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Publications

USGS Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center staff publish results of their research in USGS series reports and in peer-reviewed journals. Publication links are below.  Information on all USGS publications can be found at the USGS Publications Warehouse.

Filter Total Items: 1952

North American prairie wetlands are important nonforested land-based carbon storage sites North American prairie wetlands are important nonforested land-based carbon storage sites

We evaluated the potential of prairie wetlands in North America as carbon sinks. Agricultural conversion has resulted in the average loss of 10.1 Mg ha- 1 of soil organic carbon on over 16 million ha of wetlands in this region. Wetland restoration has potential to sequester 378 Tg of organic carbon over a 10-year period. Wetlands can sequester over twice the organic carbon as no-till...
Authors
N.H. Euliss, R.A. Gleason, A. Olness, R.L. McDougal, H.R. Murkin, R.D. Robarts, R.A. Bourbonniere, B.G. Warner

Community maturity, species saturation and the variant diversity- productivity relationships in grasslands Community maturity, species saturation and the variant diversity- productivity relationships in grasslands

Detailed knowledge of the relationship between plant diversity and productivity is critical for advancing our understanding of ecosystem functioning and for achieving success in habitat restoration efforts. However, effects and interactions of diversity, succession and biotic invasions on productivity remain elusive. We studied newly established communities in relation to preexisting...
Authors
Q. Guo, T. Shaffer, T. Buhl

A 3-decade dearth of deer (Odocoileus virginianus) in a wolf (Canis lupus)-dominated ecosystem A 3-decade dearth of deer (Odocoileus virginianus) in a wolf (Canis lupus)-dominated ecosystem

Some 30 years after wolves (Canis lupus) were implicated in decimating wintering white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) in a 3000-km2 area of northeastern Minnesota, winter deer still have not recolonized the area. Although habitat in the study area generally remains poor, some regeneration has taken place, and deer have increased adjacent to the area. However, wolf numbers have...
Authors
M.E. Nelson, L. D. Mech

Patch size and landscape effects on density and nesting success of grassland birds Patch size and landscape effects on density and nesting success of grassland birds

Current management recommendations for grassland birds in North America emphasize providing large patches of grassland habitat within landscapes that have few forest or shrubland areas. These Bird Conservation Areas are being proposed under the assumption that large patches of habitat in treeless landscapes will maintain viable populations of grassland birds. This assumption requires...
Authors
Maiken Winter, Douglas H. Johnson, Jill A. Shaffer, Therese M. Donovan, W. Daniel Svedarsky

Prediction failure of a wolf landscape model Prediction failure of a wolf landscape model

I compared 101 wolf (Canis lupus) pack territories formed in Wisconsin during 1993-2004 to the logistic regression predictive model of Mladenoff et al. (1995, 1997, 1999). Of these, 60% were located in putative habitat suitabilities
Authors
L.D. Mech

A 3-decade dearth of deer (Odocoileus virginianus) in a wolf (Canis lupus)-dominated ecosystem A 3-decade dearth of deer (Odocoileus virginianus) in a wolf (Canis lupus)-dominated ecosystem

Some 30 y after wolves (Canis lupus) were implicated in decimating wintering white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) in a 3000-km2 area of northeastern Minnesota, wintering deer still have not recolonized the area. From 1976 to 2004, we aerially radio-tracked wolves there during 250 h and recorded 2 deer (in 1985 and 2000) killed or eaten by wolves during February and March. We...
Authors
Michael E. Nelson, L. David Mech

North American prairie wetlands are important nonforested land-based carbon storage sites North American prairie wetlands are important nonforested land-based carbon storage sites

We evaluated the potential of prairie wetlands in North America as carbon sinks. Agricultural conversion has resulted in the average loss of 10.1 Mg ha- 1 of soil organic carbon on over 16 million ha of wetlands in this region. Wetland restoration has potential to sequester 378 Tg of organic carbon over a 10-year period. Wetlands can sequester over twice the organic carbon as no-till...
Authors
N.H. Euliss, R.A. Gleason, A. Olness, R.L. McDougal, H.R. Murkin, R.D. Robarts, R.A. Bourbonniere, B.G. Warner

Proximate and landscape factors influence grassland bird distributions Proximate and landscape factors influence grassland bird distributions

Ecologists increasingly recognize that birds can respond to features well beyond their normal areas of activity, but little is known about the relative importance of landscapes and proximate factors or about the scales of landscapes that influence bird distributions. We examined the influences of tree cover at both proximate and landscape scales on grassland birds, a group of birds of...
Authors
M.A. Cunningham, Douglas H. Johnson

Urine-marking and ground-scratching by free-ranging Arctic Wolves, Canis lupus arctos, in summer Urine-marking and ground-scratching by free-ranging Arctic Wolves, Canis lupus arctos, in summer

Urine-marking and ground-scratching were observed in an Arctic Wolf (Canis lupus) pack on Ellesmere Island, Nunavut, Canada, during 16 summers between 1986 and 2005. All previously known urination postures and ground-scratching by breeding males and females were seen, and incidence of marking and scratching was greatest when non-pack wolves were present. Observations of urine-marking of...
Authors
L.D. Mech

The Conservation Reserve Program: Planting for the future The Conservation Reserve Program: Planting for the future

Proceedings are now available from a scientific and technical forum held to review ongoing and planned research, identify lessons learned, and determine future research needs for the purpose of developing a rigorous scientific basis for future CRP policy discussions.
Authors
Skip Hyberg, Arthur Allen

Distributions of exotic plants in eastern Asia and North America Distributions of exotic plants in eastern Asia and North America

Although some plant traits have been linked to invasion success, the possible effects of regional factors, such as diversity, habitat suitability, and human activity are not well understood. Each of these mechanisms predicts a different pattern of distribution at the regional scale. Thus, where climate and soils are similar, predictions based on regional hypotheses for invasion success...
Authors
Q. Guo, H. Qian, R. E. Ricklefs, W. Xi
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