Introduction

Larkin Powell is a professor of conservation biology and animal ecology in the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's School of Natural Resources (SNR) since August 2001. He teaches courses in SNR's fisheries and wildlife major, including field courses to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and Puerto Rico. He has an active research lab for M.S. or Ph.D. students and postdoctoral associates.

His areas of study attempt to explain how management of landscapes affects wildlife populations, with many research projects focused on private lands or state/federal properties. Powell's students work on projects assessing grazing management, Farm Bill conservation programs, prescribed burning and other management-related issues. He have worked on projects involving forest and grassland songbirds, upland game birds, sandhill cranes, quail-doves, waterfowl, small mammals, mesopredators, painted turtles, and raptors.

Education:

  • Ph.D., Ecology, University of Georgia, Athens, Ga., 1998
  • M.S., Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa, 1992
  • B.S., Biology, Graceland University, Lamoni, Iowa, 1990

Examples of Current Research/Extension Programs:

  • Effects of Wind-Power Development on Prairie Grouse in Nebraska: research starting in 2013-do wind turbines have effects on prairie-chicken and sharp-tailed grouse movements, survival, and mating behaviors? Funded by NGPC. Three-year field study is near Ainsworth.
  • Waterfowl Harvest Information: working with NGPC to assess hunter data base to learn about temporal and spatial distribution of harvest of ducks, with emphasis on how changes in regulations affect the distribution of how many ducks get harvested and where they get harvested.
  • Greater Prairie-Chicken Habitat: study coming to an end; funded by NGPC. Study of prairie-chickens on private lands in the eastern Sandhills. What type of nesting and brood-rearing habitats are selected by hens? Information will provide landowners with grazing recommendations if they want to support chicken populations for hunting or ecotourism or pleasure.
  • A Study of Issues Faced by Private Landowners in Namibia and the Great Plains: Critical Decisions Made to Support Grasslands-assessing the potential for private nature reserves, with private investment, to support conservation in a sustainable way on the Great Plains. I assessed similar models in Namibia.
  • Demographic analysis of fisheries data: Collaborating with UNL fisheries biologists Mark Pegg and Kevin Pope, to provide demographic analyses of mark-recapture and survey data from their labs. They have published papers with the first-ever survival rates and population size estimates for pallid sturgeon in the Missouri River, for example. The collaborations began when their students took Powell's graduate-level course.

Examples of Past Research/Extension Programs:

Assessing Local and Regional Variability in Productivity and Fidelity of Grassland Birds on National Park Service Units in the Great Plains: Using three national park sites to determine if small park units were justified in spending resources to benefit avian species of conservation concern.

Examples of Outreach Programs

Co-advises the UNL Wildlife Club who provides outreach (environmental education) to hundreds of school-aged kids at various festivals and school programs every year.

Teaching

Powell teaches a capstone course for the F&W major, Wildlife Management Techniques, each fall. He teaches a required course for the F&W major, Wildlife Ecology and Management, each spring. He also teaches a graduate-level course, Vertebrate Population Analyses-it provides background in estimating survival rates, density, home range size, and population size from data commonly collected from mark-recapture, radio-telemetry and/or wildlife surveys.

Selected Publications:

  • Henaux, V., L. A. Powell, M. Vrtiska, and K. Hobson. In press. Establishing Winter Origins of Migrating Lesser Snow Geese Using Stable Isotopes. Avian Conservation and Ecology.
  • Matthews, T. W., J. S. Taylor, and L. A. Powell. In press. Mid-contract management of CRP grasslands provides benefits for ring-necked pheasant nest and brood survival. Journal of Wildlife Management.
  • Matthews, T. W., J. S. Taylor, and L. A. Powell. In press. Ring-necked pheasant hens select managed CRP grasslands for nesting and brood-rearing. Journal of Wildlife Management.
  • Gregory, C. J., S. J. Dinsmore, L. A. Powell, and J. G. Jorgensen. In press. Estimating the abundance of long-billed curlews in Nebraska. Journal of Field Ornithology.
  • Barcelo, I., J. C. Guzman-Aranda, F. Chavez-Ramirez, and L. A. Powell. In press. Rural inhabitant perceptions of sandhill cranes in wintering areas of northern Mexico. Human Dimensions of Wildlife.
  • Steffensen, K.D., L. A. Powell, and M. Pegg. In press. Population size of hatchery-reared and wild pallid sturgeon in the lower Missouri River. North American Journal of Fisheries Management.
  • Powell, L. A., M. D. Giovanni, S. Groepper, M. L. Reineke, and W. H. Schacht. In press. Attendance patterns and survival of Western Meadowlark nests under video observation in the Nebraska Sandhills. Studies in Avian Biology.
  • Martin, D. R., L. A. Powell, and K. L. Pope. 2012. Habitat Selection by Adult Walleye during Spawning Season in Irrigation Reservoirs: A Patch Occupancy Modeling Approach. Environmental Biology of Fishes 93:589-598.

Web/e-mail addresses:

Larkin Powell

Larkin Powell