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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences

Regenerative Agriculture Effects On Invertebrate And Bird Communities And Insect-Provided Ecosystem Services, Alex Michels Jan 2022

Regenerative Agriculture Effects On Invertebrate And Bird Communities And Insect-Provided Ecosystem Services, Alex Michels

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Conventional agricultural practices can have unintended consequences on the environment and wildlife. Insects and birds are declining at rapid rates around the world, and the current conventional agricultural paradigm is a major driver through habitat loss and the intensification of production. Invertebrates in agroecosystems provide services to both farmers and the rest of society. Regenerative systems may promote the functioning of an agroecosystem by influencing invertebrate abundance, diversity, and ecosystem services and mitigate bird and insect declines through conservation practices that increase soil health, reduce disturbances, and increase biological diversity. Here I address knowledge gaps of the effects of regenerative …


Effects Of Conservation Management Practices On Soil Health And Crop Yields In Eastern South Dakota, Alex Mclain Jan 2022

Effects Of Conservation Management Practices On Soil Health And Crop Yields In Eastern South Dakota, Alex Mclain

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Conservation management practice adoption on agricultural land has increased in recent years due to increasing public and private investment. The anticipated impact of increasing conservation management practice adoption are reduced greenhouse gas emissions and improved soil, water, and air quality. Understanding how these conservation management practices affect agricultural producers economically is vital to properly incentivize these practices. The existing literature on how conservation management practices affect soil health and crop yields is mixed and generally has been conducted on experimental research stations. These studies may not fully account for the on-farm effects of conservation management practices. The objectives of this …


Pollinator Ecology In Agroecosystems Of Eastern South Dakota, Isabela Beatriz Vilella-Arnizaut Jan 2021

Pollinator Ecology In Agroecosystems Of Eastern South Dakota, Isabela Beatriz Vilella-Arnizaut

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Community structure contributes to ecosystem persistence and stability. To understand the mechanisms underlying pollination and community stability of natural areas in a human influenced landscape, a better understanding of the interaction patterns between plants and pollinators in disturbed landscapes is needed. Furthermore, understanding the potential conservation value in green spaces such as botanical gardens could assist in preserving and bolstering plant-pollinator interactions. Our study takes place in the Northern Great Plains which still retains extensive tracts of remnant temperate grassland habitat within a matrix of varying land-uses. First, we used a network-based approach to quantify how temperate grassland attributes and …


Distribution, Density, Movement, And Support For Management Of Mountain Sucker, Pantosteus Jordani, In The Black Hills Of South Dakota, Seth J. Fopma Jan 2020

Distribution, Density, Movement, And Support For Management Of Mountain Sucker, Pantosteus Jordani, In The Black Hills Of South Dakota, Seth J. Fopma

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Mountain Sucker, Pantosteus jordani, is a cold-water species native to the Intermountain West. Fringe populations of Mountain Sucker have experienced declines in recent decades. The population of Mountain Sucker found in the Black Hills of South Dakota represents the eastern fringe of the species’ native range. Recognized as both an indicator of biologic health and as a species of greatest conservation need in South Dakota, recent studies have suggested significant declines in both distribution and abundance. Despite the recent study of Mountain Sucker in the region, increased understanding of Mountain Sucker ecology is needed to effectively manage for the conservation …