Research Interests of Dr. John L. Hunt

My doctoral research, which I have continued since my graduation, is an investigation into the decline of lesser prairie-chickens (Tympanuchus pallidicinctus) in southeastern New Mexico.  The lesser prairie-chicken is one of a group of birds commonly called prairie grouse.  Its original geographic range extended across much of the Great Plains and the semi-arid grasslands of Texas and New Mexico.  Populations in Texas and New Mexico have undergone severe declines; my research concentrates on the area between Carlsbad, New Mexico and the Texas state line.  I am gathering data on the displaying grounds, or leks, of the male lesser prairie-chickens.  My research investigates the relationship between several variables, including vegetational and climatic information and data on human-caused disturbance, and the decline in populations of lesser prairie-chickens.  To learn more about lesser prairie-chickens, please click here.  If you would like to read my dissertation abstract, click here.

My master's research, completed in 1999, was a food-habits study of three southwestern desert birds:  scaled quail (Callipepla squamata), mourning dove (Zenaida macroura), and northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus).  I used the results of the food-habits study to search for evidence for competition between the three species.  If you would like to read my thesis abstract, click here.  My other research interests include ecology and distribution of bats and rodents of the southeastern and southwestern United States and Mexico, and conservation status of the anhinga (Anhinga anhinga) in Arkansas.  I have recently been working with two undergraduate students on a project in which we use road-killed animals as a method of surveying mammal populations.  I also have assisted Dr. Chris Sims on his ongoing study of the early life history of Carolina chickadees (Poecile carolinensis).

I am a member of the American Ornithologists Union, the American Society of Mammalogists, the Arkansas Academy of Science, the Association of Field Ornithologists, the Arkansas Chapter of The Wildlife Society, the Cooper Ornithological Society, the North American Grouse Partnership, the Southeastern Bat Diversity Network, and the Southwestern Association of Naturalists.

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