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Details Of Extensive Movements By Minnesota Wolves (Canis Lupus), Samuel Merrill, L. David Mech

United States Geological Survey, Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center: Publications

We used VHF, GPS and satellite radiocollars to study details of long distance movements by four Minnesota wolves (Canis lupus). Number of locations during our tracking ranged from 14 to 274. Farthest distances reached ranged from 183–494 km, and minimum distances traveled (sums of line segments) ranged from 490–4251 km. Numbers of times wolves crossed state, provincial or interstate highways ranged from 1 to 215. All four of the wolves returned to or near their natal territories after up to 179 d and at least two left again.

The Structure And Function Of Ecosystems In The Central North American Grassland Region, W. K. Luaenroth, I .C. Burke, M. P. Gutmann

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences

The central grassland region occupies the center of North America in the United States, Canada and Mexico and is a unique resource for the continent. While there are no other areas with comparable features, the largest similar grassland areas occur in Europe and Asia. The uniqueness of the region derives from its size, its relative flatness, and the smoothness of its physical gradients. The smooth gradients in precipitation and temperature are the reasons why most gradients in ecosystem properties are also smooth. The west-east gradient in precipitation and the north-south gradient in temperature result in corresponding gradients in plant community …

Recent Biodiversity Patterns In The Great Plains: Implications For Restoration And Management, Carolyn Hull Sieg, Curtis H. Flather, Stephan Mccanny

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences

Ecosystem, species and genetic dimensions of biodiversity have eroded since widespread settlement of the Great Plains. Conversion of native vegetation in the region followed the precipitation gradient, with the greatest conversion in the eastern tallgrass prairie and eastern mixed-grass types. Areas now dominated by intensive land uses are "hot spots" for exotic birds. However, species of all taxa listed as threatened or endangered are well-distributed across the Great Plains. These species are often associated with special landscape features, such as wetlands, rivers, caves, sandhills and prairie dog towns. In the long run, sustaining biodiversity in the Great Plains, and the …

Response Of Riparian Vegetation To Streamflow Regulation And Land Use In The Great Plains, W. Carter Johnson

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences

The influence of human activities on riparian zone vegetation differs markedly by ecoregion and stream size. Large rivers, dams and water diversions affect ecological processes more than local land uses do. However, for small streams, the reverse is generally true. Examples demonstrating these relationships include studies completed on the Missouri River in North Dakota, the Platte River in Nebraska, and Foster Creek in western South Dakota. On the Missouri River, damming has stopped river meandering and the regeneration of riparian forests in gaps between reservoirs. In contrast, on the Platte River, diversion of a large portion of the flow for …

Review Of Ecology And Conservation Of Great Plains Vertebrates Edited By Fritz L. Knopf And Fred B. Samson, Rolf Koford

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences

Focusing on the plight of natural ecosystems in the Great Plains, Fritz Knopf and Fred Samson give prominent coverage to the region's “charismatic megafauna" and provide an excellent overview of the ecology and conservation of most vertebrate taxa. The editors granted their individual authors considerable leeway, resulting in contributions that are authoritative but unintegrated with each other. For example, in the Preface and most of the chapters, the Great Plains includes the tall grass prairie as well as the short and mixed grass prairie traditionally associated with the Great Plains region. In chapters on wetlands and fishes, tall grass prairie …

The Platte River Cooperative Agreement: A Basin-Wide Approach To Endangered Species Issue, Allan Jenkins

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences

This paper reviews current endangered species issues associated with the development of the Platte River and the "Cooperative Agreement for Platte River Research and Other Efforts Relating to Endangered Species Habitats." The Platte River is an important economic resource, providing water essential for irrigation in a highly productive, but semiarid, agricultural region. However, the Middle Platte region of south central Nebraska is also recognized as a critical environmental zone for several endangered species. Thus, Platte River water users are subject to the provisions of the Endangered Species Act. In 1994, the Governors of Nebraska, Colorado and Wyoming agreed to work …

Review Of People And The Land Through Time: Linking Ecology And History By Emily W. B. Russell, Emily Greenwald

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences

While some environmental historians have used the insights of the natural sciences in their historical work, Emily Russell, offering a scientist's perspective, challenges ecologists to incorporate historians' methods and insights into their studies. In People and the Land through Time, Russell outlines working principles for the "historical ecologist," a scholar who traces past human impacts on particular ecosystems. She makes it clear that her emphasis is on ecological systems rather than humans, but argues that ecosystems can't be fully understood without accounting for how human actions have affected them.

