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Proceedings of the North American Prairie Conferences

South Dakota

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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Grassland Bird Use Of Crp Fields That Differ By Age-Class And Cover Type, Kristel K. Bakker, Sarah L. Eggebo, Kenneth F. Higgins, David E. Naugle Jan 2004

Grassland Bird Use Of Crp Fields That Differ By Age-Class And Cover Type, Kristel K. Bakker, Sarah L. Eggebo, Kenneth F. Higgins, David E. Naugle

Proceedings of the North American Prairie Conferences

During the past 50 years increasing agricultural practices have transformed native habitats into row~crop fields, making the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) grass lands important habitat for wildlife populations. Limited information exists on how nongame grassland bird species relate to different stand ages and cover types of Conservation Reserve Program. Conservation Reserve Program grassland study sites (n = 42) were stratified by stand age (old [10-13 years] and new [0-3 years] grasslands), and cover types (CPI-cool-season grasslands and CPZ-warm-season grasslands) in eastern South Dakota. Field age rather than cover type was more predictive of grassland bird occurrence and density. Sedge wrens …


Impacts Of Agricultural Tillage On Grassland Birds In Western South Dakota, Julie R. Dejong, David E. Naugle, Kristel K. Bakker, Frank R. Quamen, Kenneth F. Higgins Jan 2004

Impacts Of Agricultural Tillage On Grassland Birds In Western South Dakota, Julie R. Dejong, David E. Naugle, Kristel K. Bakker, Frank R. Quamen, Kenneth F. Higgins

Proceedings of the North American Prairie Conferences

Xeric, mixed-grass landscapes are changing rapidly as native grasslands are converted to cropland. We surveyed birds to compare their use of grassland and cropland habitats and to evaluate whether their abundances were related to grassland fragment size. Surveys were conducted in western South Dakota at 146 sites that were stratified by habitat type, landscape composition and fragment size. The abundances of 13 of 14 species were 1.2-140 times higher in grass- lands than in cropland. Greater prairie-chicken, sharp-tailed grouse, burrowing owl, Baird's sparrow, northern harrier, and short-eared owl never occurred in cropland. Abundances of grasshopper sparrow, western meadowlark and chestnut-collared …