Michael Anteau
Biography
Michael J. Anteau serves as a research scientist and the Chief of the Wildlife and Ecosystems Branch at Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center. Dr. Anteau conducts large-scale research studies to provide applied information for the conservation and management of wildlife and wildlife habitat. His research focuses on evaluating implications of climate and land use changes on migratory birds, wetland and riparian dependent wildlife, and wetland ecology. Through this research focus, Anteau has developed expertise in subjects such as: wetland hydrology, habitat use and selection, nutrition and energetics, breeding ecology, migration stopover ecology, and landscape ecology. In addition to research that Dr. Anteau leads at Northern Prairie, he also serves as adjunct faculty at several Universities and advises or mentors M.S. and Ph.D. students, and Post-Doctoral Researchers. Further information about Dr. Anteau’s research products can be found at: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=LkHqDFMAAAAJ&hl=en
Education
- Ph.D., Wildlife and Fisheries Science, Louisiana State University, Jan. 2006
- M.S., Wildlife Biology, Louisiana State University, May 2002
- B.S., Wildlife Biology, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Dec. 1997
- B.S., Biological Sciences, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Dec. 1997
Professional Experience
- 2015-Present: Wildlife and Ecosystems Branch Chief and Research Wildlife Biologist, US Geological Survey, Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center, Jamestown, ND
- 2006-Present: Research Wildlife Biologist, US Geological Survey, Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center, Jamestown, ND
- 1999-2005: Graduate Research Assistant, US Geological Survey, Louisiana Cooperative Research Unit, School of Renewable Natural Resources, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA
Affiliations
- Adjunct Professor of Biology, North Dakota State University (since 2010)
- Adjunct Assistant Professor, South Dakota State University (since 2011)
- Adjunct Professor, Western Illinois University (since 2017)
- Society of Wetland Scientists (SWS) life member
- Associate Editor for Wetlands (2010–2014)
- Editorial Board for Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution
- Prairie Pothole Joint Venture Technical Team Member
Science and Products
Understanding consequences of management strategies for farmed wetlands to ecosystem services in the Prairie Pothole Region
NPWRC is leading a partnership with North Dakota State University to examine ecological, social, and financial considerations of farming practices within temporarily-ponded wetlands. There has been a long history of cropping prairie pothole wetlands which are embedded within farm fields. Often wet conditions during spring or summer prevent farmers from getting a harvestable yield from these...
Restoration of wetland invertebrates to improve wildlife habitat in Minnesota
Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center (NPWRC) is investigating limitations to restoring abundant aquatic macroinvertebrate populations to Minnesota wetlands and shallow lakes. Recent research on larger more permanent wetlands in Minnesota indicates that there have been decreases in quality of wetlands of use by ducks. That research also describes a decline in abundance of amphipods, a...
Importance of wetlands in intensively farmed landscapes to duck production
The Prairie Pothole Region of the northern Great Plains annually hosts 50–80% of North America’s ducks during the breeding season. Accordingly, there are significant government and private funds that go to conservation for the purposes of improving duck production in the region. The Prairie Pothole Region ecosystem has a number of stressors, intensive agriculture being chief among them. The...
Evaluating wetland ecosystem health using real-time nutrient dynamics of ducks
Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center (NPWRC) leads a collaborative effort, spanning several studies, with the objective of improving techniques to assess the quality of spring migration habitat for ducks. Spring is a critical time in in the life cycle of migratory ducks because during migration they experience peak energetic needs at a time when food resources are often at their scarcest...
Interactions of consolidation drainage and climate on water-level dynamics, wetland productivity, and waterbirds
Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center (NPWRC) recently completed a project aimed at understanding the impacts of wetland drainage on wetlands that receive drainage water. The biological communities of prairie pothole wetlands evolved in a hydrologically dynamic system due to periodic wet and dry conditions. NPWRC research indicates that relative to wetlands in undrained landscapes,...
Interaction of land use and wet/dry cycles on invertebrate populations of northern prairie wetlands: implications for waterbird habitat conservation
This effort is aimed at understanding how productivity of larger and more permanent wetlands is influenced by a combination of inter-annual hydrological dynamics and land-use impacts. Historically, aquatic-invertebrates productivity and abundance was driven by inter-annual hydrological dynamics because drying periods allow for nutrient cycling and a subsequent pulse of productivity when wet...
Inventory, mapping, estimation, and monitoring of least tern and piping plover habitats on the upper Missouri River using satellite imagery
Emergent sandbar maps of the Missouri River produced by Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center continue to be used by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to monitor and manage critical breeding habitat for the endangered Interior population of least terns and the threatened Northern Great Plains population of piping plovers. These maps have been created and...
