Riparian Areas and Wetlands
Riparian Areas and Wetlands
Filter Total Items: 20
Interactions of consolidation drainage and climate on water-level dynamics, wetland productivity, and waterbirds
Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center (NPWRC) recently completed a project aimed at understanding the impacts of wetland drainage on wetlands that receive drainage water. The biological communities of prairie pothole wetlands evolved in a hydrologically dynamic system due to periodic wet and dry conditions. NPWRC research indicates that relative to wetlands in undrained landscapes, wetlands...
Interaction of land use and wet/dry cycles on invertebrate populations of northern prairie wetlands: implications for waterbird habitat conservation
This effort is aimed at understanding how productivity of larger and more permanent wetlands is influenced by a combination of inter-annual hydrological dynamics and land-use impacts. Historically, aquatic-invertebrates productivity and abundance was driven by inter-annual hydrological dynamics because drying periods allow for nutrient cycling and a subsequent pulse of productivity when wet...
Can wetland water-management influence mercury bioaccumulation in songbirds and ducks at National Wildlife Refuges with mercury problems?
During summer 2017, Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center (NPWRC) initiated a collaborative research study focused on understanding if water-level management of wetlands at refuges can influence mercury bioaccumulation in wetland-dependent migratory birds. Birds are susceptible to the effects of mercury and can serve as indicators of contamination in ecosystems. We examined mercury...
Mechanisms, methods, models and management of soil biogeochemical processes in prairie-pothole wetlands
Previous work has shown that Prairie Pothole Region (PPR) wetlands are biogeochemical hotspots, with rapid turnover and transport rates of greenhouse gases (GHG). However, mechanisms controlling GHG fluxes are not well understood, leading to high uncertainty in model estimates of these processes. Additionally, unprecedented changes to land-use and cover in the PPR have potential to alter hydrology...
Monitoring and modeling wetland chloride concentrations in relationship to oil and gas development
Extraction of oil and gas via unconventional methods is becoming an important aspect of energy production worldwide. Studying the effects of this development in countries where these technologies are being widely used may provide managers in other oil producing parts of the world with some insight in terms of concerns associated with development. Rapid increases in energy development in North...
Development of survey methods for spring-migrating waterfowl in the Rainwater Basin
The Rainwater Basin Wetland Complex is a mid-latitude focal point of spring migration for numerous species of birds in the Great Plains. The Rainwater Basin Joint Venture (RWBJV) and partners desire geospatial models to identify characteristics of wetland complexes and understand local and landscape level factors that influence habitat selection of migrating waterfowl. To support this effort, we...
Ecology and management of midcontinent sandhill cranes
Midcontinent sandhill cranes occupy a large geographic area of central and western North America and northeastern Asia during breeding, winter, and migration. They are a species representing a unique convergence of multiple user groups with an interest in the continued health of this population. Tens of thousands of people view cranes during spring staging at the Platte River Valley in Nebraska...
Demographic analysis of waterfowl populations
Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center (NPWRC) has a long history of conducting broad-scale demographic analyses on available waterfowl. Our current efforts are collaborative with a variety of partners. Current studies include: 1) analysis of banding data for lesser scaup to inform the role of harvest on the continental population; 2) analysis of North American survey information of mallards to...