A bison is a large bovine in the genus Bison within the tribe Bovini. Two extant and numerous extinct species are recognised.
Montana is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbia, and Saskatchewan to the north. It is the fourth-largest state by area, the eighth-least populous state, and the third-least densely populated state. Its capital is Helena, while the most populous city is Billings. The western half of the state contains numerous mountain ranges, while the eastern half is characterized by western prairie terrain and badlands, with smaller mountain ranges found throughout the state.
Theodosius Grigorievich Dobzhansky was a prominent Russian and American geneticist and evolutionary biologist. He was a central figure in the field of evolutionary biology for his work in shaping the modern synthesis. Born in the Russian Empire, Dobzhansky emigrated to the United States in 1927, aged 27.
Glacier National Park is an American national park located in northwestern Montana, on the Canada–United States border, adjacent to Waterton Lakes National Park in Canada—the two parks are known as the Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park. The park encompasses more than 1 million acres (4,000 km2) and includes parts of two mountain ranges, more than 130 named lakes, more than 1,000 different species of plants, and hundreds of species of animals. This vast pristine ecosystem is the centerpiece of what has been referred to as the "Crown of the Continent Ecosystem," a region of protected land encompassing 16,000 sq mi (41,000 km2).
The Flathead Indian Reservation, located in western Montana on the Flathead River, is home to the Bitterroot Salish, Kootenai, and Pend d'Oreilles tribes – also known as the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Nation. The reservation was created through the July 16, 1855, Treaty of Hellgate.
The Bitterroot Salish are a Salish-speaking group of Native Americans, and one of three tribes of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Nation in Montana. The Flathead Reservation is home to the Kootenai and Pend d'Oreilles tribes also. Bitterroot Salish or Flathead originally lived in an area west of Billings, Montana extending to the continental divide in the west and south of Great Falls, Montana extending to the Montana-Wyoming border. From there they later moved west into the Bitterroot Valley. By request, a Catholic mission was built here in 1841. In 1891 they were forcibly moved to the Flathead Reservation.
Flathead Lake is a large natural lake in northwest Montana, United States.
Wild Horse Island, approximately 2,164 acres (876 ha) in size, is the largest island on Flathead Lake, the largest freshwater lake in Montana. Protected as a state park since 1977, the island near Big Arm Bay is home to abundant wildlife including bighorn sheep, mule deer, waterfowl, and bald eagles. It is managed by Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks and lies within both the Flathead Indian Reservation and Lake County, Montana.
The black-tailed prairie dog is a rodent of the family Sciuridae found in the Great Plains of North America from about the United States–Canada border to the United States–Mexico border. Unlike some other prairie dogs, these animals do not truly hibernate. The black-tailed prairie dog can be seen above ground in midwinter. A black-tailed prairie dog town in Texas was reported to cover 25,000 sq mi (64,000 km2) and included 400,000,000 individuals. Prior to habitat destruction, the species may have been the most abundant prairie dog in central North America. It was one of two prairie dogs described by the Lewis and Clark Expedition in the journals and diaries of their expedition.
The CSKT Bison Range (BR) is a nature reserve on the Flathead Indian Reservation in western Montana established for the conservation of American bison. Formerly called the National Bison Range, the size of the bison herd at the BR is 350 adult bison and welcomes between 50-60 calves per year. Established as a National Wildlife Refuge in 1908, the BR consists of approximately 18,524 acres (7,496 ha) within the Montana valley and foothill grasslands. Management of the site was transferred back to the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes in 2022 from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service after more than a century of federal management and nearly two decades of negotiations.
Ralph Vary Chamberlin was an American biologist, ethnographer, and historian from Salt Lake City, Utah. He was a faculty member of the University of Utah for over 25 years, where he helped establish the School of Medicine and served as its first dean, and later became head of the zoology department. He also taught at Brigham Young University and the University of Pennsylvania, and worked for over a decade at the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University, where he described species from around the world.
Joseph Grinnell was an American field biologist and zoologist. He made extensive studies of the fauna of California, and is credited with introducing a method of recording precise field observations known as the Grinnell System. He served as the first director of the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology at the University of California, Berkeley from the museum's inception in 1908 until his death.
The following is an alphabetical list of articles related to the U.S. state of Montana.
The Philip L. Wright Zoological Museum (UMZM) is a natural history facility and zoological collection located on the second floor of the Health Sciences building on the Missoula, Montana campus of the University of Montana.
Samuel James is an American scientist, a researcher specializing in evolutionary biology, focusing on earthworm taxonomy. James, with fellow researchers, has discovered numerous species of annelids, including Diplocardia californiana, Diplocardia woodi, Diplocardia montana, and a new species related to the Giant Palouse earthworm.
Clifton Fremont Hodge was an American professor of physiology who worked at Clark University. An educator and a keen experimental biologist, he took great interest in natural history, animal behavior, and public understanding of biology, taking an active role in public debates on vivisection, experimentation on animals, conservation, and evolution. He opposed a bounty offered for specimens of the last few passenger pigeons which was eventually withdrawn. His textbook Civic Biology (1919) was the last biology text dealing with evolution before the anti-evolution movement began in 1920.
James Elser is an American ecologist and limnologist. He is Director & Bierman Professor of Ecology, Flathead Lake Biological Station, University of Montana and research professor, School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University. He is known for his work in ecological stoichiometry. In 2019, he was elected to the National Academy of Sciences.
John Walter Thomson Jr. (1913–2009) was a Scottish-born American botanist and lichenologist, sometimes referred to as the "Dean of North American Lichens".
Roger Dale Rosentreter is a botanist, plant ecologist, naturalist, and conservationist. He was the president of the American Bryological and Lichenological Society from 2011 to 2013.
Flathead Lake Biological Station (FLBS) is a research station run by the University of Montana in Yellow Bay, Flathead Lake, Polson, Montana. It was first established by American ecologist and professor Morton John Elrod in 1899 on the Swan River near Bigfork. In 1909, it was moved to its current location. Year-round research began in 1967. Areas of ongoing research includes lake ecology, conservation genomics, stream, river, and floodplain ecology, microbial ecology, aquatic invasive species, and sensors and sensor networks. It is the second oldest biological field station in the United States, and the longest running freshwater field station in year-round operation in North America.
