The conservation of many freshwater marsh waterbirds (i.e., waterfowl, shorebirds, wading birds, and secretive marshbirds) in the Laurentian Great Lakes requires managing invasive emergent macrophytes, which degrade waterbird habitat by creating dense, litter‐clogged stands, and excluding plants that produce nutritionally balanced and high‐energy food (seeds, tubers, and submerged aquatic vegetation). The most commonly used management approach in the United States Great Lakes region involves the application of herbicides, which can stimulate waterbird forage plants but does not address the accumulation of plant litter, the underlying cause of plant community diversity loss and habitat degradation. We experimentally evaluated the effects of an alternative approach, harvesting invasive plants and their litter followed by flooding, on plant communities, focusing on the effects of these treatments to increase the abundance of high‐energy wetland plants. At the Shiawassee National Wildlife Refuge in Michigan, USA, we experimentally treated an invasive cattail (Typha × glauca)‐dominated wetland in August and September of 2016, 2017, and 2018, using a randomized block design with 4 blocks and 3 treatments (sediment surface harvest, above ground harvest, and control). We monitored the effects of these treatments on the abundance and dominance of waterbird forage‐producing plants, plant diversity, and plant communities prior to (Jul 2016) and during the summer following each treatment (late Jul or early Aug 2017, 2018, and 2019). Additionally, we used pre‐ and post‐treatment waterbird use‐day data collected at the unit scale and compared values with satellite imagery‐derived land cover changes. Compared to control plots, 3 years of harvesting and flooding significantly increased plant species diversity, increased the abundance of waterbird seed‐ and tuber‐producing plant species by 5 times, and increased annual plant dominance by more than 10 times, while substantially reducing all measures of cattail and its litter. Use‐days increased for total waterbirds, including waterfowl and dabbling ducks, following treatment. Cattail cover decreased and open water and non‐cattail emergent vegetation cover increased. Harvesting invasive plant biomass coupled with flooding promoted a plant community composition and structure beneficial to waterbirds. © 2020 The Wildlife Society.

中文翻译：

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收获有香蒲增加了湿地水鸟的食物资源

在Laurentian大湖中保护许多淡水沼泽水鸟（即水禽，岸鸟，涉水鸟和分泌性沼泽鸟）需要管理侵入性萌生植物，这些植物通过形成茂密的，乱抛垃圾的林分而使水鸟栖息地退化，并且不包括产生营养均衡且高能量的食物（种子，块茎和水生植物）。在美国大湖地区，最常用的管理方法涉及使用除草剂，该除草剂可以刺激水禽饲料植物，但不能解决植物凋落物的积累问题，而后者是造成植物群落多样性丧失和生境退化的根本原因。我们通过实验评估了另一种方法的效果：先收获入侵植物及其凋落物，然后进行洪水淹没，在植物群落上，着重于这些处理的效果，以增加高能湿地植物的丰度。在美国密歇根州的Shiawassee国家野生动物保护区，我们通过实验方法处理了香蒲（香蒲×高加索），2016年2017年8月和9月，2017年和2018年为湿地为主，采用随机区组设计，包括4个区组和3种处理方式（沉积物地面收获，地面以上收获和控制）。我们在（2016年7月）和每次处理后的夏季（2017年7月下旬或8月初，2018年和2019年夏季）监测了这些处理对水鸟饲草生产植物的丰度和优势，植物多样性和植物群落的影响。 ）。此外，我们使用了在单位规模上收集的水鸟使用前后的数据，并将其与卫星图像得出的土地覆盖变化进行了比较。与控制地块相比，3年的收获和洪水大大增加了植物物种的多样性，使水鸟种子和块茎生产植物的丰度提高了5倍，并将每年的植物优势提高十倍以上，同时大幅减少香蒲及其凋落物的所有含量。处理后，总水鸟（包括水禽和da鸭）的使用天数增加。香蒲覆盖率降低，开阔水域和非香蒲出苗植被覆盖率增加。收获侵入性植物生物量并进行水淹促进了有益于水鸟的植物群落组成和结构。©2020野生动物协会。收获侵入性植物生物量并进行水淹促进了有益于水鸟的植物群落组成和结构。©2020野生动物协会。收获侵入性植物生物量并进行水淹促进了有益于水鸟的植物群落组成和结构。©2020野生动物协会。