The book provides an introduction to methods and a variety …

Microclimate Of An Aboriginal Winter Campsite At Wanuskewin Heritage Park, Saskatoom, E. A. Ripley, O. W. Archibold, C. Jackson, E. J. Walker

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences

The microclimate of an aboriginal winter campsite, set in an incised, south-facing meander of a small creek, is compared to the conditions on the adjacent open prairie at Wanuskewin Heritage Park, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Maximum and minimum temperatures and wind speeds were measured daily, on the prairie and in the valley, along with temperatures in a modern canvas tipi erected in the valley. Maximum temperatures tended to be about 1 °C higher in the valley, and 2 °C higher in the tipi, than on the prairie, while minima were 1-2 °C lower. Wind speeds were reduced to about 50% in the …

A Socioeconomic Portrait Of Prince Hall Masonry In Nebraska, 1900-1920, Dennis N. Mihelich

Great Plains Quarterly

On 6 March 1775, a British military lodge of Freemasons initiated Prince Hall (his name, not a title) and fourteen other African Americans after the white colonial lodge at Boston had rejected their petition. Independence did not alter the attitude of white American Masons; thus, a separate black Masons' organization evolved. Hall secured a charter from the "mother" grand lodge in England and reconstituted his group as the African Grand Lodge of North America. Following his death in 1807 the fraternal order renamed itself in his honor.

Prior to the abolition of slavery Prince Hall Masonry spread slowly among the …

Bluestem And Tussock Fire And Pastoralism In The Flint Hills Of Kansas And The Tussock Grasslands Of New Zealand, James F. Hoy, Thomas D. Isern

Great Plains Quarterly

The ghost of Lady Barker haunts public discourse on the question of burning tussock grassland in New Zealand. The image of this gentle English woman, author of the Canterbury classic Station Life in New Zealand, transformed into a pastoral pyromaniac professing "the exceeding joy of 'burning,'" is compelling. She contests with friends over who can set the most magnificent blaze, exults at solitary cabbage trees exploding into flame, and regrets that she was not there to see the first blaze rage across the plains. Of this ritual, she says, she and her friends "never were allowed to have half …

Dramatic Increase Of Le Conte's Sparrow In Conservation Reserve Program Fields In The Northern Great Plains, Lawrence D. Igl, Douglas H. Johnson

United States Geological Survey, Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center: Publications

During a continuing investigation in the northern Great Plains, we documented substantial increases of the Le Conte's Sparrow (Ammodramus Leconteii) in Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) fields in 1994 compared with 1990-93. The most dramatic increases occurred in Eddy County, North Dakota, and Sheridan County, Montana. The changes in habitat associated with the drought from 1989 to early 1993 and above-normal precipitation from mid-1993 through mid-1994 likely produced favorable breeding conditions for this species in CRP fields in 1994.

Communal Roosting And Foraging Behavior Of Staging Sandhill Cranes, Donald Sparling, Gary Krapu

United States Geological Survey, Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center: Publications

Each spring more than 300,000 Sandhill Cranes (Grus canadensis) roost communally at night in river channels in the Platte River Valley of Nebraska and disperse at dawn to forage in agricultural fields. Cranes with central roosts had activity ranges double the size of those with peripheral roosts; 42% of the birds changed activity ranges prior to the onset of migration. Minimum daily flight distance generally increased during the staging period. Cranes used native grassland and planted hayland more often than expected, relative to their percentage of occurrence, and fed longest there; cornfields were under-utilized. These differences probably reflect, …

Biological Control Of Weeds In Great Plains Rangelands, Svata M. Louda , Robert A. Masters

