Publications

The Gulf Coast Joint Venture of the North American Waterfowl Management Plan began contracting private agricultural lands (hereafter mini-refuges) in 1988 to expand existing sanctuaries for northern pintails (Anas acuta) in southwestern Louisiana. Previous research suggested that mini-refuges may prove more attractive to pintails than permanent, open-water pools (pools) on refuges...

Stable-isotope ratio signatures of primary producers in a coastal wetland and in adjacent offshore waters of western Lake Superior indicated that phytoplankton are the primary source of carbon for the grazing food web of this ecosystem. This study outlines the possible roles of other autotrophs in this regard. Isotopic signatures of macrophytes reflected their life-form-associated...

Abstract has not been submitted

Checklist and “Pollard Walk” butterfly survey methods were contemporaneously applied to seven public sites in North Dakota during the summer of 1995. Results were compared for effect of method and site on total number of butterflies and total number of species detected per hour. Checklist searching produced significantly more butterfly detections per hour than Pollard Walks at all sites...

Century-long annual precipitation time series at 168 stations in the central United States are analyzed with special attention given to interdecadal variations. The results show statistically significant precipitation variations of interdecadal timescales in the region. In particular, one variation has a quasi 20-yr period, and another one possesses a quasi 12-yr period.

Identification of capture and handling procedures that influence survival of waterfowl has important research and management implications. We captured 347 female Northern Pintails (Anas acuta) using rocket nets, fitted them with harness (backpack-type) radio transmitters, and monitored their survival during the first 10 d following release. Females were 16 times more likely to die during...

We exposed larval tiger salamanders (Ambystoma tigrinum) reared in the laboratory from eggs collected from a prairie wetland in North Dakota to three concentrations of atrazine (0, 75, and 250 i??g/L) in a static renewal test to determine the pesticide's effect on (1) plasma corticosterone and thyroxine concentrations, (2) larval size, and (3) days-to-stage at stages 2 and 4 of...

Techniques for captive-rearing and releasing piping plovers (Charadrius melodus) were developed using a surrogate species, killdeer (Charadrius vociferus). We compared captive- and parent-reared killdeer, and parent-reared piping plovers and determined that growth and behavior were similar. After surrogate trials determined that captive-rearing was feasible, we used the same methods to...

Land-use changes have been blamed for creating disturbance in the morphology of streams in the Ozark Plateaus, Missouri (hereafter referred to as the "Ozarks"). Historical evidence and stratigraphic observations document that streams have been aggraded by substantial quantities of gravel beginning sometime at or near the time of European settlement of the Ozarks. Before European...

We examined the understory species composition of 24 remnant forest stands along an urban-to-rural gradient in the metropolitan Milwaukee, Wisconsin region to determine the relationships between plant community composition, human disturbance, and contrasting types of land use along a gradient of urbanization. A significant difference was found in shrub species community composition among...

We examined carcass composition and proximate food composition of ruddy ducks (Oxyura jamaicensis), northern shovelers (Anas clypeata), and northern pintails (Anas acuta) wintering on agricultural drainwater ponds in California during 1983–84. Lipids varied seasonally in northern shovelers and northern pintails. Protein did not fluctuate except in ruddy ducks whose protein mass increased...

No abstract available.