Description Of Research
Research that I am conducting with my students and colleagues has focused on understanding how biotic and abiotic factors affect both structure and function of grassland ecosystems. We have been especially interested in determining the direct and indirect effects that herbivores have on individual plants, plant communities, and nutrient cycling processes. Our research has included: (1) laboratory, greenhouse, and field studies of individual plant responses to grazing by aboveground and belowground herbivores, (2) examination of changes in plant species composition, productivity, and nutrient cycling along natural or experimental grazing gradients in the field, (3) controlled field experiments to examine the effects of defoliation, competition, landscape position, and long-term grazing history on plant productivity and nutrient uptake, and (4) field studies of how disturbance by one group of herbivores affects the abundance and grazing behavior of other species of herbivores. A second avenue of research has centered on evaluating the potential effects of global climate change on grassland ecosystems.
Representative Publications
Hartley, L.M., J.K. Detling and L.T. Savage. 2009. Introduced plague lessens the effects of an herbivorous rodent on grassland vegetation. Journal of Applied Ecology 46:861-869.
Alba-Lynn, C. and J.K. Detling. 2008. Interactive disturbance effects of two disparate ecosystem engineers in North American shortgrass steppe. Oecologia 157:269-278.
Noble, J.C., W.J. Muller, J.K. Detling, and G.H. Pfitzner. 2007. Landscape ecology of the burrowing bettong: Warren distribution and patch dynamics in semiarid eastern Australia. Austral Ecology 32:326-337.
Detling, J.K. 2006. Do prairie dogs compete with livestock? P.65-88 In: Hoogland, J.L. (Ed.) Conservation of the black-tailed prairie dog: saving North America's western grasslands. Island Press.
Grant-Hoffman, M.N. and J.K. Detling. 2006. Vegetation on Gunnison's prairie dog colonies in southwestern Colorado. Rangeland Ecology and Management 59:73-79.
Derner, J.D., J.K. Detling, and M.F. Antolin. 2006. Are livestock weight gains affected by black-tailed prairie dogs? Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 4:459-464.
Russell, R.E. and J.K. Detling. 2003. Grasshoppers (Orthoptera: Acrididae) and black-tailed prairie dogs (Sciuridae: Cynomys ludovicianus (Ord)): Associations between two rangeland herbivores. Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society 76:578-587.
Guenther, D.A. and J.K. Detling. 2003. Observations of cattle use of prairie dog towns. Journal of Range Management 56:410-417.
Fahnestock, J.T. and J.K. Detling. 2002. Bison-prairie dog-plant interactions in a North American mixed-grass prairie. Oecologia 132:86-95.
Fahnestock, J.T. and J.K. Detling. 2000. Morphological and physiological responses of perennial grasses to long-term grazing in the Pryor Mountains, Montana. American Midland Naturalist 143:312-320.
Alward, R.D., J.K. Detling, and D.G. Milchunas. 1999. Grassland vegetation changes and nocturnal global warming. Science 283:229-231.
Detling, J.K. 1998. Mammalian herbivores: ecosystem-level effects in two grassland national parks. Wildlife Society Bulletin 26:438-448.
