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Habitat Area Requirements Of Prairie Wetland Birds In Eastern South Dakota, David E. Naugle

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The influence of area and vegetation structure on bird use of 830 semipermanent and seasonal wetlands (0.2-217.5 ha) was studied to evaluate vegetative needs and habitat area requirements of 20 breeding wetland bird species in eastern South Dakota in 1995-1996. Vegetative preferences of species varied, but most waterfowl and nongame species occur e4i more frequently in wetlands with intermediate cover-to-water ratios whereas five over-water nesting or secretive nongame species were found in wetlands with greater coverage of emergent vegetation. The occurrence of four nongame species that depend on vegetative structure to support the weight of their over-water nests also was …