Weed Science Commons^™

Small Mammal Communities In Grasslands At The Grand Forks Air Force Base, North Dakota, Usa, Lynda R. Lafond, Elizabeth H. Rave, Kathryn A. Yurkonis

The Prairie Naturalist

Small mammals are important in grasslands but are often overlooked in management and reconstruction efforts. We sampled small mammals in three sites on the Grand Forks Air Force Base (GFAFB) located in central Grand Forks County, North Dakota, USA. The study sites varied in their management history and represented the three major types of grasslands (reconstructed prairie, old field, and hay field) within Grand Forks County. We captured 463 individuals of six species with Sherman live traps in summer (June, July, August) 2014 and 2015. We captured the most individuals and species (295 individuals of 5 species), including all shrews …

Patterns And Potential Causes Of Changing Winter Bird Distributions In South Dakota, David L. Swanson, Reza Goljani Amirkhiz, Mark D. Dixon

The Prairie Naturalist

Average winter temperatures in the north-central United States have been increasing since the 1970s, and this warming might influence winter distributions of birds in the region. Species potentially influenced by such winter warming include short-distance migrants for which the northern boundary of the winter range is influenced by temperature, such as hermit thrush (Catharus guttatus), yellow-rumped warbler (Setophaga coronata), and fox sparrow (Passerella iliaca). We examined winter records during 1974–2017 from a citizen-science bird observation database for South Dakota to determine recent trends in winter records for these three species. We compared their occurrence patterns with those for three benchmark …

The Effects Of Woody Vegetation Encroachment And Removal Within A Coastal Fen, Joseph Saler

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Early successional wetland habitat is being lost in temperate regions worldwide as a result of changes in disturbance regimes that allow for the establishment and dominance of woody species. In particular, this phenomenon is pronounced in fens, which harbor high numbers of rare herbaceous species that require early successional habitat. I investigated the relationship between woody vegetation encroachment and herbaceous species diversity within a Northern California coastal fen that has been undergoing encroachment by woody vegetation for ca. 80 years by recording species richness and cover data from 338 permanent plots throughout the fen. I also investigated the effect of …

Recent Observations Of Water Shrews In Northeastern South Dakota, Dennis Skadsen, Robert M. Timm

The Prairie Naturalist

North American water shrews in the genus Sorex are a complex of at least five species, three of which were recognized historically, Sorex alasksans, S. bendirii, and S. palustris (Hall 1981). Within what was previously considered the single, widespread northern species, S. palustris, two additional species are now recognized, S. albibarbis in the eastern US and Canada and S. navigator in the western United States and Canada (Hope et al. 2014; Nagorsen et al. 2017; Woodman 2018). The American water shrew (Sorex palustris) originally was documented in South Dakota by three females, two were collected 1876 and …

Final Thoughts As Editor-In-Chief, Christopher N. Jacques

The Prairie Naturalist

Greetings GPNSS members! I write this editorial during a time of reflection as Editor-in-Chief of The Prairie Naturalist (TPN), and during unprecedented times as the global COVID-19 pandemic continues. In full disclosure, I do not have a particular topic for this editorial, other than to offer a few final thoughts as my time serving the Great Plains Natural Science Society and TPN.

Bats Of The Loess Hills Ecoregion Of Southeast Nebraska, Virgil Brack Jr, Dale W. Sparks, Darwin C. Brack

The Prairie Naturalist

We surveyed bats at 49 sites in the Loess Hills Ecoregion of southeastern Nebraska, along the western edge of the eastern forest biome in eastern Richardson, Nemaha, and Otoe counties. We completed this study shortly before the northern long-eared bat (Myotis septentrionalis) was listed by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service under the Endangered Species Act. The expectation of listing, along with potential presence of the endangered Indiana bat (Myotis sodalis), motivated the study. We captured 183 bats of five species: eastern red bat (Lasiurus borealis) (n = 103; 56 %), big brown …

Factors Limiting Reintroduced Plains Topminnow, Fundulus Sciadicus, Populations In Central Great Plains Streams, Joseph Thiessen, Keith D. Koupal, Casey W. Schoenebeck

