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
Decision support for restoration and management of Service-owned native prairies: Implications for grassland bird communities
More than 100,000 ha of native tallgrass and mixed-grass prairies are managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) in the northern Great Plains. Although prairies in this region evolved with grazing, fire, and climatic variability, management of FWS grasslands often has been passive and involved extended periods of rest. In 2008, the USGS and the FWS initiated a collaborative effort, the...
Long-term changes in pollinator resources (alfalfa, sweetclover, milkweed) and monarch butterfly populations in CRP grasslands
Federal cropland retirement programs are increasingly being used to provide resources for pollinators (e.g., nectar, pollen, host plants). Pollinator-friendly plant species (e.g., alfalfa, sweetclover) were readily included in seed mixes in Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) grasslands since its inception in the 1985 Farm Bill. Through time, some native plant species (e.g., milkweeds) also...
Immune components in eggs of New World blackbirds
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...
The effects of management practices on grassland birds
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...
Response of grassland birds to habitat characteristics, oil wells, and roads in managed grasslands in the Little Missouri National Grassland in North Dakota
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...
Developing techniques to census and monitor American white pelicans and other colonial waterbirds at Chase Lake National Wildlife Refuge in North Dakota
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...
Breeding bird use of grasslands enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program in the northern Great Plains
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...
Science and Products
- Science
Decision support for restoration and management of Service-owned native prairies: Implications for grassland bird communities
More than 100,000 ha of native tallgrass and mixed-grass prairies are managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) in the northern Great Plains. Although prairies in this region evolved with grazing, fire, and climatic variability, management of FWS grasslands often has been passive and involved extended periods of rest. In 2008, the USGS and the FWS initiated a collaborative effort, the...Long-term changes in pollinator resources (alfalfa, sweetclover, milkweed) and monarch butterfly populations in CRP grasslands
Federal cropland retirement programs are increasingly being used to provide resources for pollinators (e.g., nectar, pollen, host plants). Pollinator-friendly plant species (e.g., alfalfa, sweetclover) were readily included in seed mixes in Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) grasslands since its inception in the 1985 Farm Bill. Through time, some native plant species (e.g., milkweeds) also...Immune components in eggs of New World blackbirds
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...The effects of management practices on grassland birds
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...Response of grassland birds to habitat characteristics, oil wells, and roads in managed grasslands in the Little Missouri National Grassland in North Dakota
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...Developing techniques to census and monitor American white pelicans and other colonial waterbirds at Chase Lake National Wildlife Refuge in North Dakota
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...Breeding bird use of grasslands enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program in the northern Great Plains
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... - Data
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