Tuesday, October 04, 2016

New paper out: Cattle grazing intensity and duration have varied effects on songbird nest survival in mixed-grass prairies

I'm a co-author on a new paper out in Rangeland Ecology and Management.  It's currently up online though it hasn't been assigned a volume/issue yet.  We looked at effects of different grazing regimes (differing duration stocking rates) in Grasslands National Park (Saskatchewan, Canada) and nearby areas on nest survival, and found few effects overall.  A few species had lowered nest survival in some years at low to moderate grazing intensities, such as Sprague's Pipit, Chestnut-collared Longspur, and Vesper Sparrow. Check it out!

Nestling Chestnut-collared Longspurs, near Brooks, Alberta, Canada.  14 June 2016.