Spring migration is an understudied, but important time for waterfowl as conditions faced during this period may affect reproductive success. Therefore, increasing our understanding of waterfowl ecology during spring is ...

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) finalized its Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR) and Clean Air Visibility Rule emission regulations in 2005, to limit emissions of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and particulate ...

I investigated mechanisms responsible for generating distribution patterns of tree squirrels in the agricultural landscape of eastern Illinois. I surveyed mammalian species richness in 10 forest remnants and found that 7 ...

Prairies have become a globally endangered resource. In Illinois, the pervasiveness of agriculture has resulted in an almost complete loss of natural prairie. Wildlife associated with prairie and grassland has concomitantly ...

Shrubland birds are among the fastest declining groups of birds over the past 50 years. Habitat loss and degradation are proposed as being major drivers, but the underlying causes of these declines are unknown. I investigated ...

It has been widely debated whether producing ethanol from corn is sustainable in the long term. Environmentally, the major concern is that producing ethanol from corn involves intensive water and energy consumption. ...

Auchenorrhyncha (i.e., leafhoppers, treehoppers, spittlebugs, and planthoppers) represent some most diverse groups of herbivorous insects in the tallgrass prairie, they have close associations with many native prairie ...

In this study I evaluated the effectiveness of an acoustic recording system (SRS) for surveying tropical bird communities and species relative to traditional point count surveys. To address this goal, I compared species ...

The origin and maintenance of sexual reproduction has long been of interest to evolutionary biologists. While the relationship between genetic diversity and asexuality has received recent attention, the precise nature of ...

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration in the atmosphere has increased from its pre-industrial value of 280 parts per million by volume (ppmv) to 384 ppmv. ...