Date of Award

2012

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Biology

Abstract

Wabashiki is a newly dedicated Fish and Wildlife Area in West Central Indiana which hosts a diverse array of plant and animal species at an urban wildland interface. Getting a set of baseline statistics for this area at its initiation is vital for comparison to future studies of the area. The area was classified by habitat type (Field, Riparian Woods, Wetland), and 5-minute point-count locations were established within each patch of field or riparian woods habitat, while wetlands were surveyed via variable length kayak trips. Forty-six locations were surveyed in 2010, and 65 in 2011 (total of 75 different locations). A total of 196 bird species was recorded in the WFWA in all seasons, while 108 were detected during the breeding season. Overall, in the two years of the study, 30 species were confirmed to be breeding, 43 were probably breeding, 12 were possibly breeding, and 6 were observed but not believed to be breeding. There were 97 species found in the wetlands habitat, 61 species in the field habitat, and 56 species in the riparian woods habitat. There were 40 species that were shared between all three habitat types, and only 42 species total which were only found in one habitat type. If the Wabashiki Fish and Wildlife area becomes totally reforested, I project that many species that either breed in the area or migrate through will be lost, and only a few woodland species gained. However, if the central area is kept open, it will maintain the species that have been found to breed or migrate through the area, and possibly gain many more. Flooding is a natural occurrence that has strong effects in a floodplain community such as the Wabashiki Fish and Wildlife Area. Therefore, gauging data from the Wabash River at Terre Haute from 1 October 1927 to 9 September 2011 were analyzed. The number of flooded days per year (0.3 days), the duration of flooding events (1.2 days), and the number of floods per year (2.4 floods) are increasing. The Wabash River at Terre Haute averages 4.75 floods per year (range 0-13), 44.45 days flooded per year (range 0-119), and floods lasted an average of 9.26 days per year (range 0-67). Floods are most frequent in the winter and early spring months, and least frequent in late summer and early fall. This indicates that flood tolerance will become an increasingly important factor for both birds and the vegetative structure they depend on in the Wabashiki Fish and Wildlife Area.

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