Diet of Mallards wintering in Greentree reservoirs in southeastern Arkansas

Loss of wetlands to agriculture and development negatively impacts waterfow l. Greentree reservoirs are forested tracts that are purposefully flooded t o increase hunting opportunities for sportsman and to provide shelter for w aterfowl such as Mallards (Anas platyrhynchus). These human-made wetlands c an also make natural foods such as acorns and invertebrates available to Ma llards. Food habits analysis conducted in 1959 indicated acorns composed 24 % of the volume of diets of Mallards collected from a variety of habitats i ncluding agricultural fields, naturally flooded bottomland forests, and gre entree reservoirs in Arkansas. However, changes that may have occurred in f ood use by Mallards in bottomland hardwood habitats in Arkansas since last examined are unclear. We examined foods used by Mallards in greentree reser voirs from November 1990 to February 1991 in southeastern Arkansas. Sevente en species of plants and 21 families/orders of animals occurred in the diet of Mallards. Mallards consumed 65% plant matter, primarily seeds of narrow leaf foresteria (Foresteria angustifolia), Nuttall oak (Quercus nuttallii), Pennsylvania smartweed (Polygonum pensylvanicum), and rice (Oryza sativa). Invertebrate taxa, constituting 6% or more of the sample by both volume an d mass, included the orders Coleoptera, Diptera, and Isopoda. Diets of Mall ards present in greentree reservoirs in our study indicate Mallards still u se natural foods, though agricultural seeds were in close proximity to natu ral foods.