Vegetation Changes in a Lake Erie Marsh (Winous Point, Ottawa County, Ohio) During High Water Years
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Date
1982-06
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Abstract
High, uncontrolled water levels in Lake Erie marshes that occurred in late 1972 altered the distribution and abundance of plant communities. Large areas of moist-soil species, cattails (Typha angustifolia, T. latifolia), rose mallow {Hibiscus palustris), emersed plants (e.g., Sagittaria, Scirpus, Cyperus, Carex), blue-joint grass (Calamagrostis canadensis), and annual weeds (e.g., Impatiens, Mimulus, Bidens) were eliminated and replaced largely by open water. With fewer lush stands of food plants available, the attractiveness of the marshes to migrating ducks declined. Population levels of muskrats (Ondatra zibethica) decreased because food and cover plants were lacking. Numbers of breeding waterfowl were reduced due to inundation of nesting sites in upland grassy meadows.
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Author Institution: Ohio Cooperative Wildlife Research Unit, The Ohio State University
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Citation
The Ohio Journal of Science. v82, n3 (June, 1982), 103-107