Can wetland water-management influence mercury bioaccumulation in songbirds and ducks at National Wildlife Refuges with mercury problems?
During summer 2017, Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center (NPWRC) initiated a collaborative research study focused on understanding if water-level management of wetlands at refuges can influence mercury bioaccumulation in wetland-dependent migratory birds. Birds are susceptible to the effects of mercury and can serve as indicators of contamination in ecosystems. We examined mercury...
Breeding ecology and demographics of least terns and piping plovers at the Central Platte River, Nebraska
The Platte River Recovery Implementation Program (PRRIP) partnered with Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center (NPWRC) to study demographics of least terns and piping plovers at the Central Platte River in Nebraska. Due to water management and other alterations, riverine habitat for least terns and piping plovers has become degraded. Least terns and piping plovers, however, have begun...
Population demographics of least terns and piping plovers in Colorado
Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center (NPWRC) is helping to improve the monitoring of federally listed least terns and piping plovers by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers at John Martin Reservoir in Southeastern Colorado. NPWRC is providing information to the USACE aimed to improve their habitat management and productivity monitoring. NPWRC is also providing the capability to mark adults...
Metapopulation dynamics of piping plovers in the Northern Great Plains
NPWRC is leading a multi-agency study to understand metapopulation dynamics of piping plovers in the Northern Great Plains. Piping plovers are a federally listed species that nests on riverine sandbars and shorelines of wetlands and reservoirs. These habitats are dynamic in response to climate and water-management regimes of the Missouri River. The US Army Corps of Engineers manages the...
Demographic response of least terns and piping plovers to the 2011 Missouri River Flood
The largest recorded flood event on the Missouri River occurred during 2011. Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center recently concluded a study that evaluated effects of that flood on least tern and piping plover breeding populations. These federally-listed species nest on riverine sandbars and reservoir shorelines. Since construction of the dams on the Missouri River there have been few...
Typha (cattail) invasion in North American wetlands: Biology, regional problems, impacts, ecosystem services, and management
Typha is an iconic wetland plant found worldwide. Hybridization and anthropogenic disturbances have resulted in large increases in Typha abundance in wetland ecosystems throughout North America at a cost to native floral and faunal biodiversity. As demonstrated by three regional case studies, Typha is capable of rapidly colonizing habitats and...
Bansal, Sheel; Lishawa, Shane; Newman, Sue; Tangen, Brian A.; Wilcox, Douglas A.; Albert, Dennis; Anteau, Michael J.; Chimney, Michael J; Cressey, Ryann L.; DeKeyser, Edward S.; Elgersam, Kenneth J; Finkelstein, Sarah A; Freeland, Joanna; Grosshans, Richard; Klug, Page E.; Larkin, Daniel J; Lawrence, Beth A; Linz, George; Marburger, Joy; Noe, Gregory B.; Otto, Clint R. V.; Reo, Nicholas; Richards, Jennifer; Richardson, Curtis J.; Rodgers, LeRoy; Shrank, Amy J; Svedarsky, Dan; Travis, Steven E.; Tuchman, Nancy; van der Valk, Arnold; Windham-Myers, Lisamarie
Demographic responses of least terns and piping plovers to the 2011 Missouri River flood—A large-scale case study
A catastrophic flood event on the Missouri River system in 2011 led to substantial changes in abundance and distribution of unvegetated sand habitat. This river system is a major component of the breeding range for interior Least terns (Sternula antillarum; “terns”) and piping plovers (Charadrius melodus; “plovers”), both of which are Federally...
Anteau, Michael J.; Sherfy, Mark H.; Shaffer, Terry L.; Swift, Rose J.; Toy, Dustin L.; Dovichin, Colin M. Density and success of upland duck nests in native‐ and tame‐seeded conservation fields
The Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) generates substantial benefits to continental duck populations by providing grassland nesting habitat in rested cropland. Seeding mixes of CRP grasslands vary among numerous conservation practices, but one contrast of interest in the Prairie Pothole Region is the use of introduced, or “tame” versus native...
Sherfy, Mark H.; Anteau, Michael J.; Shaffer, Terry L.; Johnson, Michael A.; Reynolds, Ronald E.; Ringelman, James K.
