Ecology of Red Maple Swamps in the Glaciated Northeast: A ...

ing the latter years of flowage occupancy. Prolonged
flooding eventually kills most trees within the impounded
area, but the resulting open-water and
marsh habitats are of great value to forest-dwelling
amphibians, waterfowl, m d mammals.
While there has been little research on the topic,
several other species of medium-sized and large
mammals are known to make extensive use of red
maple swamps. River otters, mink, raccoons, and
opossums are most common in swamps containing
perennial streams or located along lakeshores. All
of these animals feed either in the swamps or in
water bodies associated with them. Otters rely
heavily on fish, crayfish, and amphibians, while
mink eat crayfish, amphibians, muskrats, small
mammals, and birds. Raccoons and opossums are
omnivorous, feeding on amphibians, crayfish,
freshwater clams, birds, bird eggs, and a variety of
fruits. Raccoons and opossums commonly den in
hollow trees in swamps, while otters and mink
generally excavate dens along stream channels or
lakeshores.
Gray squirrels (Sciurus cumlinemis) and red
squirrels (~miasciurus hudsonicus) both inhabit red
maple swamps, but the former species is more common
in these predominantly deciduous habitats.
?"heir arboreal habits generally insulate squirrels
from the effeds of seasonal high water. Both eastem
cottontails and New England cottontails (Sylvi2agus
tnznsitioruzlis) are aremmon in deciduous and evergreen
forested wetlands, particularly dwing the
winter, when surface water is frozen and travel
throughout the swamps is unrestricted. Red maple
swamps offer both cover and browse for rabbits.
Red maple swamps are also highly significant
habitats for white-tailed deer (Fig. 7.8), particularly
in urban areas of the Northeast, where
swamps frequently are the wildest, most inaccessible
habitats remaining. Swamps provide refuge
for deer from dogs and from humans. Forested
wetlands along watercourses commonly serve as
major travel corridors for deer and other large
mammals through areas of otherwise unsuitable
habitat (Elowe 1984; Brown and Schaefer 1987).
Fig. 7.8, I4 'hite-tailed deer (& mi&
uirginiar; us), the most comnnor I large
mammal in northeastern red maple
swamps. Pbto by W Byrne.