MALLARD DUCKLING SURVIVAL IN THE GREAT LAKES REGION

John Simpson
University of Guelph, 2005

Advisor: T.D. Nudds

Survival of young in waterfowl is poorly understood, particularly in regions outside of the prairies. I investigated duckling survival in 121
radio-marked mallard broods at nine study areas across the Great Lakes region. I utilized a unique statistical tool that improves upon conventional survival estimators by realistically treating duckling survival as a mixture of random and correlated mortality processes. Duckling survival rates tended to increase with later hatch dates, and I suggest that this may be due to low food resources and inclement weather early in the breeding season. I found that mallard duckling survival rates were highly variable across the nine sites, and that variation in duckling survival rates could be partially explained by variation in the proportion of vegetated wetland area, forest cover, and wetland edge within 500 m of brood rearing locations. Habitat managers and conservation planners should consider these relationships with habitat when targeting conservation efforts for breeding mallards in the Great Lakes region.