2026-09-25T03:27:43Z https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/49612 2023-07-11 col_2142_5131 col_2142_14737 col_2142_27685 col_2142_97958 com_2142_5130 com_2142_690 com_2142_397 com_2142_10683 com_2142_8803

Made available in DSpace on 2014-05-30T16:52:23Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 Valerie_Buxton.pdf: 887603 bytes, checksum: 768bb630eff6aed5be8e793707b3ec6f (MD5) license.txt: 4064 bytes, checksum: e5dc2f3dacddf43ff31b983674055fb6 (MD5) http://hdl.handle.net/2142/49612 en Copyright 2014 Valerie Buxton grassland birds urban-to-rural gradient Benson, Thomas J. Buxton, Valerie 2014-05-30T16:52:23Z 2014-05-30T16:52:23Z 2014-05 2014-05-30T16:52:23Z 2014-05 Grassland bird populations have experienced steep declines across North America, with especially precipitous declines in the Midwest. The primary cause of these declines is thought to be loss and fragmentation of grassland habitat. Illinois alone has lost >99% of its native prairie, and has steadily lost agricultural grasslands over the past 50 years. Despite this statewide decline in grassland availability, there are >12,000 ha of grassland in the Chicago region that may provide valuable habitat for imperiled grassland bird species. However, little is known about the value of grasslands located in an urban matrix. To investigate whether grassland birds are using these grasslands and whether they support viable populations, I examined grassland bird habitat use, reproductive success, and nest predator identities along an urban-to-rural gradient in the greater Chicago metropolitan region. Of the seven obligate grassland species I studied, only Sedge Wrens (Cistothorus platensis) displayed a strongly negative association to the amount of development in the landscape. I found that nest predation rates decreased in more developed landscapes, as did the probability of brood parasitism. I also found that coyotes (Canis latrans) and white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) were the dominant nest predators in this study system. This research contributes to an ongoing effort to define what factors are important for designing grassland bird conservation areas in urban landscapes. Item withdrawn by Laura Spradlin (lspradl2@illinois.edu) on 2014-03-10T13:23:26Z Item was in collections: University of Illinois Theses & Dissertations (ID: 1) No. of bitstreams: 1 Buxton_Valerie.pdf: 885796 bytes, checksum: 99729681fabb88264b683ea5c0781135 (MD5) habitat use nest predation Making the most of what remains: Examining the quality of urban grasslands for birds in Illinois text Natural Res & Env Sci 1875 Natural Res & Env Sciences 0190 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Thesis M.S. MS:Nat Res & Envrn Sci -UIUC 10KS0190MS