Summer Reading – Top Journal Downloads of 2020

For over 80 years, The Wildlife Society has helped develop, contextualize and advance the scientific foundation of wildlife management through publication of peer-reviewed studies in the Journal of Wildlife Management (1937), Wildlife Monographs (1958), and Wildlife Society Bulletin (1973). As a leading resource for wildlife managers in the field and a central component of the Society’s mission, regularly assessing engagement with TWS journal content helps provide valuable insights about the future of wildlife management in North America and beyond.

Looking at article download trends provides a quick and easy way to show active engagement and use of journal content over time and can be analyzed per article or journal title. In 2020, downloads of articles published in TWS journals increased by 15% compared to 2019. That marks the fifth consecutive year of increasing downloads.

Wondering what your fellow wildlifers are reading? The table below includes the top 15 downloaded papers published in TWS Journals in 2020 as of March 2021. Members of TWS receive free access to all TWS publications. To take advantage of this exclusive member benefit, simply log into Your Membership and go to the “Publications” tab.

For more information on journal publishing metrics in the digital age and their relevance to TWS, check out the article A Measure of Influence, which appears on pages 39-43 of the May/June 2020 issue of The Wildlife Professional.

Top 15 papers published in TWS Journals in 2020 based on the number of downloads as of March 2021.

Title / Author(s) / Journal
Assessing Nutritional Condition of Mule Deer Using a Photographic Index

Smiley, R.A., Rittenhouse, C.D., Mong, T.W. and Monteith, K.L.

Wildlife Society Bulletin

Best Management Practices for Trapping Furbearers in the United States (open access)

White, H.B., Batcheller, G.R., Boggess, E.K., Brown, C.L., Butfiloski, J.W., Decker, T.A., Erb, J.D., Fall, M.W., Hamilton, D.A., Hiller, T.L., Hubert, G.F., Jr., Lovallo, M.J., Olson, J.F. and Roberts, N.M.

Wildlife Monographs

Effects of Wind Turbine Curtailment on Bird and Bat Fatalities (open access)

Smallwood, K.S. and Bell, D.A.

The Journal of Wildlife Management

Dogs Detect Larger Wind Energy Effects on Bats and Birds  (open access)

Smallwood, K.S., Bell, D.A. and Standish, S.

The Journal of Wildlife Management

Anthropogenic Disturbance and Population Viability of Woodland Caribou in Ontario (open access)

Fryxell, J.M., Avgar, T., Liu, B., Baker, J.A., Rodgers, A.R., Shuter, J., Thompson, I.D., Reid, D.E.B., Kittle, A.M., Mosser, A., Newmaster, S.G., Nudds, T.D., Street, G.M., Brown, G.S. and Patterson, B.

The Journal of Wildlife Management

Wolverine Occupancy, Spatial Distribution, and Monitoring Design  (open access)

Lukacs, P.M., Evans Mack, D., Inman, R., Gude, J.A., Ivan, J.S., Lanka, R.P., Lewis, J.C., Long, R.A., Sallabanks, R., Walker, Z., Courville, S., Jackson, S., Kahn, R., Schwartz, M.K., Torbit, S.C., Waller, J.S. and Carroll, K.

The Journal of Wildlife Management

Ratcheting up Rigor in Wildlife Management Decision Making  (open access)

Fuller, A.K., Decker, D.J., Schiavone, M.V. and Forstchen, A.B.

Wildlife Society Bulletin

Boreal Caribou Can Coexist with Natural but Not Industrial Disturbances  (open access)

Stewart, F.E.C., Nowak, J.J., Micheletti, T., McIntire, E.J.B., Schmiegelow, F.K.A. and Cumming, S.G.

The Journal of Wildlife Management

Are Sage-Grouse Fine-Scale Specialists or Shrub-Steppe Generalists? (open access)

Smith, J.T., Allred, B.W., Boyd, C.S., Carlson, J.C., Davies, K.W., Hagen, C.A., Naugle, D.E., Olsen, A.C. and Tack, J.D.

The Journal of Wildlife Management

Preparing Wildlife for Climate Change: How Far Have We Come? (free to read)

LeDee, O.E., Handler, S.D., Hoving, C.L., Swanston, C.W. and Zuckerberg, B.

The Journal of Wildlife Management

Computational Reproducibility in The Wildlife Society’s Flagship Journals (open access)

Archmiller, A.A., Johnson, A.D., Nolan, J., Edwards, M., Elliott, L.H., Ferguson, J.M., Iannarilli, F., Vélez, J., Vitense, K., Johnson, D.H. and Fieberg, J.

The Journal of Wildlife Management

Identifying Birds’ Collision Risk with Wind Turbines Using a Multidimensional Utilization Distribution Method  (open access)

Khosravifard, S., Skidmore, A.K., Naimi, B., Venus, V., Muñoz, A.R. and Toxopeus, A.G.

Wildlife Society Bulletin

Pandemics and the Need for Automated Systems for Biodiversity Monitoring (free to read)

Sugai, L.S.M.

The Journal of Wildlife Management

Widespread Lead Exposure in Golden Eagles Captured in Montana  (open access)

Domenech, R., Shreading, A., Ramsey, P. and McTee, M.

The Journal of Wildlife Management

Overabundance of Black-Tailed Deer in Urbanized Coastal California

Furnas, B.J., Landers, R.H., Paiste, R.G. and Sacks, B.N.

The Journal of Wildlife Management

Header Image: Credit: Gary Peeples/USFWS