Wildlife and Terrestrial Species

The Rainwater Basin Wetland Complex is a mid-latitude focal point of spring migration for numerous species of birds in the Great Plains. The Rainwater Basin Joint Venture (RWBJV) and partners desire geospatial models to identify characteristics of wetland complexes and understand local and landscape level factors that influence habitat selection of migrating waterfowl. To support this effort, we...

The North American Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) provides much essential information for assessing bird populations, but it is unknown how inherent assumptions of the BBS apply to grassland birds in the Northern Plains. Understanding the effects of these assumptions on our understanding of grassland bird populations is essential given widespread declines of grassland birds as well as recent and...

Midcontinent sandhill cranes occupy a large geographic area of central and western North America and northeastern Asia during breeding, winter, and migration. They are a species representing a unique convergence of multiple user groups with an interest in the continued health of this population. Tens of thousands of people view cranes during spring staging at the Platte River Valley in Nebraska...

Interest in the immune systems of wild birds has increased as public health authorities have recognized that many emerging infectious diseases of wildlife can be transmitted to humans (i.e., zoonoses). Eco-immunology is an emerging field that characterizes how immune adaptations of wild species vary as a result of evolution in different habitats and niches. Present understanding of the influence...

With support from the U.S. Prairie Pothole Joint Venture (PPJV), the U.S. Forest Service, and The Nature Conservancy, Northern Prairie is synthesizing literature on the effects of management practices on grassland bird species. The need for these syntheses was identified by the PPJV, a part of the North American Waterfowl Management Plan, in support of its objective to stabilize or increase...

The U.S. Forest Service defines sensitive species as species that need special management to maintain and improve their status on National Forests and Grasslands, and prevent a need for listing under the Endangered Species Act. The Sprague’s pipit and Baird’s sparrow are listed as sensitive species in the Northern Region of the U.S. Forest Service. These species require large patches of native...

Agriculture is the dominant land use on privately owned lands in the northern Great Plains of the United States. Management decisions on agricultural lands are influenced by a variety of policies and programs established by the federal government in periodic Farm Bills. In 1985, Congress passed the Food Security Act. Title XII of the Act established the Conservation Reserve Program or CRP, a...

Waterbird distribution and habitat use are influenced by human activities of agriculture and land-management practices, such as grazing or burning. For many waterbird species, our knowledge of their ecology and factors influencing their abundance and importance of different habitats is very limited. Such information can help direct more effective habitat restoration, management, and conservation...

Monitoring colonial waterbirds is essential to detect and to provide insights about changes in waterbird distribution and abundance. For colonial waterbirds, major population fluctuations often go undetected because surveys are not conducted regularly, inventory methods are inconsistent, or estimates have unknown reliability. The waterbird colony at Chase Lake National Wildlife Refuge in North...

Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center (NPWRC) has a long history of conducting broad-scale demographic analyses on available waterfowl. Our current efforts are collaborative with a variety of partners. Current studies include: 1) analysis of banding data for lesser scaup to inform the role of harvest on the continental population; 2) analysis of North American survey information of mallards to...

Population growth in upland-nesting ducks is highly influenced by spatial and temporal variation in nest survival, and mammalian predators are the major cause of nest failure. Beginning in spring 2018, a graduate student from South Dakota State University and co-advised by a NPWRC scientist will study predator communities and their movements in landscapes with varying grassland patch composition...

Sound management of migratory bird breeding populations in the U.S. Prairie Pothole Region hinges on effective monitoring programs and comprehensive analyses of long-term survey data. To this end, Northern Prairie provides support to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in several important areas. The Four-Square-Mile Breeding Duck and Habitat Survey was developed by Northern Prairie in the mid...