The Prairie Naturalist

The plains topminnow (Fundulus sciadicus) is an endemic Great Plains stream fish that has experienced declines in geographic range and local abundance. Due to these declines, the species has been considered for federal protection and designated with conservation status in states throughout its historic range. The reasons for declines are likely similar to hypothesized factors for other endemic stream fish declines in the Great Plains. To investigate potential limiting factors a suite of 17 historic sites with reintroduced plains topminnow populations across Nebraska were evaluated for current populations and if plains topminnow were absent, additional fish were introduced. …

Review Of Grasslands And Climate Change By David J. Gibson And Jonathan A. Newman, Neal D. Noemuth

The Prairie Naturalist

The last decade has seen an explosion of information about climate change, some of which is contradictory, much of which is confusing, and the entirety of which is too much for the typical biologist or scientist to assemble and comprehend. This is why reviews such as Grasslands and Climate Change, edited by David Gibson and Jonathan Newman, are so valuable. To produce this review of climate change issues and influences relative to grasslands, Gibson and Newman recruited 30 scientists—predominantly from Europe and North America—who wrote 19 chapters dealing with various aspects of grasslands and climate change. The chapters are grouped …

Review Of Sky Dance Of The Woodcock: The Habits And Habitats Of A Strange Little Bird, By Greg Hoch, David E. Andersen

The Prairie Naturalist

American Woodcock (Scolopax minor) have enthralled conservationists (including Aldo Leopold), bird watchers, wildlife enthusiasts, hunters, and others interested in the natural world for centuries. No doubt, woodcock also have enthralled humans in North America for millennia prior to written descriptions of the woodcock’s courtship displays, habitat preferences, and curious behavior and anatomy. As perhaps the most extensively studied species of shorebird in the world, there is a rich and extensive literature, both scientific and popular, focused on woodcock ecology, behavior, and hunting. To that extensive body of literature, Sky Dance of the Woodcock provides an updated summary of …

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 Jensen

The Prairie Naturalist

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 …

The Prairie Naturalist, Vol. 51, Issue 2, December 2019

The Prairie Naturalist

45 EDITOR’S NOTE: Final Thoughts as Editor-in-Chief, by Christopher N. Jacques

RESEARCH ARTICLES

47 Bats of the Loess Hills Ecoregion of Southeast Nebraska, by Virgil Brack, Jr., Dale W. Sparks, and Darwin C. Brack

58 Serological Survey and Pathogen Exposure of Adult Female White-tailed Deer in the Western Dakotas, by Katherine L. Moratz, Bailey S. Gullikson, Eric S. Michel, Daniel M. Grove, Jonathan A. Jenks, and William F. Jensen

68 Factors Limting Reintroduced Plains Topminnow, Fundulus sciadicus, Populations in Central Great Plains Streams, by Joseph D. Thiessen, Keith D. Koupal, and Casey W. Schoenebeck

NOTES

77 Recent Observations of Water …

Review Of Birds Of Prey Of The East: A Field Guide By Brian K. Wheeler, Janet W. Ng

The Prairie Naturalist

Brian Wheeler’s new field guide, Birds of Prey of the East, is a well-researched, comprehensive field guide to birds of prey found in eastern Canada and United States. This 13- year labor of love reflects a life spent studying the nuances of North American birds of prey, as well as partnerships with fellow enthusiasts who provided detailed range maps and other valuable inputs. Birds of Prey of the East features 72 color plates of 27 species, including 14 plates for the Redtailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis), which can be one of the most challenging species to identify in …

Review Of Great Plains Birds, By Larkin Powell, William E. Jensen

The Prairie Naturalist

Biologists who live in the Great Plains of North America know well the general aspersion cast toward our regional home by those unfamiliar with the region and its natural treasures. Larkin Powell alludes to this all-too-common aspersion and diplomatically dispels it in his ornithological showcase of the Great Plains, simply titled Great Plains Birds. The book is a nice, quick read and a well-composed profile of the region’s avian biogeographical history, its disruptions, conservation remedies, examples of basic bird biology, and tips on how to enjoy the bird life on display in this dynamic region. Having been an ornithologist …

