Folder
ROOT
_ScienceBase Catalog
__Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center (UMESC)
___Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center Data
____Upper Mississippi River System
_____Birds of the Floodplain Forest: Mississippi River
Vegetation and breeding birds were sampled in Upper Mississippi River floodplain forest edge and interior areas to (1) measure Phalaris cover and (2) evaluate if the breeding bird assemblage responded to differences in Phalaris cover or other forest structure variables. Data are counts of birds collected during 3 surveys within 50m at each site using 10 minute point count methods. Vegetation was sampled using a releve technique at the bird count point within 10m of the point.
From 1994-1997 I surveyed breeding birds and sampled vegetation at 391 random points on UMR floodplain forest along a latitudinal gradient to characterize bird assemblages and associations with gradients in forest structure at the local survey point and land cover composition within 200m radius of survey points (landscape scale). We conducted 10 minute 50m fixed radius point counts (Ralph et al. 1993) to survey birds during the breeding period between 30 May and 10 July in all years. We sampled the southernmost pool (13) first and then progressed to each pool in succession northward, finishing in Pool 4, sampling each point once a season. Surveys were conducted from 30 minutes before to five hours after local sunrise....
Floodplain forest of the Upper Mississippi River is important for songbirds during spring migration. However, the altered hydrology of this system and spread of reed canary grass (Phalaris arundinacea) and emerald ash borer (Agrilus planipennis) threaten tree diversity and long-term sustainability of this forest. We estimated tree preferences of songbirds during spring migration 2010–2013 to help guide management decisions that promote tree diversity and forest sustainability and to evaluate yearly variation in tree selection. We used the point center-quarter method to assess relative availability of tree species and tallied bird foraging observations on tree species as well as recording the phenophase of used trees...