Habitat University

Adam and Jarred are joined in this episode by award-winning instructor, Dr. Liz Flaherty, to chat about teaching undergraduate students all about habitat management. Dr. Flaherty is an Associate Professor of Wildlife Ecology & Habitat Management at Purdue University. Take a listen to learn about the insights you can take from a college classroom and apply on your own property. Help us improve the...

Ask anyone what they're doing for wildlife habitat and you're sure to hear mention of the challenges of invasive species. From aquatic invasive species that restructure entire food webs of Great Lakes to carpets of exotic grasses changing fire regimes in the west, invasive species are everywhere. In this episode, Jarred and Adam first dig in on the science of invasive species and discuss the chall...

When you're managing habitat for wildlife do you think more about plants than wildlife? Yeah, us too. So who better to chat with than one of the nation's leading researchers and educators on plant-wildlife interactions? In this episode, Jarred and Adam chat with author and University of Tennessee Extension Wildlife Specialist Dr. Craig Harper. Tune in for a masterclass on the importance of plants...

What do baseball and wildlife habitat management have in common? Take a listen to this week's episode as Adam and Jarred discuss what Adam calls "the Moneyball problem" of habitat management. They chat about how lessons learned from the best-selling book (and movie) - Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game – can be applied to habitat management. Help us improve the podcast by taking this Hab...

Aldo Leopold's defined his 5 tools of game management when he wrote Game Management over 80 years ago. But what tools did he miss, or what tools have been developed in the 88 years since the book was published? Join Adam and Jarred as they share their thoughts on the habitat management tools that should be added to the list. What tools would you add to Aldo's list? Also, listen as Jarred tries to...

Our tour of Aldo's Tools comes to a close in this episode as we consider the last tool: the gun. From controlling certain game populations to engaging hunters in habitat conservation efforts in their own backyard or across the continent, Patt Dorsey, Director of Conservation Operations in the west for the National Wild Turkey Federation, breaks down how the gun does a lot of good for habitat in th...

Through large expanses of the U.S., wildlife live alongside, or are strongly influenced by, the footprint of crop production practices; what Leopold was referencing when he spoke of 'the plow.' In this episode, Adam talks to Ryan Heiniger from Pheasants Forever about the challenges and opportunities for wildlife habitat conservation with 'the plow' and how a more precision imagining of its utility...

How can the axe – or forestry – be used as a habitat management tool? Jarred talks with Jordan Nanney, a Wildlife Forester with the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, about how he uses forestry to creatively manage wildlife habitat. As you'll learn in the episode it can really be a balancing axe {act}. < < Help us improve the podcast by taking this Habitat University Listener Feedback Survey >>...

Everything from grasshoppers to a bison graze and can have drastic impacts on vegetation on which many other wildlife species depend. Unsurprisingly, many wildlife managers are therefore interested in understanding and using grazing animals to create the unique places where animals, or in the case of the blowout penstemon, unique plants, thrive. In this wide-ranging discussion, Adam talks to The N...

How can prescribed fire be used creatively to create and enhance habitat for wildlife? Dr. Marcus Lashley , Assistant Professor and Extension Wildlife Specialist at University of Florida and host of Fire University, joins the podcast to tackle this question, and we take a deep dive into prescribed fire as a habitat management tool. < < Help us improve the Podcast by taking this Habitat University...

For as long as people have been interacting with wild animals, they have been manipulating the places where wild animals live. So, is habitat management the oldest job in the world? Join Adam and Jarred as they chat about the history of wildlife habitat management, dig deep into the central premise of habitat management – plant succession – and introduce the five tools for habitat management that...

What do you picture when you hear "habitat"? Habitat is one of the most important concepts in wildlife management, but what does it actually mean? Join Adam and Jarred as they define "habitat" and discuss why its use is a "panchreston problem." We'll explain what the heck "panchreston" means and discuss why we should be careful about how we talk about habitat to minimize confusion and clarify obje...

Welcome to Habitat University! In this introductory Episode, Habitat University co-hosts Jarred Brooke and Adam Janke discuss the vision for the podcast and how it fits into the new collaborative science-based podcast series called Natural Resources University. Jarred and Adam share information about their background, what they do as state wildlife extension specialists, and where they plan to tak...