CHICAGO (WBBM Newsradio) – A new study from Loyola University Chicago finds that muskrats -- the humble, semi-aquatic rodents long overshadowed by beavers -- may play a crucial role in restoring the health of the Great Lakes wetlands.
Researchers discovered that muskrats, known in Anishinaabemowin as Wazhashk, significantly reduce the spread of invasive plants like hybrid cattails and European frogbit that threaten native biodiversity.
“They’re expansive wetlands, and they’re hugely ecologically important for migrating birds, for water birds that nest in them, for fish and for the life cycles of other aquatic organisms,” said Shane Lishawa, a senior research associate with Loyola’s School of Environmental Sustainability.
The study, conducted in partnership with the University of Connecticut and the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, found muskrats cut invasive cattail cover by 71% and frogbit by 88% in one northern Michigan marsh.
"Year after year, we saw these muskrats are really opening up this system that looked like a cornfield, just a monoculture of these plants,” Lishawa said.
The findings also carry cultural significance. In Ojibwe creation stories, Wazhashk plays a vital role in the formation of the Earth, retrieving a small piece of soil from the waters after the Great Flood which is a symbolic act of restoration and renewal.
The research team says increasing muskrat populations could become a valuable tool for wetland restoration in the Great Lakes region, where invasive species and development have dramatically reduced native habitats.
“This is a hopeful approach to dealing with invasive species,” Lishawa said. “It takes advantage of natural herbivores that are already present and native to this region.”
According to federal data, more than half of the region’s original wetlands have been lost due to drainage and construction.