Indirect effects of red imported fire ants on Attwater's prairie-chicken brood survival.

The invasive red imported fire ant () has negatively affected a host of taxonomic groups throughout its acquired North American range. Many studies have hypothesized indirect trophic impacts, but few documented those impacts. We evaluated invertebrate abundance as a factor limiting juvenile survival of the endangered Attwater's prairie-chicken (), and whether fire ants reduce invertebrate numbers and biomass.

Attacks on the endangered Attwater's Prairie-Chicken (Tympanuchus cupido attwateri) by black flies (Diptera: Simuliidae) infected with an avian blood parasite.

With fewer than 50 birds remaining in the wild, Attwater's Prairie-Chicken (Tympanuchus cupido attwateri) is critically endangered. Individuals of this species on the Attwater Prairie Chicken National Wildlife Refuge, Colorado Co., TX, have been attacked in successive winters, 2005-2006, by the blood-feeding black fly Cnephia ornithophilia.

Temporal changes in allele frequencies and low effective population size in greater prairie-chickens.

The number of greater prairie-chickens in Wisconsin has decreased by 91% since 1932. The current population of approximately 1500 birds exists primarily in four isolated management areas. In previous studies of the Wisconsin populations we documented low levels of genetic variation at microsatellite loci and the mitochondrial DNA control region.

Genetic evaluation of a proposed introduction: the case of the greater prairie chicken and the extinct heath hen.

Population introduction is an important tool for ecosystem restoration. However, before introductions should be conducted, it is important to evaluate the genetic, phenotypic and ecological suitability of possible replacement populations. Careful genetic analysis is particularly important if it is suspected that the extirpated population was unique or genetically divergent.

Contrasting patterns of mitochondrial and microsatellite population structure in fragmented populations of greater prairie-chickens.

Greater prairie-chickens (Tympanuchus cupido pinnatus) were once found throughout the tallgrass prairie of midwestern North America but over the last century these prairies have been lost or fragmented by human land use. As a consequence, many current populations of prairie-chickens have become isolated and small. This fragmentation of populations is expected to lead to reductions in genetic variation as a result of random genetic drift and a decrease in gene flow.