| Moist-soil management in the southeastern U.S. is used to stimulate growth of waterfowl food (i.e., aquatic invertebrates and seeds), however, little experimental work has been published on the effectiveness of moist-soil management in the south-central United States where the growing seasons are longer, climate warmer, and plant assemblages more complex. During April 2004--May 2008 I, (1) investigated moist-soil managed wetland seed bank dynamics, (2) calculated seed yield, (3) estimated plant decomposition rates, (4) measured and calculated aquatic invertebrate diversity, richness, abundance, and biomass, (5) estimated body condition, food item occurrence, and feather molt chronology for blue-winged teal (Anas discors), green-winged teal (A. crecca ), and Northern shoveler (A. clypeata), (8) calculated Duck-Use Days, and (9) quantified seasonal vegetative community structure and development on Richland Creek Wildlife Management Area.;Each plant that germinated in seed bank expression experiments (under flooded or moist conditions) was identified and categorized as desirable or non-desirable. A total of 6,802 seedlings of 27 species from 14 families were recorded, which resulted in similar species diversity indices between moist and flooded treatments, which had relatively hid species similarity (32.7%).;Seed yield models were created for four common moist-soil plant species: barnyardgrass (Echinochloa crusgalli), wild millet ( Echinochloa walteri), jungle rice (E. colona), and cultivated rice (Oryza sativa), found in regional locations in Texas. Both simple linear and point of origin regression analyses were successful in developing valid seed yield production models for all 4 focal species, where models explained 52-98% of the variation in seed biomass, depending upon species and variable inclusion.;Mean decay coefficient rates for three common moist-soil plant species ranged from 0.72-80 within 30 days of initial deployment to 0.36 after 300 days of initial deployment. Over time all three moist-soil plant species lost nearly 100% of initial mass during the 11 month deployment period.;A total of 12,240 individual specimens were captured representing forty-seven species of aquatic invertebrates identified to the lowest taxon possible. Analysis examining total numbers of individual invertebrates and total biomass of invertebrates among and between months, years, cells, and groups found no significant differences.;Three duck species were scientifically collected and hunter harvested between 15 September 2004--15 March 2005, 15 September 2005--15 March 2006, and 15 September 2006--15 March 2007 to estimate body condition, food item occurrence, and feather molt intensity. In general, adult and juvenile males tended to be heavier and longer then their female counter parts, while adult and juvenile females had greater mean fat scores than their male counterparts.;This research generated important landscape as well as moist-soil managed wetland cell information that will be beneficial to on the ground management practices. Maximizing how moist-soil wetland management takes place on the Richland Creek Wildlife Management Area and surrounding region will benefit migrating and wintering waterfowl as well as many other wetland dependent species. Future research is needed to evaluate how to best manage the completed moist-soil wetland project as a whole management unit. |
