Marsh interspersion and muskrat (Ondatra zibethicus) habitat use

Muskrat (Ondatra zibethicus) populations have been declining in North America for decades. The precise cause of these widespread declines has not yet been identified. Over a similar timeframe, wetlands across large regions of North America have been experiencing an invasion of hybrid cattail Typha x glauca. This invasion is associated with many negative consequences for wetlands, including a reduction in biodiversity, open water habitat, and interspersion of water and vegetation. Muskrats are strongly tied to wetlands, especially where there is a high degree of interspersion of water and emergent vegetation. Therefore, a widespread reduction in interspersion caused by T. x glauca invasions may be contributing to widespread muskrat population declines. We sought to understand the impact of reduced marsh interspersion on fine-scale muskrat habitat use which will shed more light on broad-scale population trends. We measured intensity of habitat use by muskrats in a large, Typha-dominated m..., We used camera traps to measure intensity of use by muskrats along a gradient of marsh interspersion. We used aerial imagery and land cover classifications in ArcGIS Pro to measure marsh interspersion, as well as water area and habitat geometry as additional variables for modelling. We also used indices to assess sample area (i.e. camera viewshed size) and camera obstruction (e.g. by wetland plants). We also sampled Typha in the field and identified taxa using microscopy. We used R to analyze the data using the following packages: dplyr, Hmisc, pscl, and PerformanceAnalytics., , # Data

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.866t1g1wp](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.866t1g1wp)

\"Melvin_Bowman_Data_Main\"* dataset relates to main predictor variable (interspersion), response variable (intensity of use), and other predictor variables and was used in data analysis.
\"*Melvin_Bowman_Data_Typha\" dataset was used only as descriptive data.

## Description of the data and file structure

**“Main” dataset (used in data analysis)**

**cameraID**: unique identifier for each camera.
**period**: sequential number indicating time period for which camera was active.
            1 = June 2021
            2 = July 2021
            3 = August 2021
            4 = September 2021

**latitude/longitude:** location of camera for respective time period.
**interspersion**: length of vegetation-water edge in meters within sample cell surrounding camera.
**water_area**: areal coverage of water in square meters within sample cell.
**geometry**: main water feature within sample cell is channelized (1...,