A tractor using a grass-seed drill to plant a tallgrass prairie site in Minnesota.
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
Sourcing plants for conservation and restoration: developing a risk assessment framework
Developing evaluation and monitoring frameworks for tallgrass prairie reconstruction
Evaluation of tallgrass prairie restoration methods to improve resistance to invasive species and maintenance of plant species diversity over time
Evaluation of conservation grazing versus prescribed fire to manage tallgrass prairie remnants for plant and pollinator species diversity
Effects of invasive plant species on reproduction of the rare endemic plant Dakota buckwheat (Eriogonum visheri) at Badlands National Park
To control or not to control: response of pollinator communities to invasive plant management
Relocating Plants for Conservation and Restoration: Developing a Risk Assessment Framework
Vascular plant data collected at the South Unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park, ND, USA in 1996
Evaluating the impact of differences in remnant and reconstruction mycorrhizas on performance of conservative prairie plant species
A comparison of pan trap and hand net bee collection methods at Badlands National Park, South Dakota, 2012
Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in remnant and reconstructed prairies in Minnesota and Iowa, 2019 (ver. 2.0, April 2022)
Eriogonum visheri (Visher's buckwheat) seed, pollen, and insects at Badlands National Park, South Dakota, USA, 2014-2015, 2017
County-Level Geographic Distributions for 47 Exotic Plant Species in Midwest USA and Central Canada, Compiled 2019
High forb diversity prairie reconstruction at Neal Smith NWR 2005-2015
Management of remnant tallgrass prairie by grazing or fire in western Minnesota, 2016-2017
Variation in pollen transport, Badlands NP, 2018
A tractor using a grass-seed drill to plant a tallgrass prairie site in Minnesota.
Image of a Sphecid wasp, Specidae sp. nectaring on Canada thistle, (Cirsium arvense).
Image of a Sphecid wasp, Specidae sp. nectaring on Canada thistle, (Cirsium arvense).
Typical early establishing species in a prairie reconstruction planted with a low-diversity seed mix.
Typical early establishing species in a prairie reconstruction planted with a low-diversity seed mix.
Fewer bowl traps and more hand netting can increase effective number of bee species and reduce excessive captures
Fire regime shapes butterfly communities through changes in nectar resources in an Australian tropical savanna
Considering pollinators' ecosystem services in the remediation and restoration of contaminated lands: Overview of research and its gaps
Divergent responses of butterflies and bees to burning and grazing management in tallgrass prairies
Potential effects of energy development on environmental resources of the Williston Basin in Montana, North Dakota, and South Dakota—Species of conservation concern
Belowground mutualisms to support prairie reconstruction—Improving prairie habitat using mycorrhizal inoculum
Restoration for resilience: The role of plant-microbial interactions and seed provenance in ecological restoration
Balancing the need for seed against invasive species risks in prairie habitat restorations
Coflowering invasive plants and a congener have neutral effects on fitness components of a rare endemic plant
Toward improving pollinator habitat: Reconstructing prairies with high forb diversity
Management of remnant tallgrass prairie by grazing or fire: Effects on plant communities and soil properties
Managing invasive plants on Great Plains grasslands: A discussion of current challenges
Science and Products
Sourcing plants for conservation and restoration: developing a risk assessment framework
Developing evaluation and monitoring frameworks for tallgrass prairie reconstruction
Evaluation of tallgrass prairie restoration methods to improve resistance to invasive species and maintenance of plant species diversity over time
Evaluation of conservation grazing versus prescribed fire to manage tallgrass prairie remnants for plant and pollinator species diversity
Effects of invasive plant species on reproduction of the rare endemic plant Dakota buckwheat (Eriogonum visheri) at Badlands National Park
To control or not to control: response of pollinator communities to invasive plant management
Relocating Plants for Conservation and Restoration: Developing a Risk Assessment Framework
Vascular plant data collected at the South Unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park, ND, USA in 1996
Evaluating the impact of differences in remnant and reconstruction mycorrhizas on performance of conservative prairie plant species
A comparison of pan trap and hand net bee collection methods at Badlands National Park, South Dakota, 2012
Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in remnant and reconstructed prairies in Minnesota and Iowa, 2019 (ver. 2.0, April 2022)
Eriogonum visheri (Visher's buckwheat) seed, pollen, and insects at Badlands National Park, South Dakota, USA, 2014-2015, 2017
County-Level Geographic Distributions for 47 Exotic Plant Species in Midwest USA and Central Canada, Compiled 2019
High forb diversity prairie reconstruction at Neal Smith NWR 2005-2015
Management of remnant tallgrass prairie by grazing or fire in western Minnesota, 2016-2017
Variation in pollen transport, Badlands NP, 2018
A tractor using a grass-seed drill to plant a tallgrass prairie site in Minnesota.
A tractor using a grass-seed drill to plant a tallgrass prairie site in Minnesota.
Image of a Sphecid wasp, Specidae sp. nectaring on Canada thistle, (Cirsium arvense).
Image of a Sphecid wasp, Specidae sp. nectaring on Canada thistle, (Cirsium arvense).
Typical early establishing species in a prairie reconstruction planted with a low-diversity seed mix.
Typical early establishing species in a prairie reconstruction planted with a low-diversity seed mix.
Fewer bowl traps and more hand netting can increase effective number of bee species and reduce excessive captures
Fire regime shapes butterfly communities through changes in nectar resources in an Australian tropical savanna
Considering pollinators' ecosystem services in the remediation and restoration of contaminated lands: Overview of research and its gaps
Divergent responses of butterflies and bees to burning and grazing management in tallgrass prairies
Potential effects of energy development on environmental resources of the Williston Basin in Montana, North Dakota, and South Dakota—Species of conservation concern
Belowground mutualisms to support prairie reconstruction—Improving prairie habitat using mycorrhizal inoculum
Restoration for resilience: The role of plant-microbial interactions and seed provenance in ecological restoration
Balancing the need for seed against invasive species risks in prairie habitat restorations
Coflowering invasive plants and a congener have neutral effects on fitness components of a rare endemic plant
Toward improving pollinator habitat: Reconstructing prairies with high forb diversity
Management of remnant tallgrass prairie by grazing or fire: Effects on plant communities and soil properties
Managing invasive plants on Great Plains grasslands: A discussion of current challenges
*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