Implications of the Species-Area Relationship on Sampling Effort for Marsh Birds in Southern Ontario

Coastal wetlands of southern Ontario are highly fragmented and exist as islands within a primarily urbanized and agricultural matrix. Given the large variation in size of remaining fragments, it is important to determine if species-area relationships exist for wetland birds, so that sampling effort can be adjusted for different sizes of wetlands and to develop appropriate size criteria for conservation. We surveyed marsh birds in 21 coastal …