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences

Chemical control of weeds has increased agricultural productivity, but complete reliance on chemicals has serious drawbacks. These include high cost per acre, decreasing effectiveness, negative effects on plant community diversity, and increased opportunities for environmental contamination. One alternative is biocontrol, the use of biological factors that naturally limit weed populations. Long-term research goals focus on improving our knowledge of the processes that control and limit potential plant pests naturally and to use that knowledge to develop predictable, sustainable, low-cost, biologically-based weed management strategies. This paper reviews the ecological underpinnings of classical biological control of weeds, including basic research on the …

Is The Distribution Of Sandhill Cranes On The Platte River Changing?, Craig A. Faanes, Michael J. Levalley

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences

Data collected during 1957-1989 on the Platte and North Platte rivers was analyzed to detect changes in the temporal and spacial distribution of staging sandhill cranes. The data indicate that a significant west-to-east shift in crane distribution has developed since the late 1960s. The most negative changes have occurred between Lexington and Kearney, Nebraska, where vegetation encroachment has been most pronounced. A significant increase in crane numbers between the Wood River and Highway 34 bridges is attributed to the result of vegetation scouring flows and active removal of woody vegetation.

A Chromosome Study Of Blue Grama (Bouteloua Gracilis) In Northern Colorado, T. Tsuchiya, W. Mcginnies, A. Shahla

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences

Chromosomes were studied in somatic cells of 60 plants of blue grama, Bouteloua gracilis (Willd. ex Kunth) Lag ex Griffiths, collected from a 7-hectare field of native range at the Central Plains Experiment Range (CPER), Nunn, Colorado, to determine chromosome constitution in relation to the plant characteristics. Somatic chromosomes were studied in root tips collected from vigorously growing plants in the greenhouse. Acetocarmine squash method was used to make slide preparation. The majority of the plants were 2n =40. However, three plants were 2n=50 and two were 2n=60. The pentaploid plants (2n =50) were recorded for the first time in …

Review Of Cheyenne Bottoms: Wetland In Jeopardy By John L. Zimmerman, John Janovy

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences

The Cheyenne Bottoms, Barton County, Kansas, has long been hallowed ground for birders and scientists as well as hunters. The dikes let one drive slowly through the marshes, scanning the flats for favorite sandpiper species and experiencing first hand the isolation of the central Kansas prairies. John Zimmerman, professor of biology at Kansas State University, had captured the Cheyenne Bottoms aura in eloquent prose, giving us a taste of wetlands natural history, while bringing to life the political and economic conflicts surrounding Arkansas River, and Walnut Creek, water. In many ways, the Cheyenne Bottoms case is a modern archetypical prairie …

Global Change In The High Plains Of North America, Jane H. Bock, William D. Bowman, Carl E. Bock

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences

The High Plains of North America extends from Canada to northern Mexico. This grassland region is subject to prolonged drought, herbivory, and wildfire. Organisms that are indigenous to the High Plains are adapted to these environmental factors. Periodic droughts occur at inexact, but few year, intervals. The grazing by free ranging bison, the indigenous large herbivore, has been replaced by grazing of fenced domestic stock. Fire regimes throughout human occupation of the region have been greatly influenced by human activities. Cultivation of wheat and corn also is carried out in the region.

Predicted climate changes in this region are increased …

Climate And Vegetation In Central North America: Natural Patterns And Human Alterations, John A. Harrington Jr, Jay R. Harman

Great Plains Quarterly

The characteristic patterns of climate and natural vegetation in central North America are strongly interrelated and result from an atmospheric circulation system that responds to both global and continental scale mechanisms. Climatic patterns arise in the region between the Rocky Mountains and the Great Lakes or Mississippi River from the interactions between two major components of the global atmospheric circulation system, the tropical Hadley Cell and the extratropical, upper-level Westerlies. The Westerlies, particularly, are influenced and steered by thermal inequalities over the earth's surface as well as by terrain barriers such as the Rocky Mountain Cordillera. In addition, both the …

Establishment Of Grasses On Sewage Sludge-Amended Strip Mine Spoils, Cassandra S. Rodgers, Roger C. Anderson

