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Publications

USGS Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center staff publish results of their research in USGS series reports and in peer-reviewed journals. Publication links are below.  Information on all USGS publications can be found at the USGS Publications Warehouse.

Filter Total Items: 1907

Scaup migration patterns in North Dakota relative to temperatures and water conditions

Greater (Aythya marila) and lesser scaup (A. affinis) have protracted spring migrations. Migrants may still be present on southern breeding areas when the annual Waterfowl Breeding Population and Habitat Surveys (WBPHS) are being conducted. Understanding factors affecting the chronology and rate of spring migration is important for the interpretation of data from annual population surveys. We desc
Authors
J. E. Austin, D. A. Granfors, M. A. Johnson, S. C. Kohn

Records of northern mockingbird, Mimus polyglottos, occurrences in North Dakota during the Twentieth Century

The Northern Mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos) is a common bird in the southern United States that has been expanding its breeding range into the northern United States and southern Canada. During the twentieth century, there were 128 reports of Northern Mockingbird occurrences in North Dakota, including 106 reports during the breeding season (15 April to 31 August) and 22 during the nonbreeding sea
Authors
L.D. Igl, R.E. Martin

Differential use of a wolf, Canis lupus, pack territory edge and core

Based on 418 radio-locations of a Minnesota wolf pack, wolves were found at significantly fewer locations per area in the outer 2 km of the territory than in the core. This finding supports an hypothesis that buffer zones exist between pack territories and may explain why prey survive longer there.
Authors
L. D. Mech, E. K. Harper

Floristic quality assessment of one natural and three restored wetland complexes in North Dakota, USA

Floristic quality assessment is potentially an important tool for conservation efforts in the northern Great Plains of North America, but it has received little rigorous evaluation. Floristic quality assessments rely on coefficients assigned to each plant species of a region’s flora based on the conservatism of each species relative to others in the region. These “coefficients of conservatism” (C
Authors
David M. Mushet, Ned H. Euliss, Terry L. Shaffer

The importance of replication in wildlife research

Wildlife ecology and management studies have been widely criticized for deficiencies in design or analysis. Manipulative experiments--with controls, randomization, and replication in space and time--provide powerful ways of learning about natural systems and establishing causal relationships, but such studies are rare in our field. Observational studies and sample surveys are more common; they als
Authors
D. H. Johnson

Breeding season of wolves, Canis lupus, in relation to latitude

A significant relationship was found between Wolf (Canis lupus) breeding dates and latitudes between 12 deg. and 80 deg. N, with Wolves breeding earlier at lower latitudes, probably because of differences in seasonality.
Authors
L. David Mech

Computer simulation of wolf-removal strategies for animal-damage control

Because of the sustained growth of the gray wolf (Canis lupus) population in the western Great Lakes region of the United States, management agencies are anticipating gray wolf removal from the federal endangered species list and are proposing strategies for wolf management. Strategies are needed that would balance public demand for wolf conservation with demand for protection against wolf depreda
Authors
R.G. Haight, L.E. Travis, K. Nimerfro, L. D. Mech

Assemblages of breeding birds as indicators of grassland condition

We developed a measure of biological integrity for grasslands (GI) based on the most influential habitat types in the Prairie Pothole Region of North Dakota. GI is based on proportions of habitat types and the relationships of these habitat types to breeding birds. Habitat types were identified by digital aerial photography, verified on the ground, and quantified using GIS. We then developed an in
Authors
S.F. Browder, D. H. Johnson, I. J. Ball

Animal lifespan and human influence

Lifespan differs radically among organisms ever lived on earth, even among those roughly similar in size, shape, form, and physiology; Yet, in general, there exists a strong positive relationship between lifespan and body size. Although lifespans of humans and human-related (domestic) animals are becoming increasingly longer than that of other animals of similar sizes, the slope of the regression
Authors
Q. Guo, S. Yang

Long-term dynamics of winter and summer annual communities in the Chihuahuan Desert

Using 15 years of census data from permanent quadrats, this paper compared the characteristics and temporal dynamics of these two distinct, spatially coexistent but temporally segregated communities. Although the total number of summer annual species recorded during our 15 years observation was higher than winter annuals, the average number of species observed each year was higher in the winter co
Authors
Q. Guo, J.H. Brown, T.J. Valone