Contribution to 
Contribution to
Delta Waterfowl Foundation
This year marks the beginning of Delta Waterfowl’s multi-year investigation into a central question in waterfowl management: how do increased densities of ducks influence recruitment? This work is made possible by variation in duck densities caused by several years of predator trapping on township sized blocks of habitat, in addition to representing a new phase of Delta’s work on how predator management affects duck production, the 2005 roster includes 28 projects all over North America investigating various aspects of waterfowl and wetland ecology.
New Projects 2005
Matthew Pieron Ph.D, candidate
Advisors: Dr. Frank Rohwer
University: Louisiana State University
The Effects of Mammalian Predator Reduction on Duck Pair and Nest Density
Predator reduction clearly increases nest success in prairie ducks. Even if brood survival is not enhanced, duck production is much greater on trapped blocks than on non-trapped blocks. Most prairie dabbling ducks show homing to nesting areas and yearling females nest in the area where they hatched. Thus the population of breeding ducks on trapped blocks should grow over a series of years because more females nested successfully in prior years. This result seems apparent to anyone that nest searches on the Cando Block in Towner County, North Dakota that has been trapped for six consecutive years. However, the changes in duck density on trapped blocks have not been scientifically established by reliable pair counts. That job is the top priority for this student. The student will evaluate both pair and nest densities and relate those variables to years of trapping history. In addition this student will take on the contractual responsibility of nest success evaluation on the sites trapped with state agency funding. To make sure that we gather valuable data we will examine two additional aspects of nest success that Delta has been unable to evaluate in prior research. First, we will relate nest success to wetland abundance to determine if areas with an abundance of wetlands have different nest success than areas with fewer wetlands. More importantly, we will relate several metrics of duck production- nesting dates, clutch size, egg size, and hatch rates - to duck density. Once again, the goal is to evaluate the impact of duck density on components of breeding success.
©Drawn by Bob Anderson for NTA 1990
For more information: FBU
