University of Chicago

Leo Chan Gaskins is a community ecologist who investigates how organisms impact the diversity, structure, and function of wetlands through both consumptive and ecosystem engineering pathways, as well as how to harness these effects to inform future conservation and restoration efforts. He is a former David H. Smith Postdoctoral Fellow, National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow, and earned his Ph.D. from Duke University.

Project Summary

Using Muskrat Lodge Biomimicry to Improve Wetland Diversity and Bird Conservation

Muskrats are native ecosystem engineers that alter wetlands by generating clearings and building their homes (lodges). Data from this work show a twelve‑fold increase in animal use on muskrat lodges compared to vegetated controls, including use by state‑endangered marsh birds, suggesting that muskrats generate a powerful positive species interaction. Unfortunately, muskrat populations have been in decline for 50 years, with muskrat lodge counts dropping by more than 90% in some regions. The goal of this project is to create a technique to build mimic muskrat lodges that harness this positive species interaction to improve marsh bird conservation and wetland restoration efforts. The project will test how mimic lodges impact wetland diversity using a large‑scale manipulative experiment and will determine what density of lodges optimize bird occupancy for 11 regionally declining species using satellite imagery.