Estimated wetland vegetation cover comparing reference and muskrat disturbed areas

Biota that act as ecosystem engineers are increasingly recognized as
effective components of habitat restoration as they can continuously
alter and shape their environments without human intervention.
Muskrats are considered ecosystem engineers and are relatively
common in North American wetlands. While muskrat impacts to large
areas have been documented, few studies have quantified the impact
of muskrats on ecosystem biodiversity. We conducted a field study in
wetlands along the Upper St. Lawrence River (New York, USA) to
investigate the effects of muskrat herbivory and structure building
on plant biodiversity in cattail-invaded wetlands. The data
collected are separated into two main groups, i.e. “reference”
vegetation surveys and “muskrat” vegetation surveys. “Reference”
surveys were conducted for the partial grant fulfillment funded by
the New York Department of Environmental Conservation [contract
AM10165] and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation special
project administered by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service,
Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program, New York Field Office,
Cortland, NY [grant number #2005-0129-055/58859]. “Muskrat” surveys
were conducted for the Masters project by Z.X. Kua. The five
datasets include 1) Reference quadrat plant taxa estimated cover (n
= 1912), 2) Reference quadrat cattail measurements (n = 737), 3)
Muskrat-disturbed quadrat plant taxa estimated cover (n = 1886), 4)
Muskrat-disturbed quadrat cattail measurements (n = 582), and 5)
Wetland plant taxa lookup table for vegetation survey (n = 135).

作为生态系统工程师（ecosystem engineers）的生物类群，如今愈发被视作栖息地修复的有效组成部分——它们可在无需人类干预的前提下持续改造并塑造自身所处的生境。麝鼠（muskrat）被归类为生态系统工程师，在北美湿地中分布相对广泛。尽管已有研究记录了麝鼠对大面积区域的影响，但鲜有研究量化其对生态系统生物多样性的具体作用。本研究于美国纽约州圣劳伦斯河上游沿岸的湿地开展野外调查，旨在探究麝鼠的植食活动与生境结构营造行为，对入侵香蒲（cattail）湿地的植物生物多样性所产生的影响。本次采集的数据分为两大核心组别，即‘对照’植被调查与‘麝鼠干扰’植被调查。其中，‘对照’调查的开展依托两项资助：一是由纽约州环境保护部资助的部分研究内容[合同编号：AM10165]，二是由美国鱼类及野生动物管理局纽约科特兰野外办事处‘鱼类与野生动物伙伴计划’管理的国家鱼类与野生动物基金会专项项目[资助编号：#2005-0129-055/58859]。‘麝鼠干扰’调查则由Z.X. Kua作为硕士研究项目完成。本次包含的五组数据集具体如下：1）对照样方植物类群盖度估算数据（样本量n=1912）；2）对照样方香蒲测量数据（样本量n=737）；3）麝鼠干扰样方植物类群盖度估算数据（样本量n=1886）；4）麝鼠干扰样方香蒲测量数据（样本量n=582）；5）植被调查用湿地植物类群检索表（条目数n=135）。