Publications

Wetland basins in the Prairie Pothole Region of the U.S. are commonly modified by excavation (e.g., roadside ditches, stock dugouts), partial drainage (ditching), and diking. Differences in the distribution of modified wetlands may affect the predictive accuracy of waterfowl survey data if such wetlands are not distributed randomly in the landscape and if waterfowl are not distributed equally am

Information on the habitat requirements and effects of habitat management on grassland birds were summarized from information in more than 5,500 published and unpublished papers. A range map is provided to indicate the breeding distribution of Greater Prairie-Chicken in the United States and southern Canada. Although birds frequently are observed outside the breeding range indicated, the maps are

The paper compares distributions of native weedy species and exotic species with respect to three kinds of disturbance, roads, trails, and prairie dog towns. Data were collected at the north and south units of Theodore Roosevelt National Park and at Wind Cave National Park. The paper concludes that many exotic species differ substantially from native weeds in their exploitation of disturbance. It

Three subspecies of sandhill crane (Grus canadensis) are recognized in the Midcontinental population, the lesser (Grus c. canadensis), Canadian (G. c. rowani), and greater (G. c. tabida). Blood samples collected on the population's primary spring staging area in Nebraska, U.S.A., were used to resolve the genetic relationship among these subspecies. Phylogenetic analysis of 27 G. canadensis, by DNA

The brown-headed cowbird (Molothrus ater) is an obligate brood parasite whose numbers have increased in recent decades to the potential detriment of the species that they parasitize. Thus, most management efforts focus on discouraging brown-headed cowbird parasitism or controlling brown-headed cowbird populations. Keys to discouraging cowbird parasitism or controlling populations of brown-headed c

Abstract has not been submitted

Reproductive success of shorebirds can be improved by placement of predator exclosure fences along beaches or wire-mesh exclosure “cages” over nests. We predicted that these two types of exclosures used simultaneously might further improve reproductive success over that when cages alone are used. Field experiments were carried out on Piping Plovers (Charadrius melodus) on prairie alkali lakes in N

The wolverine (Gulo gulo) is an uncommon, wide-ranging carnivore of conservation concern. We evaluated performance of landscape models for wolverines within their historical range at 2 scales in the interior Northwest based on recent observations (n = 421) from Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Montana. At the subbasin scale, simple overlays of habitat and road-density classes were effective in predi

Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) may winter in northern areas if they have access to adequate food and open water. We compared individual body size (indexed by first principal component scores from three morphometric measurements) and body condition (body mass adjusted for body size) of male Mallard wintering in North Dakota, USA during 1996-99 with a baseline reference group of Mallard from Ontario,

Species-abundance relationship is one of the most fundamental aspects of community ecology. Since Motomura first developed the geometric series model to describe the feature of community structure, ecologists have developed many other models to fit the species-abundance data in communities. These models can be classified into empirical and theoretical ones, including (1) statistical models, i.e.,

Both frequency and intensity of disturbances in many ecosystems have been greatly enhanced by increasing human activities. As a consequence, the short-lived plant species including many exotics might have been dramatically increased in term of both richness and abundance on our planet while many long-lived species might have been lost. Such conclusions can be drawn from broadly observed succession

Scent stations usually are deployed in clusters to expedite data collection and increase the number of stations that can be operated for a given cost. Presumed benefits of cluster sampling may not be realized, however, unless cluster sizes are chosen with respect to sampling variation within and among clusters. To encourage and facilitate the use of efficient designs and reporting standards, we us