March 2013

Jennifer Zavaleta presented three papers at the Texas Chapter of The Wildlife Society Annual Meeting in Houston, TX.

• Zavaleta, Jennifer C., Blake G. Grisham, David Haukos and Clint Boal. Invertebrates of Sand Shinnery Oak Communities and the Influence of Lesser Prairie-chicken Brood Survival.

• Zavaleta, Jennifer C., Patricia Maloney and David Haukos. Understanding the Human Component for Conservation in the Sand Shinnery Oak Grasslands.

• Grisham, Blake A., Jennifer Zavaleta, Clint W. Boal, and David Haukos. Management of Lesser Prairie-chicken Populations in Shinnery Oak-grasslands: Priorities and Future Directions.

Andrew Stetter and Rachel Pigg gave presentations at the Graduate Student Research Forum, Division of Biology, KSU. The following pappers were presented:

• Stetter, Andrew, Jeffrey Warren and David Haukos. Duckling survival at the edge of scaup range in Montana.

• Pigg, Rachel, Amanda Goldberg, Dean Biggins and Jack Cully, Jr. Local scale movement of a highly social grassland mammal: insights from field observations.

February 2013

David Haukos and Jennifer Zavaleta attended the Society for Range Management Annual Meeting in Oklahoma City, OK. Dr. Haukos made the presentation, "Lesser Prairie-Chicken Response to Restoration of Sand Shinnery Oak Grasslands in Eastern New Mexico."

David Haukos presented a plenary paper to the Colorado Chapter of The Wildlife Society meeting and met with Colorado Division of Parks and Wildlife concerning research projects.

Andrew Stetter participated in the 50th Central Flyway Wing-Bee held at Emporia, KS.

Martha Mather met with Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism officials in Emporia concerning research projects.

January 2013

Andrew Stetter was awarded the 2013 Wisconsin Waterfowl Hunters's Conference Scholarship. The amount of the award was $1,000.00. Congratulations Andrew!

David Haukos, Brian Kearns, Andrew Stetter and Reid Plumb attended the North American Duck Symposium and Workshop in Memphis, TN. Dr. Haukos organized and chaired the Pintail Action Group at the Symposium. He was also author or co-author on six papers presented at the Symposium. Andrew Stetter presented a poster at the conference.

Unit Alumnus Jan F. Kamler (M.S., 1998) was featured in an article about Asiatic wild dogs or dholes, published by the People's Trust for Endangered Species. http://www.savingcatsanddogs.org/stories/right-to-roam-for-dholes/. For more information about Dr. Kamler's research, visit his web site at: http://www.janfkamler.com/

Martha Mather attended an M.S. defense as Major Professor at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst.

December 2012

David Haukos, Martha Mather, Joseph Smith, Jane Fencl, Kayla Gerber, Sean Hitchman, Zachary Peterson and Jacob Danner attended the Midwest Fish and Wildlife Conference in Wichita, KS. The following papers were presented:

• Haukos, D. A., J. Zavaleta, and C. Boal. Restoration of Sand Shinnery Oak Grasslands Using Prescribed Grazing and Herbicides.

• Smith, J. M., M. E. Mather, S. M. Hitchman, and J. S. Fencl. Stopping Biodiversity Loss: An Evaluation of Metrics that Quantify the Compositions of Fish Communities in Aquatic Ecosystems.

• Gerber, K., M. E. Mather, Z. Peterson, J. E. Smith, and J. Goeckler. Where are those $$#@@ Fish? Distribution and Movement of a Top Predator (Blue Catfish) in a Large, Highly-variable Midwestern Reservoir.

November 2012

Joseph Smith gave a departmental seminar at Emporia State University. The seminar title was, "Beaver dams maintain fish biodiversity throughout a riverscape by increasing habitat heterogeneity".

October 2012

David Haukos organized and hosted a symposium, "Multi-scale Modeling for Conservation of Migratory Birds" for The Wildlife Society Annual Meeting in Portland, Oregon.

David Haukos was co-author of a paper presented at The Wildlife Society Annual Meeting in Portland, Oregon. The paper titled, "A Modeling Framework to Integrate Harvest and Habitat Management of North American Waterfowl: Case-study of Northern Pintail Metapopulation Dynamics" was presented by Brady J. Mattson, U.S. Geological Survey. Other co-authors were: Mike C. Runge, Jim H. Devries, G. Scott Boomer, John M. Eadie, Joe P. Fleskes, David N. Koons, Wayne E. Thogmartin, and Robert G. Clark.

Gene Albanese presented a paper, "A Multi-scale Examination of Stopover Habitat Use by Migrant Shorebirds in the Southern Great Plains" at The Wildlife Society Annual Meeting in Portland, Oregon.

Martha Mather and David Haukos hosted a "Species Distribution Modeling" workshop. The presenter was Dr. Adam B. Smith of the Center for Conservation and Sustainable Development at the Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis, Missouri.

September2012

David Haukos made a presentation at the joint meeting of the Great Plains Landscape Conservation Cooperative (GPLCC) Steering Committee and Science Committee in Lubbock, Texas.

August 2012

The annual Coordinating Committee Meeting for the Kansas Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit was held at the Flint Hills Discovery Center in Manhattan, KS.

Brian Kearns, Joe Lautenbach, Reid Plumb and Andy Stetter joined the Kansas Coop Unit as graduate students under the direction of David Haukos.

David Haukos met with Texas Tech University faculty in Lubbock, TX on current and future research projects. He also met with field researcher working on lesser prairie-chicken projects.