Review Of A Field Guide To The Natural World Of The Twin Cities By John J. Moriarty, Photography By Siah L. St. Clair, Douglas H. Johnson, Bonnie Sample

The Prairie Naturalist

A Field Guide to the Natural World of the Twin Cities has two foci: natural areas in the Twin Cities of Minnesota and the species that live in each. The geographical scope is the seven counties that envelop Minneapolis and Saint Paul. The author describes nine major habitat types that can be found there: prairie, savanna, big woods, oak woods, wetlands (marshes and swamps), fens and bogs, lakes, rivers, and urban and suburban. It is useful to know that “big woods” are not just woods that are large in extent, but woodlands that occur in Minnesota and western Wisconsin dominated …

Factors Affecting White Bass Abundance In Two Missouri River Reservoirs, William J. Radigan, Mark J. Fincel

The Prairie Naturalist

Annual angler harvest of white bass (Morone chrysops) increased from 1985–2005 in Lake Oahe and Lake Sharpe, two mainstem Missouri River reservoirs in South Dakota. In 2006, harvest rates dropped appreciably in both reservoirs and remained low through 2015. It is hypothesized that a confirmed 2005 columnaris disease outbreak led to reduced annual angler harvest of white bass from both reservoirs. Mean annual angler harvest prior to the outbreak (1985–2005) in Lake Oahe decreased 65% and in Lake Sharpe decreased 57% post outbreak (2006–2015). To assess potential causes of sustained decreased adult white bass abundance in the reservoirs, …

Review Of Gulls Simplified: A Comparative Approach To Identification By Pete Dunne And Kevin T. Karlson, Garrett J. Macdonald

The Prairie Naturalist

The title of Pete Dunne and Kevin Karlson’s new book, Gulls Simplified, may seem like an oxymoron to many birders. Gulls are, after all, one of the most vexing groups of North American birds due to their myriad identification challenges, and many seasoned birders simply “don’t do gulls.” Indeed, Dunne, in the first line of the Introduction (page 13), writes, “Ask any bird-watcher to name the bird group that is most intimidating, and to a man, woman, and tour leader they often shout: GULLS!” The genesis of the book, and the authors’ approach to identification within, arises from the notion …

Incidental Captures Of Plains Spotted Skunks In Central South Dakota, Samantha Fino, Joshua D. Stafford, Aaron T. Pearse, Jonathan A. Jenks

The Prairie Naturalist

The plains spotted skunk (Spilogale putorius interrupta) had a historically broad distribution in the central United States, extending from the Mississippi River west to the Rocky Mountains. This subspecies of the eastern spotted skunk (S. putorius) has experienced population declines in recent decades possibly due to habitat loss and reduction of prey through conversion of grasslands and forests to croplands, as well as reductions in abandoned buildings, fence rows, creek bottoms, and wood piles throughout the region (Crabb 1948, Kaplan and Mead 1991, Gompper and Hackett 2005, Sasse 2017). Woody debris provides access to prey, and …

Suitability Of Single-Pass Backpack Electrofishing To Estimate Fish Abundance And Describe Assemblage Structure In Prairie Streams, Morgan J. Kauth, David A. Schumann, Katie N.B. Graeb, William Wyatt Hoback

The Prairie Naturalist

Electrofishing is commonly used by fisheries professionals to assess fish assemblage structure and species abundance in streams. Accurate estimates of fish abundance and, consequently assemblage metrics, are typically generated with mark-recapture or maximum-likelihood depletion techniques, but doing so requires considerable sampling effort. Less intensive sampling approaches may be beneficial to fisheries managers, particularly in cases where frequent sampling of many streams is preferred. We used regression and Spearman rank-order correlation analyses to compare species catch rates and the assemblage metrics generated from single-pass electrofishing samples with multiple-pass depletion abundance estimates in Nebraska streams. We examined the influence of instream habitat …