Potential effects of energy development on environmental resources of the Williston Basin in Montana, North Dakota, and South Dakota—Species of conservation concern: Chapter D in Potential effects of energy development on environmental resources of the Williston Basin in Montana, North Dakota, and South Dakota
The ecosystems of the Williston Basin provide direct and indirect benefits to society. These benefits include carbon sequestration, flood control, nutrient rich soils for agricultural productivity, and habitat for wildlife. This chapter’s main focus is on the effects of energy development on species that occupy the ecosystems in the Williston...
Post van der Burg, Max; Symstad, Amy J.; Igl, Lawrence D.; Mushet, David M.; Larson, Diane L.; Sargeant, Glen A.; Harper, David D.; Farag, Aïda M.; Tangen, Brian A.; Anteau, Michael J. Temporal variation in survival and recovery rates of lesser scaup: A response
We recently analyzed long-term (1951–2011) continental band-recovery data from lesser scaup (Aythya affinis) and demonstrated that harvest rates declined through time, but annual survival rates exhibited no such trends; moreover, annual harvest and survival rates were uncorrelated for all age-sex classes. We therefore concluded that declining...
Arnold, Todd W.; Afton, Alan D.; Anteau, Michael J.; Koons, David N.; Nicolai, Chris A. Long-term spatial heterogeneity in mallard distribution in the Prairie pothole region
The Prairie Pothole Region (PPR) of north-central United States and south-central Canada supports greater than half of all breeding mallards (Anas platyrhynchos) annually counted in North America and is the focus of widespread conservation and research efforts. Allocation of conservation resources for this socioeconomically important population...
Janke, Adam K.; Anteau, Michael J.; Stafford, Joshua D. Is consolidation drainage an indirect mechanism for increased abundance of cattail in northern prairie wetlands?
In the Prairie Pothole Region of North America, disturbances to wetlands that disrupt water-level fluctuations in response to wet–dry climatic conditions have the potential to alter natural vegetative communities in favor of species that proliferate in stable environments, such as cattail (Typha spp.). We evaluated the effect of water-level...
Wiltermuth, Mark T.; Anteau, Michael J. Prerequisites for understanding climate-change impacts on northern prairie wetlands
The Prairie Pothole Region (PPR) contains ecosystems that are typified by an extensive matrix of grasslands and depressional wetlands, which provide numerous ecosystem services. Over the past 150 years the PPR has experienced numerous landscape modifications resulting in agricultural conversion of 75–99 % of native prairie uplands and drainage of...
Anteau, Michael J.; Wiltermuth, Mark T.; Post van der Burg, Max; Pearse, Aaron T.
Demographics and movements of least terns and piping plovers in the Central Platte River Valley, Nebraska
The Central Platte River Valley provides breeding habitat for a variety of migratory birds, including federally endangered interior least terns (Sternula antillarum; least tern) and threatened piping plovers (Charadrius melodus). Since 2009, researchers have collected demographic data on both species that span their lifecycle (that is, from egg...
Roche, Erin A.; Sherfy, Mark H.; Ring, Megan M.; Shaffer, Terry L.; Anteau, Michael J.; Stucker, Jennifer H. Synchrony of Piping Plover breeding populations in the U.S. Northern Great Plains
Local populations that fluctuate synchronously are at a greater risk of extinction than those that do not. The closer the geographic proximity of populations, the more prone they are to synchronizing. Shorebird species select habitat broadly, and many breed across regions with diverse nesting habitat types. Under these conditions, nearby...
Roche, Erin A.; Shaffer, Terry L.; Dovichin, Colin M.; Sherfy, Mark H.; Anteau, Michael J.; Wiltermuth, Mark T. Temporal variation in survival and recovery rates of lesser scaup
Management of lesser scaup (Aythya affinis) has been hindered by access to reliable data on population trajectories and vital rates. We conducted a Bayesian analysis of historical (1951–2011) band-recovery data throughout North America to estimate annual survival and recovery rates for juvenile and adult male and female lesser scaup to...
Arnold, Todd W.; Afton, Alan D.; Anteau, Michael J.; Koons, David N.; Nicolai, Chris A Bayesian approach for temporally scaling climate for modeling ecological systems
With climate change becoming more of concern, many ecologists are including climate variables in their system and statistical models. The Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI) is a drought index that has potential advantages in modeling ecological response variables, including a flexible computation of the index over different...
Post van der Burg, Max; Anteau, Michael J.; McCauley, Lisa A.; Wiltermuth, Mark T.
Drainage of Prairie Pothole Wetlands Can Increase Flooding and Degrade Ecosystems
The drainage of small wetlands can decrease wildlife habitat and may contribute to flooding in the Prairie Pothole Region (PPR), according to a recent U.S. Geological Survey study.