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Wildlife responds to phragmites control

Rare birds return, amphibians re-populate lost habitat

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Researchers are seeing signs that wildlife will rebound in Long Point and elsewhere in the aftermath of phragmites control.

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Last week, Bird Studies Canada in Port Rowan reported the results of a monitoring program that took place this year in Long Point, Rondeau Provincial Park, and in wetlands managed by the Kettle Creek Conservation Authority in Elgin County.

In all cases, marsh-nesting birds rebounded. As well, frogs and toads returned to their traditional habitat.

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Dr. Doug Tozer, BSC’s program scientist in Ontario, shared the findings during a presentation Friday at the Long Point World Biosphere’s seventh annual research and conservation conference in Simcoe.

“There is extra bird-for-your-buck by investing in phragmites control,” Tozer said. “Frogs especially – when you add up the potential biomass – are huge.

“They serve as food for minks, marsh-nesting birds, bitterns, rails, snakes and predatory fish. If phragmites control benefits frogs, it’s just going to ricochet up the food chain.”

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The findings are significant because phragmites – also known as common reed – sterilize habitats in the Great Lakes wherever they grow.

The giant reed can grow 15 feet tall or more. Phragmites eliminate standing water, trap sediment, emit toxins that kill native plants, and are so dense that stands are impenetrable to wildlife that gets around on foot. In recent years, conservationists have organized aggressive campaigns to eliminate phragmites in the most sensitive habitats.

Phragmites have been an issue for so many years that scientists were unsure traditional bird and wildlife species would re-populate areas where they have been eliminated.

As well, glyphosate – the active ingredient in the herbicide Roundup – was used for eradication in Long Point and Rondeau. Scientists are interested in learning how wildlife responds in habitats where glyphosate has been applied.

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Rare birds such as bitterns and rails have returned. Also responding positively are common yellow-throat, marsh wren, marsh swallows and red-winged blackbirds.

Tozer says more research is needed to gauge the effect on amphibians. Eight species in all were noted, including leopard frogs, green frogs, spring peepers, bull frogs and American toads. While these species are re-populating treated areas, Tozer and others lack good data on abundance.

Tozer told the crowd at the Simcoe Recreation Centre that the Great Lakes basin will never be totally free of phragmites, which is native to Asia.

However, he said eradication “makes sense in places like Long Point. Places like Long Point are a power house for the production of marsh-breeding birds. Marshes in Long Point are huge.”

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Tozer was one of 10 speakers at Friday’s conference. The focus was on the latest research undertaken in the Long Point World Biosphere Reserve.

Other subjects included monarch butterflies and milkweed, climate change, agricultural impacts on fish habitat, plastics in the Great Lakes, and the monitoring of snake populations in Norfolk and Haldimand counties.

“This was an excellent opportunity for academic and student researchers, government agencies, students, members of non-governmental organizations, and the public to take part in a lively exchange of ideas related to local environmental sustainability and conservation,” Valerie Hickey, chair of the Long Point World Biosphere Reserve Foundation, said in an update on the conference Sunday.

MSonnenberg@postmedia.com

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