Proceedings of the North American Prairie Conferences

Usefulness of native prairie and domesticated grasses in re-vegetating strip mine spoil and producing biomass was examined on 30-year old, recontoured spoil banks located near Canton, Illinois. Grasses were planted in the spring and fall on strip mine spoil and spoil amended with 333 MT/ha of dry sewage sludge. By the end of the second growing season, indiangrass [Sorghastrum nutans (L.) Nash] produced more biomass than the other warm-season grasses, switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.) and little bluestem [Schizachyrium scoparium (Michx.) Nash], on the unamended plots, and no warm-season grasses survived on the sludge amended plots. Warm-season grasses were …

Breeding Bird Populations Of A Floodplain Tallgrass Prairie In Kansas, Calvin Cink, Peter Lowther

Proceedings of the North American Prairie Conferences

Breeding birds were censused yearly from 1974-1988 on a 10.1 ha floodplain tallgrass prairie, a portion of the Baker Wetlands Research Area on the south edge of Lawrence, Kansas. Dickcissels (Spiza americana) were the most abundant species, with densities about six times greater than in the Flint Hills tallgrass prairie (149 territorial males/km² VS. 25/ km²). This may be due to availability of moisture and associated density of grass stems and insect production. The bird community in the floodplain prairie however, is less diverse (5 species VS. 10 species). Grasshopper sparrows (Ammodramus savannarum) …

Lloyd C. Hulbert 1918-1986 (Proceedings Dedication)

Proceedings of the North American Prairie Conferences

Because we have and will yet all benefit from his vision, leadership, and unselfish efforts, it is fitting that these Proceedings be dedicated to Lloyd C. Hulbert, Professor of Biology, Plant Ecologist for the Kansas Agricultural Experiment Station, and Director of the Konza Prairie Research Natural Area.

Extent Of Woody Vegetation On The Prairie In Eastern Nebraska, 1855-1857, Steven J. Rothenberger

Proceedings of the North American Prairie Conferences

Early surveyors' notes from five counties bordering the Platte River in eastern Nebraska were utilized to measure the extent of original woody vegetation in this region. These data were compared to field studies from the same area made from 1979-1983, were used to determine areas of prairie-forest transition, and were used to tabulate the extent of woody vegetation in the lower Platte River Valley at the time of European settlement (1855-1857). Using a modified importance value based on relative density and relative dominance of witness trees, the highest ranking pre-settlement tree species were cottonwood [Populus eltoides Marsh. spp. monilifera …

Long-Term Grass Dynamics Within A Mixed-Grass Prairie, Brian S. Mihlbacher, Fred E. Smeins, Gerald W. Thomas, Charles A. Taylor

Proceedings of the North American Prairie Conferences

Western portions of the Edwards Plateau are dominated by a grass mosaic which consists of a rhizomatous midgrass, tobosagrass [Hilaria mutica (Buckl.) Benth.], and two stoloniferous short grasses, common curlymesquite [Hilaria belangeri (Steud.) Nash] and buffalograss [Buchloe dactyloides (Nutt.) Engelm.]. Permanent 0.3 m x 6 m belt transects were established on three major soil series (Tobosa, Ozona. Valera) across several grazing treatments on the Texas Range Station near Barnhart, Texas, and the distribution of perennial grasses was mapped in 1951 (pre-drought), 1953 (drought), 1957 (post-drought), and 1987. Cover showed no consistent trends in relation to grazing. Total …

The Western Prairie Fringed Orchid (Platanthera Praeclara): Monitoringa And Research, Ardell J. Bjugstad, William Fortune

Proceedings of the North American Prairie Conferences

Western prairie fringed orchid (Platanthera praeciara Sheviak and Bowles) populations at one time extended from southwestern Missouri north to northwestern Minnesota, and from eastern Iowa to the Sandhills of north central Nebraska. It is listed as endangered in Iowa and Minnesota and candidate for threatened or endangered status in Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, and South Dakota. The questions are, "Why has it declined in numbers?" How have uses such as mowing for hay or grazing by cattle or no use (control) affected the numbers? In 1987, permanently located individual plants were counted on the Sheyenne National Grasslands …

Neue Literatur (Page 42), Martin-Luther-Universität

Erforschung biologischer Ressourcen der Mongolei / Exploration into the Biological Resources of Mongolia, ISSN 0440-1298

Neue literatur listed on page 42 of Erforschung biologischer Ressourcen der Mongolischen Volsrepublik, Band 6 (1985/1986).

