My primary applied research interests are in understanding relationships between organisms and their habitats in a landscape context. Critical thresholds in abundance and spatial arrangement of habitats likely vary among species that perceive habitat suitability on a hierarchy of scales. Using the newest GIS and remote sensing technologies, my students and I quantify the importance of local and landscape attributes influencing habitat use of grassland and wetland birds in prairie and sagebrush ecosystems.
My current research projects include:
grassland bird conservation planning in the northern Great Plains,
sage-grouse research on habitat, West Nile virus, and energy development,
factors associated with mallard recruitment in the Great Lakes,
risk assessment modeling to characterize factors influencing tillage of native rangeland resources.
