Abstract
Waterfowl that eat macroinvertebrates must select among potential nesting or brood-rearing habitats that may vary in food abundance over the season. We compared the reliability of predicting the relative abundance of macroinvertebrates in boreal wetlands using either the number of macroinvertebrates collected at one sampling period, or presence or absence of fish. Wetlands with fish had fewer macroinvertebrates than fishless wetlands in all five sampling periods. Predictions of the relative abundance of invertebrates in a wetland at other sampling periods based on the presence or absence of fish, were equal to or better than predictions based on the actual number of macroinvertebrates collected during one sampling period. These results suggest that fish status of a wetland is a reliable cue to invertebrate abundance in boreal wetlands.
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Mallory, M.L., Blancher, P.J., Weatherhead, P.J. et al. Presence or absence of fish as a cue to macroinvertebrate abundance in boreal wetlands. Hydrobiologia 279, 345–351 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00027866
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00027866