK (1976) Aquatic invertebrate abundance in relation to changing marsh vegetation. American Midland Naturalist 95:313–322
Wainscott VJ, Bartley C, Kangas P (1990) Effect of muskrat mounds on microbial density on plant litter. American Midland Naturalist 123:399–401
Wilcox DA, Meeker JE (1991) Disturbance effects on aquatic vegetation in regulated and unregulated lakes in northern Minnesota. Canadian Journal of Botany 69:1542–1551
Wilcox DA, Xie Y (2007) Predicting wetland plant community responses to proposed water-level-regulation plans for Lake Ontario: GIS-based modeling. Journal of Great Lakes Research 33:751–773
Wilcox DA, Kowaskski KP, Hoare HL, Carlson ML, Morgan HN (2008) Cattail invasion of sedge/grass meadows in Lake Ontario: photointerpretation analysis of sixteen wetlands over five decades. Journal of Great Lakes Research 34(2):301–323
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Toner, J., Farrell, J.M. & Mead, J.V. Muskrat Abundance Responses to Water level Regulation Within Freshwater Coastal Wetlands. Wetlands 30, 211–219 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13157-010-0034-x
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13157-010-0034-x