Patuxent’s American Black Duck Studies from Chesapeake Bay to Maine and Beyond

Authors

Jerry R. Longcore

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

2016

Citation

Published in Perry, M. C. , ed., The History of Patuxent –America’s Wildlife Research Story (2016) U. S. Geological Survey Circular 1422, 255 p.

https://doi.org/10.3133/cir1422

Comments

US govt work

Abstract

The information in this chapter draws on published literature and unpublished reports written by staff members of the U.S. Geological Survey, Patuxent Wildlife Research Center (Patuxent), during its 75-year history. Reports by Bureau of Biological Survey (Biological Survey) and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) personnel are included because the research entity currently known as Patuxent was formerly administered by these agencies. Some of the cited reports were prepared by USFWS scientists while they were not working at Patuxent. Literature resulting from work at other Federal and State agencies and private and academic institutions that influenced research at Patuxent on the American black duck (Anas rubripes, hereafter referred to as black duck) and that is essential to the discussion of black duck studies is included. Literature citations are selective, but include representative papers that cover four research topics: chemical contaminants, ecology, analyses of banding and survey data and population changes, and the now discredited hypothesis that the mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) could competitively exclude black ducks from fertile wetlands.