Current Research Projects

Fisheries/Aquatic

Clay Pierce, Principal Investigator:

• Physical Habitat component of the Iowa REMAP Program
• Radio-telemetry investigation of common carp in Clear Lake, Iowa
• Relationships of fish communities and availability of deep-water habitat
• An integrated immunological-GIS approach for bio-monitoring of ecological impacts of swine manure pollutants in streams (with James Roth and Bruce Menzel, co-PIs)

Wildlife/Terrestrial

Dave Otis, Principal Investigator:

• Development of Harvest Strategies for Mourning Doves
• Development and evaluation of methods for regional monitoring of mourning dove recruitment
• Amphibian malformation and disease in midwestern landscapes

Rolf Koford, Principal Investigator:

• Bird Response to Enhanced Vegetation Diversity in the Spring Run Complex of NW Iowa

Cooperating Faculty

• Jim Miller, Dave Engle, Diane Debinski, co-PIs: The Use of Cattle-Grazing and Fire as Management Tools to Maintain Biodiversity on Grassland Reserves in Southern Iowa
• Joe Morris, PI: Best Management Practices for Aquatic Vegetation in Iowa Lakes
• Bill Clark, PI: Distribution and Population Dynamics of Bobcats in Iowa
• John Downing, PI: Develop a User-Friendly Interface for Iowa’s Lake Databases – Watershed, Water Quality and Fisheries
• Diane Debinski, PI: Development of an Invertebrate-based Terrestrial Index of Biotic Integrity
• Mike Quist and Clay Pierce, co-PIs: Effects of Commercial Harvest on Shovelnose Sturgeon in the Upper Mississippi River
• Jim Pease, PI: Iowa NatureMapping: Enhancing Comprehensive Wildlife Management through Internet GIS Mapping Technology
• Jeanne Serb, PI: Genetic variation of northern and southern populations of Quadrula fragosa (Conrad, 1835) using microsatellites
• Brent Danielson, PI: The Effect of Preserve and Conservation Site Clustering on Local Amphibian Densities and Species Richness
• James Miller and Lisa Schulte, co-PIs: Response of forest birds to changes in land use/land cover in the driftless area of northeastern Iowa
• Mike Quist, PI: Assessment of interrelationships between the fisheries community and limnological characteristics in Iowa lakes
• Diane Debinski, Rolf Koford & Jim Miller, co-PIs: Effects of prarie restoration using fire and grazing regimes on the butterfly community of Iowa’s Loess Hills
• Bill Clark and Phil Dixon, co-PIs: Spatial Analysis of waterfowl-predator interactions