Dean Biggins - USGS

Trust Species & Habitats

Research Wildlife Biologist

Duty Station:
Fort Collins Science Center
2150 Centre Ave
Bldg C
Fort Collins, CO 80525

Phone: 970-226-9467
Fax: 970.226.9230
Email: bigginsd@usgs.gov

Current Research

• Vaccination and Flea Control to Assess Invasion of Plague into the Conata Basin, South Dakota
• Grassland Ecology and Conservation
• Effects of Soil and Colony Age on Flea Densities

Publications

• Importance of lunar and temporal conditions for spotlight surveys of adult black-footed ferrets
• Fine-scale habitat use of reintroduced black-footed ferrets on prairie dog colonies in New Mexico
• Use of multi-opening burrow systems by black-footed ferrets
• Black-footed ferrets and recreational shooting influence the attributes of black-tailed prairie dog burrows
• Digging behaviors of radio-tagged black-footed ferrets near Meeteetse, Wyoming, 1981-1984
• Patterns of surface burrow plugging in a colony of black-tailed prairie dogs occupied by black-footed ferrets
• Plague disrupts ecosystems and creates challenges for wildlife conservation
• Flea and plague ecology in prairie dog colonies: Ages of colonies, means of colony establishment, and soil characteristics
• Information on black-footed ferret biology collected within the framework of ferret conservation
• Black-footed ferret digging activity in summer
• Resource selection models are useful in predicting fine-scale distributions of black-footed ferrets in prairie dog colonies
• Interface between black-footed ferret research and operational conservation
• Mortality of Siberian polecats and black-footed ferrets released onto prairie dog colonies
• Recommended methods for range-wide monitoring of prairie dogs in the United States
• Black-footed ferret areas of activity during late summer and fall at Meeteetse, Wyoming
• Movements and survival of black-footed ferrets associated with an experimental translocation in South Dakota
• Postbreeding resource selection by adult black-footed ferrets in the Conata Basin, South Dakota
• Landscape features influence postrelease predation on endangered black-footed ferrets
• Black-footed ferrets and Siberian polecats as ecological surrogates and ecological equivalents
• Environmental enrichment affects adrenocortical stress responses in the endangered black-footed ferret
• Symposium on the ecology of Plague and its effects on wildlife: special issue of vector-borne and zoonotic diseases
• Nighttime aboveground movements by prairie dogs on colonies inhabited by black-footed ferrets
• Vector control improves survival of three species of prairie dogs (Cynomys) in areas considered enzootic for plague
• Enzootic plague reduces black-footed ferret (Mustela nigripes) survival in Montana
• Morning ambush attacks by black-footed ferrets on emerging prairie dogs
• Symposium on the ecology of plague and its effects on wildlife: A model for translational research
• A review of plague persistence with special emphasis on fleas
• Aboveground predation by an American badger (Taxidea taxus) on black-tailed prairie dogs (Cynomys ludovicianus)
• Evidence of enzootic plague impacts on black-footed ferret survival in Montana
• Bobcat attack on a cottontail rabbit
• Extreme plasticity in thermoregulatory behaviors of free-ranging black-tailed prairie dogs
• Restoration of an endangered species: the black-footed ferret
• Does predator management enhance survival of reintroduced black-footed ferrets?
• Evaluating habitat for black-footed ferrets: revision of an existing model
• Radio-telemetry for black-footed ferret research and monitoring
• Habitat preferences and intraspecific competition in black-footed ferrets
• A history of searches for black-footed ferrets
• Exposure of captive black-footed ferrets (Mustela nigripes) to plague (Yersinia pestis) and implications for species recovery
• The symposium in context
• Effects of moonlight on cover usage and spatial learning of black-footed ferrets
• Recovery of the black-footed ferret: progress and continuing challenges--Proceedings of the Symposium on the Status of the Black-footed Ferret and Its Habitat, Fort Collins, Colorado, January 28-29, 2004
• Monitoring black-footed ferrets during reestablishment of free-ranging populations: Discussion of alternative methods and recommended minimum standards
• The quest for a safe and effective canine distemper virus vaccine for black-footed ferrets
• Modeling black-footed ferret energetics: Are southern release sites better?
• Postrelease movements and survival of adult and young black-footed ferrets
• Estimating the abundance of prairie dogs
• Forage preferences in two species of prairie dog (Cynomys parvidens and Cynomus ludovicianus): Implications for hibernation and facultative heterothermy
• Conservation of prairie dogs in areas with plague
• FORT researchers meet the challenges of re-establishing the endangered black-footed ferret
• Variation in torpor patterns of free-ranging black-tailed and Utah prairie dogs across gradients of elevation
• Treatment of black-tailed prairie dog burrows with deltamethrin to control fleas (Insecta: Siphonaptera) and plague
• Challenges to reestablishment of free-ranging populations of black-footed ferrets
• Evaluation of oral and subcutaneous delivery of an experimental canarypox recombinant canine distemper vaccine in the Siberian polecate (Mustela eversmanni)
• Basal metabolism of the black-footed ferret (Mustela nigripes) and the Siberian polecat (M. eversmannii)
• Comparison of moonlight effects on cover usage and spatial learning of black-footed ferrets (Mustela nigripes) and siberian ferrets (M. eversmannii)
• The influence of sylvatic plague on North American wildlife at the landscape level, with special emphasis on black-footed ferret and prairie dog conservation
• Influences of introduced plague on North American mammals: Implications from ecology of plague in Asia
• Disruptions of ecosystems in western North America due to invasion by plague
• Susceptibility of the Siberian polecat to subcutaneous and oral Yersinia pestis exposure
• Etologia aplicada al manejo de especies amenazadas: el caso del turon de patas negras (Mustela nigripes)
• Hybridization and the phylogenetic relationship between polecats and domestic ferrets in Britain
• Influence of prerelease experience on reintroduced black-footed ferrets (Mustela nigripes)
• Noninvasive monitoring of fetal growth and development in the Siberian polecat (Mustela eversmanni)
• The effect of rearing methods on survival of reintroduced black-footed ferrets
• The captive environment and reintroduction: the black-footed ferret as a case study with comments on other taxa
• A comparison of sevoflurane and isoflurane for short-term anesthesia in polecats (Mustela eversmanni)
• Management of an endangered species: the black-footed ferret
• Activity rhythm and home range of alpine weasel
• Black-Footed Ferrets
• Activity rhythms and distribution of natal dens for red foxes
• Reintroduction of the black-footed ferret (Mustela nigripes)
• Recovery of the black-footed ferret: looking back, looking forward
• Introduction
• Proceedings of the symposium on the management of prairie dog complexes for the reintroduction of the black-footed ferret
• A Technique for Evaluating Black-Footed Ferret Habitat
• Workshop Summary
• Visual counts as an index of White-Tailed Prairie Dog density
• Development of Survival Skills in Captive-Raised Siberian Polecats. I: Locating prey
• Development of Survival Skills in Captive-Raised Siberian Polecats (Mustela eversmanni) II: Predator Avoidance
• A proposal to conserve black-footed ferrets and the prairie dog ecosystem
• Black-footed ferret recovery
• Transponders as permanent identification markers for domestic ferrets, black-footed ferrets, and other wildlife
• Comparison of capture-recapture and visual count indices of prairie dog densities in black-footed ferret habitat
• Activity of radio-tagged black-footed ferrets
• Comparative efficiencies of telemetry and visual techniques for studying ungulates, grouse, and raptors on energy development lands in southeastern Montana