Digital Commons Network^™

Parasitoid Communities Of Remnant And Constructed Prairie Fragments In Western Ohio, Michael Drew Sheaffer

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The ability of organisms to disperse to, utilize, and persist in novel habitats in a fragmented landscape is vital to the success of many ecosystem restoration and construction efforts. With less than four percent of original tallgrass prairie persisting across its range, conservationists have made efforts to both protect and restore remnant prairies as well as to plant new prairies. Previous studies suggest that restored ecosystems do not support the same levels of biodiversity and ecosystems services as their remnant counterparts. In this study I measured tachinid fly diversity and orthopteran parasitism rates in order to assess ecological similarity of …

Using Geographic Information Systems To Select Sites For Wetland Restoration In West Central Ohio's Agricultural Areas, Janice M. Hartkorn

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The Mississippi River Basin, includes a major part of Ohio has encountered increasing phosphorus and nitrogen loads from agricultural fields since the 1800's when intensive agriculture moved into the Midwest. Agriculture has drained ninety percent of Ohio's native wetlands. A portion of those drained wetlands can be restored to functional wetlands to intercept excess nutrients from non-productive or low yield agricultural fields to improve overall water quality. Little is known about finding potential restoration sites, partly because of the difficulty in locating sites capable of supporting successful restoration.

This study investigated the utility of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) as a …