Schummer Lab
Michael Schummer, PhD
Senior Research Associate - SUNY ESF
Roosevelt Waterfowl Ecologist - Roosevelt Wild Life Station SUNY ESF
Contact Information
204 Illick Hall
Department of Environmental and Forest Biology
State University of NY College of Environmental Science and Forestry (SUNY ESF)
1 Forestry Drive, Syracuse, NY 13210
PHONE 585.319.6763
EMAIL: [email protected]
Senior Research Associate - SUNY ESF
Roosevelt Waterfowl Ecologist - Roosevelt Wild Life Station SUNY ESF
Contact Information
204 Illick Hall
Department of Environmental and Forest Biology
State University of NY College of Environmental Science and Forestry (SUNY ESF)
1 Forestry Drive, Syracuse, NY 13210
PHONE 585.319.6763
EMAIL: [email protected]
Waterfowl as an Umbrella
Because of financial limitations, wildlife conservationists and managers often need surrogate species, whereby conservation of habitat for a species or group of species benefits a diversity of other fish and wildlife. Among species, waterfowl have diverse morphology and life history strategies that enable them to occur from deep oceans to dense forests. Thus, conservation of waterfowl habitats has benefited a diversity of other waterbirds and wetland-dependent flora and fauna (Schummer et al., In Prep.). A portion of our current research seeks to understand how conservation and management of wetlands for waterfowl influences wetland vegetation; breeding waterbird abundance, survival, habitat use, and migration; terrestrial and aquatic invertebrates foods during the breeding and non-breeding periods; food availability for granivorous birds during autumn migration; and waterfowl abundance. These objectives were derived from a focus group at the end of the first annual New York Waterfowl and Wetlands Network Meeting that included public, private, and academic stakeholders that convened in July 2015 to develop research priorities for waterfowl and wetlands. Included in the top three priorities of the New York Waterfowl and Wetlands Network was the goal of developing wetland management methods to meet multi-species objectives. We see this as an emerging theme in wildlife conservation that needs investigation; because 1/most waterfowl species are generally meeting their population goals, 2/ there is increased concern by wildlife biologists for a diversity of threatened and endangered species, and 3/ a diversity of public and private lands adjacent to protected areas focus on conservation and management for waterfowl, the need for active management for waterfowl at protected areas has been increasingly questioned. Thus, understanding the contributions of waterfowl management to conservation of other waterbirds and wetland-dependent fauna and flora is timely and critical.