Publications

Global climate change may affect wolves in Canada's High Arctic (80° N) acting through three trophic levels (vegetation, herbivores, and wolves). A wolf pack dependent on muskoxen and arctic hares in the Eureka area of Ellesmere Island denned and produced pups most years from at least 1986 through 1997. However when summer snow covered vegetation in 1997 and 2000 for the first time since...

Montane wetlands provide valuable habitat for nesting waterfowl and other waterbirds in the western United States, but relatively little information is available about the nesting ecology of their waterbird communities. We describe the general nesting ecology of breeding waterbirds at a large, shallow montane wetland in southeast Idaho during 1997-2000. Habitats included upland...

We estimated nutritional condition for 96 female northern Yellowstone elk (Cervus elaphus nelsoni) during mid- to late winter 2000, 2001, and 2002. Neither year nor capture location significantly influenced any measure of condition (body fat, body mass, and longissimus dorsi thickness; P ≥ 0.14). Overall, age = 8.9 years ± 0.4 SE, body fat = 9.5% ± 0.4, body mass = 235.1 kg ± 2.2, and...

No abstract available.

Incidents are described of bison (Bison bison) in Yellowstone National Park mauling and possibly killing a young elk (Cervus elaphus) calf, chasing wolves (Canis lupus) off elk they had just killed or were killing, and keeping the wolves away for extended periods. During one of the latter cases, the bison knocked a wolf-wounded elk down. Bison were also seen approaching wolves that were...

Most forest growth models are not suitable for the highly fragmented, linear (or linearly shaped) forests in the Great Plains agroecosystems (e.g., windbreaks, riparian forest buffers) where such forests are a minor but ecologically important component of the land mosaics. This study used SEEDSCAPE, a recently modified gap model designed for cultivated land mosaics in the Great Plains...

Analogous to ‘seed banks,’ ‘egg banks’ are important for seasonal succession and maintenance of invertebrate species diversity throughout wet and dry cycles in the prairie pothole region. Further, recruitment of invertebrates from relic egg banks in the sediments and dispersal of eggs into wetlands is believed to be important for reestablishment of invertebrates in recently restored...

In the Prairie Pothole Region (PPR) of North Dakota, USA, American mink (Mustela vison) are a major predator of ducklings. Mink populations plummet during severe droughts, but some mink survive where permanent fresh water is available. In 1992–1993, we evaluated whether development of a permanent water body, the 125-km McClusky Canal (MC), had affected survival of gadwall (Anas strepera)...

American agriculture has provided abundant high-energy foods for migratory and resident wildlife populations since the onset of modern wildlife management. Responding to anecdotal evidence that corn residues are declining in cropland, we remeasured waste corn postharvest in the Central Platte River Valley (CPRV) of Nebraska during 1997 and 1998 to compare with 1978. Post-harvest waste...

We used global positioning system (GPS) radiocollars on female white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) to document details of onsets of migrations, rates of travel, patterns of travel, durations of migrations, and distances traveled by 8 deer in spring and 4 deer in autumn in northeastern Minnesota in 1998, 1999, and 2001. In spring, deer migrated 23–45 km during 31–356 h, deviating a...

Goals and objectives are the unifying elements of successful refuge management. They identify and focus management priorities, provide a context for resolving issues, guide specific projects, provide rationale for decisions, and offer a defensible link among management actions, refuge purpose(s), Service policy, and the National Wildlife Refuge System (Refuge System) mission. Pursuant to...

No abstract available.