America's Grasslands: Great Plains and Pothole Prairies
America’s grasslands are in the middle of the country where there is insufficient rain to support forests but too much to be a desert.
America’s grasslands are in the middle of the country where there is insufficient rain to support forests but too much to be a desert. The eastern portion of these grasslands receives the most rain and is known as the prairie pothole region. Each year, almost half of America’s breeding waterfowl raise their broods across flooded potholes, and millions of migrating songbirds stop here to rest and refuel. The grasslands from the Mississippi River west to the Rocky Mountains known as the Great Plains historically supported not only millions of bison, pronghorn, and elk but smaller unique grassland mammals (e.g., swift fox, Great Plains wolf, black footed ferret, Franklin’s ground squirrel), songbirds (e.g., Henslow’s sparrow, grasshopper sparrow, bobolink, short-eared owl), and reptiles (Eastern Massasauga, ornate box turtle).
Since European settlement, approximately half of all grasslands have been converted to cultivated cropland or other uses leading to extinctions of several sub-species (Badlands Bighorn sheep, Great Plains wolf) and the imperilment of many species (birds, Swift fox, Eastern Massasauga, Black-foot ferret).
Science
Science
Filter Total Items: 32
Quantifying the effects of land-use change and bioenergy crop production on ecosystem services in the Northern Great Plains
Rising commodity crop prices, increased federal subsidies for biofuels, such as corn-based ethanol and soy-based biodiesel, and reduction in U.S. Farm Bill conservation programs have facilitated rapid land-use changes in the Northern Great Plains (NGP). Although renewable biofuels are touted as a mechanism for increasing energy security and potentially reducing greenhouse gas emissions, little is...
Spatiotemporal dynamics of grassland songbird populations in response to energy development in an agricultural landscape
The recent expansion of unconventional oil and gas development in the Williston Basin of North America has raised concerns among managers about potential negative effects of such development on grassland birds. Others, however, have argued that agricultural land use in the region has had a much larger impact and that energy development may be a comparatively small stressor for grassland birds...
Integrated conservation of bison and native prairie at Badlands National Park, South Dakota
Badlands National Park contains the largest contiguous bison range in the core of the species’ historic range on the northern Great Plains. The park nevertheless is too small to accommodate natural movements of free-ranging bison. As a result, continual grazing by resident bison has supplanted intense-but-ephemeral grazing by nomadic bison. The herd also is currently too small to prevent gradual...
Long-term changes in pollinator resources (alfalfa, sweetclover, milkweed) and monarch butterfly populations in CRP grasslands
Federal cropland retirement programs are increasingly being used to provide resources for pollinators (e.g., nectar, pollen, host plants). Pollinator-friendly plant species (e.g., alfalfa, sweetclover) were readily included in seed mixes in Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) grasslands since its inception in the 1985 Farm Bill. Through time, some native plant species (e.g., milkweeds) also...
Breeding ecology and demographics of least terns and piping plovers at the Central Platte River, Nebraska
The Platte River Recovery Implementation Program (PRRIP) partnered with Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center (NPWRC) to study demographics of least terns and piping plovers at the Central Platte River in Nebraska. Due to water management and other alterations, riverine habitat for least terns and piping plovers has become degraded. Least terns and piping plovers, however, have begun breeding...
The effects of management practices on grassland birds
With support from the U.S. Prairie Pothole Joint Venture (PPJV), the U.S. Forest Service, and The Nature Conservancy, Northern Prairie is synthesizing literature on the effects of management practices on grassland bird species. The need for these syntheses was identified by the PPJV, a part of the North American Waterfowl Management Plan, in support of its objective to stabilize or increase...
Response of grassland birds to habitat characteristics, oil wells, and roads in managed grasslands in the Little Missouri National Grassland in North Dakota
The U.S. Forest Service defines sensitive species as species that need special management to maintain and improve their status on National Forests and Grasslands, and prevent a need for listing under the Endangered Species Act. The Sprague’s pipit and Baird’s sparrow are listed as sensitive species in the Northern Region of the U.S. Forest Service. These species require large patches of native...
Support to Fish and Wildlife Service and Prairie Pothole Joint Venture for monitoring and management of migratory bird populations
Sound management of migratory bird breeding populations in the U.S. Prairie Pothole Region hinges on effective monitoring programs and comprehensive analyses of long-term survey data. To this end, Northern Prairie provides support to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in several important areas. The Four-Square-Mile Breeding Duck and Habitat Survey was developed by Northern Prairie in the mid...
Evaluating the Possible Effects of Wind Power Development on Refuging Waterbirds in the Great Plains, Upper Midwest and East Front of Northern Rocky Mountains
We will address the question of whether wind farms can be built near refuges for large concentrations of waterbirds and not cause mortality or critical habitat avoidance. Much is known about many waterbirds (waterfowl, cranes, shorebirds and others) and the places where they concentrate (refuge) during migration. The primary areas of uncertainty in placing wind turbines in relation to the location...
Grassland Ecology and Conservation
Grasslands are arguably one of the most anthropogenically stressed ecosystems of the western United States. The highly endangered black-footed ferret and prairie dogs epitomize grassland mammals of high conservation concern.
First National-Scale Reconnaissance of Neonicotinoid Insecticides in United States Streams
Neonicotinoid insecticides (neonicotinoids) were present in a little more than half of the streams sampled across the United States and Puerto Rico, according to a new U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) study. This is the first national-scale study of the presence of neonicotinoids in urban and agricultural land use settings across the Nation and was completed as part of ongoing USGS investigations of...