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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences

Tree Cover In The Surrounding Landscape Reduces Burrowing Owl (Athene Cunicularia) Occupancy Of Black-Tailed Prairie Dog Colonies In South Dakota, Jason P. Thiele, Kristel K. Bakker, Charles D. Dieter Dec 2019

Tree Cover In The Surrounding Landscape Reduces Burrowing Owl (Athene Cunicularia) Occupancy Of Black-Tailed Prairie Dog Colonies In South Dakota, Jason P. Thiele, Kristel K. Bakker, Charles D. Dieter

Natural Resource Management Faculty Publications

Burrowing Owl (Athene cunicularia) population declines have led to the owl’s designation as a species of conservation concern in South Dakota. Burrowing Owls nest primarily in black-tailed prairie dog (Cynomys ludovicianus) colonies, but a significant proportion of colonies in South Dakota are not occupied by owls. We studied the influence of landscape-level habitat variables on colony selection by Burrowing Owls. We used call-playback surveys to document presence or absence of Burrowing Owls at 613 prairie dog colonies throughout western and central South Dakota. We used a geographic information system to calculate the percent cover of prairie dog colonies, grassland, cropland, …


Forum: Critical Decision Dates For Drought Management In Centraland Northern Great Plains Rangeland, Alexander J. Smart, Keith Harmoney, J. Derek Scasta, Mitchell B. Stephenson, Jerry D. Volesky, Lance T. Vermeire, Jeffrey C. Mosley, Kevin Sedivec, Miranda Meehan, Tonya Haigh, Justin D. Derner, Mitchel P. Mcclaran Nov 2019

Forum: Critical Decision Dates For Drought Management In Centraland Northern Great Plains Rangeland, Alexander J. Smart, Keith Harmoney, J. Derek Scasta, Mitchell B. Stephenson, Jerry D. Volesky, Lance T. Vermeire, Jeffrey C. Mosley, Kevin Sedivec, Miranda Meehan, Tonya Haigh, Justin D. Derner, Mitchel P. Mcclaran

Natural Resource Management Faculty Publications

Ranchers and other land managers of central and northern Great Plains rangelands face recurrent droughts that negatively influence economic returns and environmental resources for ranching enterprises. Accurately estimating annual forage production and initiating drought decision-making actions proactively early in the growing season are both critical to minimize financial losses and degradation to rangeland soil and plant resources. Long-term forage production data sets from Alberta, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming demonstrated that precipitation in April, May, and June (or some combination of these months) robustly predict annual forage production. Growth curves from clipping experiments and ecological site …


Distribution And Productivity Of Naturalized Alfalfa In Mixed-Grass Prairie, Lan Xu, Arvid Boe, Patricia Johnson, Roger N. Gates, Christopher G. Misar Jun 2019

Distribution And Productivity Of Naturalized Alfalfa In Mixed-Grass Prairie, Lan Xu, Arvid Boe, Patricia Johnson, Roger N. Gates, Christopher G. Misar

Natural Resource Management Faculty Publications

Alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) is an important forage and conservation crop in North America but occurrences of naturalized alfalfa in rangelands are rare. A naturalized population of yellow-flowered alfalfa in mixed-grass prairie on the Grand River National Grassland in South Dakota has potential agricultural value for the region. Despite this value, the distribution pattern of this alfalfa among and within native plant communities in the northern Great Plains is unknown. Field studies were conducted from 2003 through 2006 along topographic positions at two sites where yellow-flowered alfalfa was naturalized to evaluate the relationships of yellow-flowered alfalfa on biomass production, cover, …


Soil And Land- Use Change Sustainability In The Northern Great Plains Of The Usa, Deepak Raj Joshi, David E. Clay, Alexander Smart, Sharon A. Clay, Tulsi P. Kharel, Umakanta Mishra Mar 2019

Soil And Land- Use Change Sustainability In The Northern Great Plains Of The Usa, Deepak Raj Joshi, David E. Clay, Alexander Smart, Sharon A. Clay, Tulsi P. Kharel, Umakanta Mishra

Agronomy, Horticulture and Plant Science Faculty Publications

In the Northern Great Plains (NGP), the combined impacts of land-use and climate variability have the potential to place many soils on the tipping point of sustainability. The objectives of this study were to assess if the conversion of grassland to croplands occurred on fragile landscapes in the North America Northern Great Plains. South Dakota and Nebraska were selected for this study because they are located in a climate transition zone. We visually classified 43,200 and 38,400 points in South Dakota and Nebraska, respectively, from high-resolution imagery in 2006, 2012, and 2014 into five different categories (cropland, grassland, habitat, NonAg, …


