"Effects of disturbance, habitat loss and fragmentation on prairie birds and their ecosystems"

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Grassland birds have declined more than birds from any other ecosystem in North America. I study why grassland songbird populations are declining, and what we can do about it. I integrate theory with field studies to develop a better understanding of effects of disturbance (which includes grazing by native animals, grazing by cattle, and fire) on grassland songbirds. I also study effects of habitat loss and fragmentation on birds. My research program has a number of subthemes. The first explores effects of livestock grazing. To do this, I use a grazing experiment in Grasslands National Park in southern Saskatchewan. We introduced cattle at a range of stocking rates to understand how grazing intensity influences birds and their ecosystems. After 5 years of grazing, we will remove cattle from these pastures, to understand how quickly prairies recover following different grazing intensities.