| The Mississippi Alluvial Valley (MAV) contained vast bottomland hardwood forests into the 20th century. Humans cleared forests, and altered hydrology, yet the MAV remains important for North American waterfowl and other wildlife. To estimate standing crops of aquatic invertebrates as food in hardwood bottomlands for wintering waterfowl, I quantified dry mass of invertebrates in naturally flooded forests (NFFs) and greentree reservoirs (GTRs) during winters 2008--.2010. The MAV had greater invertebrate mass in NFFs (x¯ = 18.39 kg/ha; SE = 2.815 [CV = 15.3%]) than GTRs (x¯ = 5.16; SE = 0.492 [CV = 9.5%]), compared with lesser masses in Mississippi Interior Flatwood's GTR (x¯ = 2.26; SE = 0.320) and NFF (x¯ = 1.45; SE = 1.305). Invertebrate diversity was greatest in NFFs and in depths from 10--40 cm. Flooding GTRs ≤ 40 cm and managing naturally dynamic hydrology may benefit invertebrates, ducks, and associated bottomland hardwood communities.;Keywords: aquatic invertebrate, forested wetland, waterfowl, Mississippi Alluvial Valley... |
