Author ORCID Identifier:
Date of Graduation
5-2026
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science in Biology (MS)
Degree Level
Graduate
Department
Biological Sciences
Advisor/Mentor
Willson, John
Committee Member
Roberts, Caleb
Second Committee Member
Ligon, Day
Keywords
Community Ecology; Occupancy; Wetland Management
Abstract
Wetlands are declining worldwide, spurring a rapid decline in wetland biodiversity. To mitigate the loss of wildlife habitat, wetlands are commonly constructed or managed to promote the conservation of waterfowl and other game species, while often neglecting non-game species like herpetofauna and ‘rough’ fishes in management decisions. To better promote the functioning and ecological health of wetland ecosystems, it is important that we understand the dynamics of the entire wetland vertebrate communities. Thus, in Chapter 1, I assessed the occupancy of aquatic vertebrates (amphibians, snakes, turtles, and fishes) in wetland complexes managed with varying intensities for waterfowl using hierarchical Bayesian occupancy modeling. I found that biotic covariates, including herbaceous emergent vegetation cover, crayfish abundance, and fish abundance, as well as degree of wetland isolation from nearby permanent water bodies, are important indicators for the occurrence of aquatic vertebrates, with notable variation in covariate responses among taxa. In Chapter 2, I further investigated the influence of wetland management on turtle diversity and the densities of four common turtle species through capture-mark-recapture sampling of 13 wetlands that were managed for waterfowl by draining in May/June to 10 wetlands that were not drained. Turtle communities in managed wetlands were significantly less diverse than communities in unmanaged wetlands. Only Mississippi Mud Turtles seemed unaffected by management, while the other three common species (Common Snapping Turtle, Eastern Musk Turtle, and Red-eared Slider) had lower densities in managed wetlands than in unmanaged wetlands. Snapping Turtles, Sliders, and Musk Turtles were three, seven, and 80 times more dense, respectively, in unmanaged wetlands than in managed wetlands. Collectively, our results highlight the importance of conducting studies at the landscape scale that incorporate entire communities. Current wetland management strategies targeted towards waterfowl conservation do not seem conducive to supporting diverse vertebrate communities and are particularly detrimental to freshwater turtles. Therefore, management efforts should strive to incorporate a mosaic of wetland habitats within complexes, rather than draining each wetland.
Citation
Hays, E. D. (2026). Aquatic Vertebrate Community Structure in Managed Wetlands of the Arkansas River Valley Ecoregion of Arkansas, USA. Graduate Theses and Dissertations Retrieved from https://scholarworks.uark.edu/etd/6179
