long range ecological restoration plan for the lake of the woods using waterbird guilds as indicator species
abstract
this thesis explores a long-term ecological restoration plan for the lake of the
woods area using waterbird guilds as indicator species to plan, adjust and minimize
climatic affects in the future. in a time of rapid global climate change, it is important to
develop conservation strategies that will adjust to critical habitats that are essential for
the persistence of species with diverse and dispersed requirements. lake of the woods is
a unique location as it is an inland island composed of a variety of ecosystems with rare
and threatened species, including the piping plover (charadrius melodus), black tern
(chlidonias niger), yellow rail (coturnicops noveboracensis), and yellow-headed
blackbird (xanthocephalus xanthocephalus). in this paper, i briefly review historic data
on lake of the woods and predicted population trends of indicator waterbird species to
show evidence of how recent climate change has already affected populations. this will
assist with the consideration of areas on lake of the woods that can be used to mitigate
effects with ecological restoration.
collections
- undergraduate theses [325]