Life Sciences Commons^™

Review Of The Midwestern Native Garden: Native Alternatives To Nonnative Flowers And Plants, An Illustrated Guide. By Charlotte Adelman And Bernard L. Schwartz., Stephen L. Young

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences

Native plants are important for maintaining biodiversity and supporting birds, mammals, and insects in a particular region. The interaction of plants with other organisms is what makes up food webs, and a shift in one will result in change in the other, change that is often detrimental to both. Invasive plant species, which include many nonnative types, can alter ecosystems with lasting effects on hydrology, nutrient cycling, and habitat. Similar to other regions, the Central Plains is increasingly threatened by the establishment of invasive plant species. The reintroduction of native plant species not only in large natural areas, but also …

Native And European Haplotypes Of Phragmites Australis (Common Reed) In The Central Platte River, Nebraska, Diane L. Larson, Susan M. Galatowitsch, Jennifer L. Larson

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences

Phragmites australis (common reed) is known to have occurred along the Platte River historically, but recent rapid increases in both distribution and density have begun to impact habitat for migrating sandhill cranes and nesting piping plovers and least terns. Invasiveness in Phragmites has been associated with the incursion of a European genotype (haplotype M) in other areas; determining the genotype of Phragmites along the central Platte River has implications for proper management of the river system. In 2008 we sampled Phragmites patches along the central Platte River from Lexington to Chapman, NE, stratified by bridge segments, to determine the current …

Do Invasive Riparian Woody Plants Affect Hydrology And Ecosystem Processes?, Julie Huddle, Tala Awada, Derrel Martin, Xinhua Zhou, Sue Ellen Pegg, Scott Josiah

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences

© 2011 Copyright by the Center for Greot Plains Studies, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Review Of 620 Wild Plants Of North America: Fully Illustrated. By Tom Reaume., Mark J. Leoschke

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences

Beautifully and profusely illustrated with the author's black-and-white drawings, the 12-year project that became this book shows his love for plants. Tom Reaume focuses on a representative selection of primarily native vascular plants of the Great Plains of Canada and the northern United States found in forests, lakes, prairies, rivers, and wetlands. The book appears to be designed as a supplement for an introductory course in plant taxonomy.

This book is a useful reference for those interested in the flora of the northern Great Plains and adjacent regions. I highly recommend it for college and university libraries where botany and …

Review Of The Tallgrass Prairie Center Guide To Seed And Seedling Identification In The Upper Midwest. By Dave Williams., H. L. Hillhouse

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences

This book will please both practitioners of prairie restoration and more general prairie enthusiasts. It includes 72 grass and forb species, and the focus is clearly on species often found in tallgrass prairie plantings in the upper Midwest. The grasses and forbs are presented separately here, and for each group a morphological key is provided to divide the species into "Key Characteristic Groups." Because these groups are based on morphological similarity, species within a group are often-but not always-closely related.

Short and highly portable, the book covers the most common species in plantings. The only thing that would have delighted …