Understanding Greenhouse Gases, Julie M. Mueller, Laura Edwards, Madhav P. Nepal, Larry B. Browning, Matthew L. Miller, P. Troy White Jan 2019

Understanding Greenhouse Gases, Julie M. Mueller, Laura Edwards, Madhav P. Nepal, Larry B. Browning, Matthew L. Miller, P. Troy White

iLEARN Teaching Resources

Students will conduct hands-on experiments to see how greenhouse gases interact with the Earth’s atmosphere and how greenhouse gases affect temperature. This lesson introduces National Geographic’s Geo-Inquiry Process, where students will identify a Geo-inquiry question, collect data, and create a project around the answer to their question. Students will then present their findings to their peers and evaluate their Geo-Inquiry process.


Using A Case Study Approach To Teach Invasive Species And Climate Change, Amanda Hoover, Bradley Blaha, Jacob Englin, Madhav P. Nepal, Larry B. Browning, Matt L. Miller, P. Troy White Jan 2019

Using A Case Study Approach To Teach Invasive Species And Climate Change, Amanda Hoover, Bradley Blaha, Jacob Englin, Madhav P. Nepal, Larry B. Browning, Matt L. Miller, P. Troy White

iLEARN Teaching Resources

In this teaching module, students will explore emerald ash borer (EAB), its impacts on the ash trees, and how warming temperatures could affect EAB populations. The emerald ash borer is a green buprestid or jewel beetle native to north-eastern Asia that causes devastating disease in ash trees.


Serological Survey And Pathogen Exposure Of Adult Female White-Tailed Deer In The Western Dakotas, Katherine L. Moratz, Bailey S. Gullikson, Eric S. Michel, Daniel M. Grove, Jonathan A. Jenks, William F. Jensen Jan 2019

Serological Survey And Pathogen Exposure Of Adult Female White-Tailed Deer In The Western Dakotas, Katherine L. Moratz, Bailey S. Gullikson, Eric S. Michel, Daniel M. Grove, Jonathan A. Jenks, William F. Jensen

Natural Resource Management Faculty Publications

Establishing baseline values for pathogen exposure and nutritional indices is necessary to monitor population health. However, little is known about white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) pathogen exposure and nutritional condition in the Northern Great Plains. Our objective was to assess pathogen exposure and establish nutritional indices for female white-tailed deer in Dunn and Grant counties, North Dakota and Perkins County, South Dakota. During 2014, we collected blood serum from 150 adult female white-tailed deer. Pathogens with the highest antibody prevalence included West Nile Virus (WNV; 85%), epizootic hemorrhagic disease (48%), and malignant catarrhal fever (32%). Serum values for creatine kinase, globulin, …


Looking To The Future: Key Points For Sustainable Management Of Northern Great Plains Grasslands, Lora B. Perkins, Marissa Ahlering, Diane L. Larson Jan 2019

Looking To The Future: Key Points For Sustainable Management Of Northern Great Plains Grasslands, Lora B. Perkins, Marissa Ahlering, Diane L. Larson

Natural Resource Management Faculty Publications

The grasslands of the northern Great Plains (NGP) region of North America are considered endangered ecosystems and priority conservation areas yet have great ecological and economic importance. Grasslands in the NGP are no longer self-regulating adaptive systems. The challenges to these grasslands are widespread and serious (e.g. climate change, invasive species, fragmentation, altered disturbance regimes, and anthropogenic chemical loads). Because the challenges facing the region are dynamic, complex, and persistent, a paradigm shift in how we approach restoration and management of the grasslands in the NGP is imperative. The goal of this article is to highlight four key points for …


Mob Grazing Results In High Forage Utilization And Reduced Western Snowberry Size, Heidi Reed, Sharon Clay, Alexander Smart, David Clay, Michelle Ohrtman Jan 2019

Mob Grazing Results In High Forage Utilization And Reduced Western Snowberry Size, Heidi Reed, Sharon Clay, Alexander Smart, David Clay, Michelle Ohrtman

Agronomy, Horticulture and Plant Science Faculty Publications

Mob-grazing strives to maximize forage utilization and minimize selective grazing by using high stocking densities in small paddocks for short durations (12–24 hr). Rotational-grazing uses low stocking densities for a longer time period, retaining about half of the original available forage; although selective grazing can occur. Three cattle (Bos taurus × Bos indicus) grazing intensities: mob- (stocking densities from 32,000 to 67,000 kg ha−1; duration—24 hr); rotation (stocking density—2500 kg ha−1; duration—35 d); and non-grazed systems were compared based on forage utilization and changes to western snowberry (Symphoricarpos occidentalis) (WS) patch volume in a 2-year South Dakota study. …