Lawrence Igl, PhD (Former Employee)

Recent work has suggested that a tradeoff exists between habitat area and habitat heterogeneity, with a moderate amount of heterogeneity supporting greatest species richness. Support for this unimodal relationship has been mixed and has differed among habitats and taxa. We examined the relationship between habitat heterogeneity and species richness after accounting for habitat area in...

The key to Thick-billed Longspur (Rhynchophanes mccownii) management is providing short, sparsely vegetated native grasslands of adequate size. Mixed-grass prairies can be made suitable for breeding Thick-billed Longspurs by implementing moderate-to-heavy or season-long grazing. Thick-billed Longspurs have been reported to use habitats with 5–42 centimeters (cm) average vegetation height...

The key to Northern Harrier (Circus hudsonius) management is providing tall, dense vegetation in extensive mesic or xeric grasslands or in wetlands. Northern Harriers have been reported to use habitats with 15–106 centimeter (cm) average vegetation height, 28–75 cm visual obstruction reading, 24–53 percent grass cover, 18–25 percent forb cover, less than or equal to 2 percent shrub cover...

The key to Eastern Meadowlark (Sturnella magna) management is providing large areas of contiguous grassland of moderate height with significant grass cover and moderate forb density. Eastern Meadowlarks have been reported to use habitats with 10–187 centimeters (cm) average vegetation height, 6–88 cm visual obstruction reading, 53–86 percent grass cover, 4–50 percent forb cover, less...

Keys to Ferruginous Hawk (Buteo regalis) management are providing suitable nest sites, protecting active nest areas from human disturbance, and providing suitable habitat for prey.

The key to Swainson's Hawk (Buteo swainsoni) management is providing open grasslands that contain patches of trees for nesting and perching, sometimes near cultivated areas.