Incorporating positive species interactions into ecosystem restoration is key to advancing conservation in a changing world. Identifying animals that can produce these impacts, then developing ways to harness these facilitation effects is critical to integrating this ecological theory into on the ground restoration and conservation efforts. Muskrats (Ondatra zibethicus) are a native Great Lakes ecosystem engineer that alter wetland systems by generating clearings in vegetation to build their dens. I will be presenting my preliminary data showing significantly higher animal use of areas around muskrat dens than control regions, and analyses showing that muskrat den density is an important covariate to explain bird occupancy. Together, these suggest a powerful positive species interaction where muskrat dens facilitate increased biodiversity, particularly of regionally declining marsh birds.