David Haukos participated in a Lesser Prairie-chicken planning session for development of a range-wide conservation in Denver, CO.

July 2012

David Herzog, David Ostendorf and Robert Hrabik from the Missouri Department of Conservation collaborated Martha Mather and her graduate students on the use of the mini- Missouri trawl for fisheries research projects.

June 2012

Jane Fencl and Sean Hitchman attended the Aquatic GIS Workshop in St. Louis, MO.

Ely Sprenkle, Jason Goeckler, Ron Marteney, John Reinke from the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism collaborated with Martha Mather and her graduate students in the tagging of blue catfish at Milford Lake, KS.

David Haukos attended the Playa Lakes Joint Venture Science Advisory Team meeting in Lafayette, CO.

May 2012

Kayla Gerber, Sean Hitchman and Zach Peterson attended the Motorboat Operator Certification Course in Brookings, SD.

Dave Haukos attended a research meeting with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Region 2 Bird Office and GPLCC personnel in Albuquerque, NM.

April 2012

Gene Albanese presented a paper, "Spatiotemporal scaling of North American continental interior wetlands: Implications for shorebird conservation" at the U.S.-International Association of Landscape Ecology annual meeting in Newport, RI. Co-authors were Craig A. Davis (Oklahoma State University) and Bradley W. Compton (University of Massachusetts-Amherst).

Dave Haukos attended a research meeting on the Texas Gulf Coast with biologists of the U.S. Geological Survey, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Stephen F. Austin State University, and Texas Parks and Wildlife Department in Winnie, TX.

March 2012

Jason Fischer defended his Master’s thesis, “Influence of Sand Dredging andth Oer Anthropogenic Disturbances on Fish and Habitat in the Kansas River.”

February 2012

David Haukos and Martha Mather attended the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism meeting in Salina, KS.

David Haukos attended the Texas Chapter of The Wildlife Society meeting in Fort Worth, TX. He was co-author of seven presentations at the meeting:

• Aerial surveys for lesser prairie-chicken leks: detectability and disturbance response. 2012. 48th Annual Meeting, Texas Chapter of The Wildlife Society, Fort Worth, Texas. J.T. McRoberts presenting.

• The predicted influence of climate change on lesser prairie-chicken reproductive parameters. 2012. 48th Annual Meeting, Texas Chapter of The Wildlife Society, Fort Worth, Texas. B.A. Grisham presenting.

• Community response to use of prescribed grazing and herbicide for restoration of sand shinnery oak grasslands. 2012. 48th Annual Meeting, Texas Chapter of The Wildlife Society, Fort Worth, Texas. J.C. Zavaleta presenting.

• Nest success and nest site selection of black-necked stilts on the Texas Chenier Plain National Wildlife Refuge Complex. 2012. 48th Annual Meeting, Texas Chapter of The Wildlife Society, Fort Worth, Texas. T.V. Riecke presenting.

• Potential climate change impacts to mottled ducks on the Chenier Plain Region of Texas. 2012. 48th Annual Meeting, Texas Chapter of The Wildlife Society, Fort Worth, Texas. J.A. Moon presenting.

• American woodcock (Scolopax minor) habitat suitability and occupancy in eastern Texas. 2012. 48th Annual Meeting, Texas Chapter of The Wildlife Society, Fort Worth, Texas. D.S. Sullins presenting.

• Potential exposure to environmental lead in mottled ducks (Anas fulvigula) on the Texas Chenier Plains National Wildlife Refuge Complex. 2012. 48th Annual Meeting, Texas Chapter of The Wildlife Society, Fort Worth, Texas. S.K. McDowell presenting. Poster

David Haukos participated in the Southern Plains Conference in Muleshoe, TX as a panel member, and attended a coastal waterfowl/wetland research meeting in Nacogdoches, TX.

January 2012

Amanda Goldberg defended her Master’s thesis titled, “Apparent Survival, Dispersal, and Abundance of Black-tailed Prairie Dogs.”

Jane Fencl, Kayla Gerber, Sean Hitchman and Zach Peterson joined the Kansas Coop Unit as graduate students under the direction of Martha Mather.

Gene Albanese, David Haukos, Jason Fischer, Joe Gerken, Jane Fencl, Kayla Gerber, Sean Hitchman and Zach Peterson attended the Kansas Natural Resources Conference in Wichita, KS. Jason Fischer made the following presentation:

• Influence of In-Stream and Watershed Alterations on Sandbars and Islands in the Kansas River.

David Haukos attended the Playa Lakes Joint Venture (PLJV) meeting as a member of the Science Advisory Team in Lubbock, TX.

December 2011

Jack Cully, Rachel Pigg, Amanda Goldberg, Joe Gerken and Jason Fischer attended the Midwest Fish and Wildlife Conference in Des Moines, IA. The following papers were presented:

• Goldberg, A., J. F. Cully. Apparent Survival of Black-tailed Prairie Dogs at Four Small National Parks Using the Robust Design in Program MARK. Contributed Poster Presentation.

• Pigg, R., T. Johnson, and J. F. Cully. The influence of landscape features on the disease ecology of sylvatic plague. Contributed Poster Presentation.

• Fischer, J. Habitat and Fish Community Response to Sand Dredging In a Large Great Plains River.

• Gerken, J. E. Can silver carp be controlled? Population level response to various management regimes.

Martha Mather attended a Ph.D. dissertation defense as Major Professor at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst.

David Haukos met with U.S. Fish and Wildlife officials to discuss ongoing research projects in Canyon, TX.