Lawrence Igl, PhD
Larry Igl is a Research Ecologist at the USGS Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center in Jamestown, North Dakota.
His research interests are avian ecology and conservation, with an emphasis on grassland, wetland, and agricultural ecosystems in the Midwest and Great Plains. Specific areas of interest include avian responses to habitat management and disturbances, Farm Bill and agriculture programs, grassland bird ecology, cowbird brood parasitism, and nesting ecology. He has conducted surveys of breeding, migrating, and wintering birds throughout the southern, central, and northern Great Plains. Recent investigations include a long-term evaluation of breeding bird communities in grasslands enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program in North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, and Montana; an eco-immunology study of New World Blackbirds; a study relating wetland management to mercury in songbirds and ducks; an evaluation of the effects of livestock stocking rates on breeding birds in grasslands managed by the U.S. Forest Service; and an investigation of the response of grassland birds to adaptive management treatments that are being used to restore floristic composition of native grasslands owned by the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service.
Professional Experience
2010-present. Research Ecologist, Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center, U.S. Geological Survey, Jamestown, ND
1992–2010. Ecologist, Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center, U.S. Geological Survey, Jamestown, ND
Education and Certifications
Ph.D., Zoology, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND
M.S., Animal Ecology, Iowa State University, Ames, IA
B.S., Triple major (Biology, Wildlife Ecology, and Natural Resources Management), University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point, WI
Science and Products
The effects of management practices on grassland birds—Willet (Tringa semipalmata inornata)
The effects of management practices on grassland birds—Wilson’s Phalarope (Phalaropus tricolor)
The effects of management practices on grassland birds—Marbled Godwit (Limosa fedoa)
The effects of management practices on grassland birds—Long-billed Curlew (Numenius americanus)
The effects of management practices on grassland birds—Mountain Plover (Charadrius montanus)
The effects of management practices on grassland birds
The effects of management practices on grassland birds—Rates of Brown-headed Cowbird (Molothrus ater) parasitism in nests of North American grassland birds
The effects of management practices on grassland birds—Horned Lark (Eremophila alpestris)
Do life history traits influence patterns of maternal immune elements in New World blackbirds (Icteridae)?
Adaptive management in native grasslands managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service—Implications for grassland birds
Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center—Celebrating 50 years of science
The influence of local- and landscape-level factors on wetland breeding birds in the Prairie Pothole Region of North and South Dakota
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The effects of management practices on grassland birds—Willet (Tringa semipalmata inornata)
Keys to Willet (Tringa semipalmata inornata) management include providing large expanses of native grasslands and wetland complexes. Wetland complexes should contain a diversity of wetland sizes and classes, such as ephemeral, temporary, seasonal, semipermanent, and permanent wetlands, as well as intermittent streams. Willets use wetlands of various salinities. Willets require short, sparse uplandAuthorsJill A. Shaffer, Lawrence D. Igl, Douglas H. Johnson, Marriah L. Sondreal, Christopher M. Goldade, Barry D. Parkin, Jason P. Thiele, Betty R. EulissThe effects of management practices on grassland birds—Wilson’s Phalarope (Phalaropus tricolor)
The key to Wilson’s Phalarope (Phalaropus tricolor) management is providing wetland complexes containing suitable wetland characteristics (that is, open water, emergent vegetation, and open shoreline) and upland habitat (native grassland or tame hayland) throughout the breeding season. Wilson’s Phalaropes have been reported to use habitats with 15–32 centimeters (cm) average vegetation height, 8–1AuthorsJill A. Shaffer, Lawrence D. Igl, Douglas H. Johnson, Christopher M. Goldade, Amy L. Zimmerman, Betty R. EulissThe effects of management practices on grassland birds—Marbled Godwit (Limosa fedoa)
Keys to Marbled Godwit (Limosa fedoa) management include providing large expanses of short, sparsely to moderately vegetated landscapes that include native grasslands and wetland complexes. Optimal wetland complexes should contain a diversity of wetland classes and sizes, such as ephemeral, temporary, seasonal, semipermanent, permanent, and alkali wetlands, as well as intermittent streams. MarbledAuthorsJill A. Shaffer, Lawrence D. Igl, Douglas H. Johnson, Marriah L. Sondreal, Christopher M. Goldade, Melvin P. Nenneman, Betty R. EulissThe effects of management practices on grassland birds—Long-billed Curlew (Numenius americanus)