The Prairie Naturalist, Volume 51, No. 1

The Prairie Naturalist

1 EDITOR’S NOTE

RESEARCH ARTICLES

3 Factors Affecting White Bass Abundance in Two Missouri River Reservoirs, William J. Radigan and Mark J. Fincel

17 Suitability of single-pass backpack electrofishing to estimate fish abundance and describe assemblage structure in prairie streams, Morgan J. Kauth, David A. Schumann, Katie N. B. Graeb, and W. Wyatt Hoback

NOTES

25 Channel Catfish Reproductive Traits in the Lower Platte River, Nebraska, USA - Mackenzie Zwiener, Jonathan Spurgeon, & Mark Pegg

30 Quantifying Signpost Usage By Captive Male White-Tailed Deer - Cassie L. Auxt, Eric S. Michel, and Jonathan A. Jenks.

33 Incidental Captures of Plains …

Channel Catfish Reproductive Traits In The Lower Platte River, Nebraska, Usa, Mackenzie Zwiener, Jonathan J. Spurgeon, Mark Pegg

The Prairie Naturalist

Reproductive traits including fecundity, egg diameter, and condition of freshwater fishes influence offspring survival and abundance and may provide insight regarding timing of reproduction (Winemiller and Rose 1992, Johnston and Leggett 2002). Fish size (i.e., length or weight) may influence the number of eggs produced by an individual female (i.e., fecundity; Michaletz 1998). Larger individuals may, thus, disproportionately contribute to year-classes through increased fecundity if egg and larval survival is similar or greater than those from smaller reproductive females (Gwinn et al. 2015). Likewise, maternal fish size may influence egg diameter and offspring survival, whereby larger egg diameters are associated …

Review Of Birds Of Prey Of The West: A Field Guide, By Brian K. Wheeler, Daniel Casey

The Prairie Naturalist

Birds of prey epitomize much of what attracts us to birding. Many are large and easy to observe, particularly in open landscapes. Their predatory nature and behavior give them an added aura of wildness; their migrations can be spectacular. And even veteran birders should enjoy the challenge of identifying the myriad of plumage variations shown by different ages, sexes, subspecies, and color morphs. With his newest effort, Birds of Prey of the West, Brian Wheeler has compiled a comprehensive and enhanced field guide with illustrations that stunningly capture that variation, combined with enough additional context to make it a valuable …

Review Of Carnivores Of The World, Second Edition, By Luke Hunter, Shannon M. Barber-Meyer

The Prairie Naturalist

Cracking open this fully revised field guide invites a new appreciation for the diversity of carnivores (members of the order Carnivora) in the world. Dig a little deeper and you’ll uncover just how little we know about so many of them. This second edition of the Carnivores of the World features 250 mammalian species—from a species so tiny it can squeeze through a wedding ring to one weighing thousands of times more, the polar bear (Ursus maritimus). Each detailed species account includes an illustration of the species (and sometimes varying forms or subspecies), information on morphological and identifying features, distribution …

Using Drones For Precision Agriculture, Jiyul Chang, Madhav P. Nepal

iLEARN Teaching Resources

In this teaching module, students will learn what Precision Agriculture is and how to apply drone into Precision Agriculture practices. To use data (images) taken by drone, students will learn the basic theory of Remote Sensing. Using images, students learn how to make NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index) maps and how to apply drone (remote sensing technique) in agriculture.

Quantifying Signpost Usage By Captive Male White-Tailed Deer, Cassie L. Auxt, Eric S. Michel, Jonathan A. Jenks

The Prairie Naturalist

White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) use rubbing of signpost structures to communicate during the breeding season. Rubbing of signpost structures allows deer to communicate via visual and chemical cues, which allows them to establish dominance hierarchies and maintain hierarchal status throughout the breeding season (Moore and Marchinton 1974, Miller et al. 1981, Hewitt 2011). Once a living tree is rubbed, the exposed light-colored sapwood creates a stark contrast in wooded areas, increasing visibility and further enticing deer to investigate the structure (Oehler et al. 1995). Anatomically, the tubular apocrine sudoriferous glands of white-tailed deer are located at the antler …

