Diane Larson, PhD
Diane Larson is a Research Wildlife Biologist with the USGS Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center and is stationed at the St. Paul, Minnesota duty station.
What is a functional prairie ecosystem? Where can we begin to address such a huge question? With only a tiny fraction of the once vast prairies remaining, understanding their key functions and how to best preserve or reconstruct these functions is of utmost importance. Questions may begin with vegetation, but quickly propagate downward into soil communities and processes and upward to pollinators and herbivores. These are the motivations for my research.
My goals are to assist resource managers in ways that improve sustainability. Prairie reconstructions that both express the range of species planted and are resistant to noxious weeds, thereby minimizing subsequent management inputs, are more sustainable than those that degenerate into weedy fields in need of repeated herbicide applications. Can we improve planting methods and seed mixes to better achieve sustainable prairies?
Functioning ecosystems support mutualists, herbivores, commensals, predators. How will legacies of prior land use and vegetation impinge on these functions? Can we mitigate negative legacies? Create positive legacies to improve outcomes? What roles do invasive plant species play? If they support mutualists such as pollinators, how will we sustain these mutualists while controlling weeds?
Professional Experience
Research Wildlife Biologist, U.S. Geological Survey, Biological Resources Discipline (formerly Fish and Wildlife Service), Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center, 1991 to present
Education and Certifications
Ph.D. (Biology) University of Illinois, Chicago
B.A., M.A. (Environmental, Population, and Organismic Biology) University of Colorado, Boulder
Affiliations and Memberships*
Adjunct Associate Professor, Dept. of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, Minnesota, January 1998 to present
Science and Products
Restoration of impaired ecosystems: An ounce of prevention or a pound of cure? introduction, overview, and key messages from a SETAC-SER workshop
Using a network modularity analysis to inform management of a rare endemic plant in the northern Great Plains, USA
Legumes in prairie restoration: evidence for wide cross-nodulation and improved inoculant delivery
Effects of native herbs and light on garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata) invasion
Leafy spurge (Euphorbia esula) affects vegetation more than seed banks in mixed-grass prairies of the Northern Great Plains
Tallgrass prairie restoration: seeding for success
Using prairie restoration to curtail invasion of Canada thistle: the importance of limiting similarity and seed mix richness
Soil-occupancy effects of invasive and native grassland plant species on composition and diversity of mycorrhizal associations
Book review: The Tallgrass Prairie Center guide to seed and seedling identification in the Upper Midwest
A framework for sustainable invasive species management: environmental, social and economic objectives
Native and European haplotypes of Phragmites Australis (common reed) in the central Platte River, Nebraska
Effects of planting method and seed mix richness on the early stages of tallgrass prairie restoration
Science and Products
Restoration of impaired ecosystems: An ounce of prevention or a pound of cure? introduction, overview, and key messages from a SETAC-SER workshop
Using a network modularity analysis to inform management of a rare endemic plant in the northern Great Plains, USA
Legumes in prairie restoration: evidence for wide cross-nodulation and improved inoculant delivery
Effects of native herbs and light on garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata) invasion
Leafy spurge (Euphorbia esula) affects vegetation more than seed banks in mixed-grass prairies of the Northern Great Plains
Tallgrass prairie restoration: seeding for success
Using prairie restoration to curtail invasion of Canada thistle: the importance of limiting similarity and seed mix richness
Soil-occupancy effects of invasive and native grassland plant species on composition and diversity of mycorrhizal associations
Book review: The Tallgrass Prairie Center guide to seed and seedling identification in the Upper Midwest
A framework for sustainable invasive species management: environmental, social and economic objectives
Native and European haplotypes of Phragmites Australis (common reed) in the central Platte River, Nebraska
Effects of planting method and seed mix richness on the early stages of tallgrass prairie restoration
*Disclaimer: Listing outside positions with professional scientific organizations on this Staff Profile are for informational purposes only and do not constitute an endorsement of those professional scientific organizations or their activities by the USGS, Department of the Interior, or U.S. Government