In der Zeitschrift Polish Ecological Studies, Vol. 8, No 1-2 (1982) erschienen folgende Beiträge.

In der Zeitschrift "Acta Facultatis Rerum Naturalium Universitatis Comenianae" Zoologia Nr. 28 (1985), Bratislava, erschienen folgende Beiträge.

Fat Deposition And Usage By Arctic-Nesting Sandhill Cranes During Spring, Gary Krapu, George Iverson, Kenneth Reinecke, Cheryl Boise

United States Geological Survey, Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center: Publications

Body weight, fat, and protein levels of arctic-nesting Sandhill Cranes (Grus canadensis) were measured at several locations during spring migration and on the breeding grounds. Body weights of adult males and females increased by about 34%( 1,129 g) and 30% (953 g) from early March at the Platte River to late April at Last Mountain Lake, Saskatchewan; average fat content increased from about 250 to 990 g. Rates of weight gain and fat deposition among males and females averaged 25-18 and 16-13 g/day. Body weights and fat content of cranes staging along the North Platte River followed similar …

Habitat Use By Migrant Sandhill Cranes In Nebraska, Gary Krapu, Douglas Facey, Erik Fritzell, Douglas Johnson

United States Geological Survey, Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center: Publications

The principal spring staging areas of the midcontinent population of sandhill cranes (Grus canadensis) are along the Platte and North Platte rivers in south-central Nebraska. Most of these lands are privately owned and managed for corn and cattle production. Diurnal habitat use by radio-tagged cranes was primarily in cropland (55%), native grassland (28%), and tame hayland (15%). Ninety-nine percent of the cropland use was in cornfields; 55% as grazed stubble, 36% as disced, cultivated, and plowed stubble, 7% as ungrazed stubble, and 1% unclassified. Grazed pastures accounted for 93% of the grassland locations and mowed alfalfa fields 77% …

Learning To Read The Pioneer Landscape: Braudel, Eliade, Turner, And Benton, John Opie

Great Plains Quarterly

Looking at different viewpoints about the landscape of middle America is like seeing the Japanese movie Rashomon: it all depends on who is telling the story. We tend to forget, for example, that American origins are intertwined with an agricultural world view. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries the United States was predominantly a nation of farmers, and to all appearances it would continue so indefinitely. (It was not until the early twentieth century that more Americans lived in cities than on farms.) The future successful course of America seemed to depend upon vast and open tracts of good …

Sandhill Cranes And The Platte River, Gary L. Krapu, Kenneth J. Reinecke, Charles R. Frith

United States Geological Survey, Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center: Publications

The waters of many western rivers have been diverted by man for irrigation and other consumptive uses (Ohmart et al. 1977, Johnson 1978). As flows in certain rivers diminished precipitously during this century, numerous conflicts have arisen brought on by changes affecting various interests. The Platte River is such an example. With approximately 69 percent of the annual flows destined for the Platte now removed upstream (Kroonemeyer 1979) and additional projects proposed that would utilize remaining flows, intense competition and widespread concern have developed among the factions relying on the river's flows to meet their needs.
One effect of the …

Sandhill Cranes And The Platte River, Gary L. Krapu, Kenneth J. Reinecke, Charles R. Frith

United States Geological Survey, Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center: Publications

The waters of many western rivers have been diverted by man for irrigation and other consumptive uses (Ohmart et al. 1977, Johnson 1978). As flows in certain rivers diminished precipitously during this century, numerous conflicts have arisen brought on by changes affecting various interests. The Platte River is such an example. With approximately 69 percent of the annual flows destined for the Platte now removed upstream (Kroonemeyer 1979) and additional projects proposed that would utilize remaining flows, intense competition and widespread concern have developed among the factions relying on the river's flows to meet their needs.