Island Invasion: The Silent Crisis In Hawaii, Sophia Janssen

Pomona Senior Theses

Keeping out invasive species may, upon first review, seem like a trivial environmental cry from ecologists and deep environmentalists; a belated wish to return to an undeveloped world where nature was pristine. However invasive species create problems that impact all of us and can have far more severe consequences than changing a stunning landscape. These problems are heightened in islands like Hawaii, where the fragile ecosystems have developed over centuries of evolution and adaptation. The introduction of a disease-carrying mosquito can put the people of Hawaii at risk to many vector-born illnesses and create an epidemic, taking human life. The …

Review: Canids Of The World: Wolves, Wild Dogs, Foxes, Jackals, Coyotes, And Their Relatives. José R. Castelló., Jonathan (Jon) Way

The Prairie Naturalist

Canids of the World is one of those reads where just when you think that something cannot be beat, this book comes out. What I mean by that is that I have read many works on wolves and other canids, most recently Nate Blakeslee’s American Wolf (Way 2017), and I have enjoyed and been enthralled with many of them. But Canids of the World may take the cake for being the most impressive book available on canids. For a modest price of just under $30.00, you can own a book that has over 600 amazing high-resolution glossy photographs of every …

New Breeding Record And Location For Wilson’S Phalarope (Phalaropus Tricolor) In The Nebraska Great Plains, Usa, Madison O. Sutton, Nico Arcilla

The Prairie Naturalist

Wilson’s phalarope (Phalaropus tricolor; Scolopacidae) is a migratory shorebird that relies on interior wetlands for foraging and breeding (Colwell and Jehl 1994, van Gils et al. 2018). Its global population status is unclear (Colwell and Jehl 1994, Lesterhuis and Clay 2010), and is variously listed as declining (Morrison et al. 2006, van Gils et al. 2018), increasing (Andres 2009, BirdLife International 2018), and exhibiting a long-term decline but recent stability (Sauer et al. 2011, Andres et al. 2012). Its global population estimate of 1.5 million birds has not been updated for 30 years, since 1988 (Colwell and Jehl 1994, Lesterhuis …

Review: Behavior Of The Golden Eagle: An Illustrated Ethogram. David H. Ellis (Illustrated By N. John Schmitt)., Jeremy E. Guinn

The Prairie Naturalist

Author David H. Ellis and illustrator N. John Schmitt deliver precisely what is promised in Behavior of the Golden Eagle: An Illustrated Ethogram. This “little volume,” as the author coins it, represents a single source for defining, identifying, and describing behaviors of the Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysaetos). With the inclusion of Schmitt’s exceptional drawings, the book is a piece of art, as well as the most useful manual describing Golden Eagle behaviors. Nearly four decades earlier, Ellis (1979) authored the very first Golden Eagle ethogram—the set of repeated standard behaviors for a species called action patterns—and in his new book, …

Review: Edges And Rushes Of Minnesota: The Complete Guide To Species Identification, Welby R. Smith; Photography By Richard Haug, Edward S. Dekeyser

The Prairie Naturalist

Even the most seasoned individual with a plant identification background can relate to the difficulty of identifying sedges and rushes to the species level. Historically, one has had to rely on dichotomous keys to identify a sedge or rush species in the field. After hours of frustration, a person ends up collecting the plant and, if lucky, bringing the collection back to a herbarium where it can be compared to known specimens. I have been collecting and identifying sedge and rush species for over 25 years, and author Welby Smith along with photographer Richard Haug have published what I believe …

Red-Bellied Snake (Storeria Occipitomaculata) Copulation In South Dakota, Drew R. Davis

The Prairie Naturalist

Storeria occipitomaculata is a small, terrestrial species of snake that occurs across much of eastern North America (Ernst and Barbour 1989, Ernst 2002, Ernst and Ernst 2003). Due to this widespread distribution, S. occipitomaculata faces varied climates that likely result in regional differences in reproductive phenology. Much of what is known about the reproductive ecology of S. occipitomaculata has been documented from the southeastern portion of its range in North America (South Carolina: Semlitsch and Moran 1984, North Carolina: Willson and Dorcas 2004), though Blanchard (1937) studied a population from northern Michigan. The exact reproductive timing in this …