Influence of Local, Landscape, and Regional Variables on Sedge and Marsh Wren Occurrence in Great Lakes Coastal Wetlands

• Published in: Wetlands (Wilmington, N.C.) Vol. 37; no. 3; pp. 447 - 459
• Main Authors: Panci, Hannah G., Niemi, Gerald J., Regal, Ronald R., Tozer, Douglas C., Gehring, Thomas M., Howe, Robert W., Norment, Christopher J.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01-06-2017; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Agricultural land; Aquatic plants; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Birds; Cistothorus palustris; Cistothorus platensis; Climate change; Coastal Sciences; Ecology; Environmental Management; Freshwater & Marine Ecology; Habitats; Hydrogeology; Lakes; Land cover; Land use; Landscape; Landscape Ecology; Life Sciences; Marshes; Original Research; Soil erosion; Variables; Vegetation; Wetlands; Canada; Minnesota; United States > US; Great Lakes area; Landscape context; Birds; Bird-habitat relationships; Great Lakes coastal wetlands
• ISSN: 0277-5212; 1943-6246
• DOI: 10.1007/s13157-017-0881-9

We determined the influence of habitat, landscape, geographic, and climate variables on Sedge Wren (
Cistothorus platensis
) and Marsh Wren (
C. palustris
) occurrence in 840 coastal wetland survey points throughout the Great Lakes. Variables included surrounding land use and configuration out to 2000 m; latitude; longitude; temperature; precipitation; and vegetation characteristics within 100 m. Classification trees predicted Sedge Wren occurrence at points in the western Great Lakes with < 11 km of roads within 1000 m. Emergent herbaceous wetland within 500 m, woody wetland within various distances, and sedge within 100 m were also positively associated with Sedge Wren occurrence. Marsh Wren occurrence was predicted at points in the southern Great Lakes with < 42% developed land within 500 m. Emergent herbaceous wetland within 500 m, cropland within various distances, and cattail within 100 m were also positively associated with Marsh Wren occurrence. Our results suggest limiting development around wetlands is important for conserving these bird species throughout Great Lakes coastal wetlands. Landscape-scale land cover variables are easily obtainable and significantly increase our ability to predict occurrence of these species across a broad geographic scale.