Publications by authors named "Jonathan Spiess"

Understanding how management influences forage nutritive value and grazer selection within grazing seasons is an ongoing effort for researchers and land managers globally. We used six, 65 ha pastures managed with patch-burn grazing and stocked with either cow-calf pairs (0.45-0.

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Land-use and land-cover change associated with agriculture is one of the main drivers of biodiversity loss. In heavily modified agricultural landscapes, grazing lands may be the only areas that can provide essential resources for native grassland species. Management decisions, such as choice of livestock species, affect the extent to which grazing lands provide suitable habitat for native species such as pollinators.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study examined how traffic from shale petroleum development affects dust exposure in rural landscapes, specifically in the Bakken region.
  • Dust deposition was significant up to 180 meters from unpaved roads, yet it did not impact the abundance or behavior of birds and invertebrates in agricultural areas.
  • The results indicate that wildlife in intensified agricultural environments can withstand additional disturbances from energy development, unlike species in undisturbed habitats.
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Ecologists have used Global Positioning Systems (GPS) to track animals for 30 years. Issues today include logging frequency and precision in estimating space use and travel distances, as well as battery life and cost. We developed a low-cost (~US$125), open-source GPS datalogger based on Arduino.

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