Keys to Long-billed Curlew (Numenius americanus) management include providing large, open, level to gently rolling grasslands with short vegetation, and tailoring grazing regimes to local conditions. Long-billed Curlews have been reported to use habitats with 3–75 centimeters (cm) average vegetation height, less than or equal to 27 cm visual obstruction reading, 20–71 percent grass cover, 4–50 perAuthorsJill A. Shaffer, Lawrence D. Igl, Douglas H. Johnson, Marriah L. Sondreal, Christopher M. Goldade, Paul A. Rabie, Betty R. EulissThe effects of management practices on grassland birds—Mountain Plover (Charadrius montanus)
The key to Mountain Plover (Charadrius montanus) management is maintaining sparsely vegetated grasslands. Grasslands can be made suitable for breeding Mountain Plovers by preserving large prairie dog (Cynomys species) towns, conducting prescribed burns, or implementing heavy grazing in some situations. Mountain Plovers have been reported to use habitats with 2–38 centimeters average vegetation heiAuthorsJill A. Shaffer, Lawrence D. Igl, Douglas H. Johnson, Marriah L. Sondreal, Christopher M. Goldade, Melvin P. Nenneman, Travis L. Wooten, Betty R. EulissThe effects of management practices on grassland birds
Since the mid-1960s, populations of grassland birds have been declining more precipitously than any other group of birds in North America. These long-term declines highlight the need to better understand the habitat requirements of grassland birds and how management practices affect individual species and their habitats. Although resource managers have long recognized that every management approacThe effects of management practices on grassland birds—Rates of Brown-headed Cowbird (Molothrus ater) parasitism in nests of North American grassland birds
The Brown-headed Cowbird (Molothrus ater) is an obligate brood parasite that relies entirely on host species to incubate its eggs and rear its young. The Brown-headed Cowbird is a host generalist; eggs of the cowbird have been found in nests of more than 220 species of North American birds. Although cowbirds are not considered a serious threat to their primary avian hosts, cowbird brood parasitismAuthorsJill A. Shaffer, Lawrence D. Igl, Douglas H. JohnsonThe effects of management practices on grassland birds—Horned Lark (Eremophila alpestris)
The key to Horned Lark (Eremophila alpestris) management is maintaining areas with short, sparse vegetation by burning, mowing, or grazing. Horned Larks have been reported to use habitats with less than or equal to (≤) 70 centimeters (cm) average vegetation height, 3–26 cm visual obstruction reading, 15–67 percent grass cover, 3–70 percent forb cover, ≤21 percent shrub cover, 1–44 percent bare groAuthorsMeghan F. Dinkins, Lawrence D. Igl, Jill A. Shaffer, Douglas H. Johnson, Amy L. Zimmerman, Barry D. Parkin, Christopher M. Goldade, Betty R. EulissDo life history traits influence patterns of maternal immune elements in New World blackbirds (Icteridae)?
Avian immunology developed originally by investigating domesticated poultry species (Galliformes), but in recent decades eco-immunological studies of wild bird species have revealed that avian immune systems are more diverse than initially assumed. This study compares six immunological elements in eggs of six species within the same family, the New World blackbirds (Icteridae),whose members differAuthorsCarol Fassbinder-Orth, Lawrence D. Igl, D. Caldwell Hahn, Kelsey M. Watts, Travis Wilcoxon, Katsí Ramos-ÁlvarezAdaptive management in native grasslands managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service—Implications for grassland birds
Burning and grazing are natural processes in native prairies that also serve as important tools in grassland management to conserve plant diversity, to limit encroachment of woody and invasive plants, and to maintain or improve prairies. Native prairies managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) in the Prairie Pothole Region of the northern Great Plains have been extensively invaded by noAuthorsLawrence D. Igl, Wesley E. Newton, Todd A. Grant, Cami S. DixonNorthern Prairie Wildlife Research Center—Celebrating 50 years of science
The Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center (NPWRC) celebrated its 50-year anniversary in 2015. This report is written in support of that observance. We document why and how the NPWRC came to be and describe some of its many accomplishments and the influence the Center’s research program has had on natural resource management. The history is organized by major research themes, proceeds somewhatAuthorsJane E. Austin, Terry L. Shaffer, Lawrence D. Igl, Douglas H. Johnson, Gary L. Krapu, Diane L. Larson, L. David Mech, David M. Mushet, Marsha A. SovadaThe influence of local- and landscape-level factors on wetland breeding birds in the Prairie Pothole Region of North and South Dakota
We examined the relationship between local- (wetland) and landscape-level factors and breeding bird abundances on 1,190 depressional wetlands in the Prairie Pothole Region of North and South Dakota during the breeding seasons in 1995–97. The surveyed wetlands were selected from five wetland classes (alkali, permanent, semipermanent, seasonal, or temporary), two wetland types (natural or restored),AuthorsLawrence D. Igl, Jill A. Shaffer, Douglas H. Johnson, Deborah A. Buhl