North America's grassland birds remain in crisis despite decades of conservation efforts.
This review provides an overview of factors contributing to these declines, as well as …

Conservation efforts often focus on a single species, but this approach is inefficient for
agencies dealing with many declining species at risk of extinction. Leveraging already …

Woody plants are proliferating in grassland ecosystems worldwide, altering distributions and
demography of many imperiled species. The transition from grassland to shrubland is …

Nest survival is an important part of breeding success in grassland ecosystems, and the
location of nests can determine vulnerability to different predators. We conducted an …

Nesting-site selection is an important aspect of the breeding process in birds, as it usually
determines nesting and breeding successes. Many factors can affect bird nest-site selection …

Where historical fire regimes have been disrupted, reduction in woody vegetation is often
used to maintain or restore habitat for grassland and early successional birds. In pine …

Ecosystem engineers alter, and can be influenced in turn by, the ecosystems they live in.
Woodpeckers choose foraging and nesting sites based, in part, on food availability. Once …

Many assemblages of birds have declined globally in the past several decades, with
grassland bird species experiencing the most substantial declines. One of the leading …

Vegetation structure plays an important role in determining the abundance and community
composition of grassland animals. This is especially relevant in the shortgrass steppe …

Identifying the habitat characteristics that matter most to a species is crucial to understanding
its basic ecology and conservation needs. Although species-habitat relationships are often …