Weed Science Commons^™

Long-Term Effects Of April, August, Or October Prescribed Fire On Yearling Stocker Cattle Performance And Native Rangeland Plant Composition In The Kansas Flint Hills, Zachary M. Duncan, Alan J. Tajchman, Jack Lemmon, William R. Hollenbeck, Dale A. Blasi, K. C. Olson

Kansas Agricultural Experiment Station Research Reports

Objective:The objective of our experiment was to determine if prescribed fire applied in April, August, or October influenced stocker growth performance or plant community characteristics in the Kansas Flint Hills over a 6-year period.

Study Description:A total of 1,939 yearling stocker cattle were assigned to one of three prescribed-burn treatments: spring (April 11 ± 5.7 days), summer (August 25 ± 6.2 days or fall (October 2 ± 9.0 days) over a 5-year period. Calves were grazed from May to August for 90 days. Individual body weights were recorded at the start and end of the grazing season. Native …

Biodiversity—The Birds And The Bees And Healthy Grasslands, D. Borrenpohl, Pat D. Keyser

IGC Proceedings (1997-2023)

Losses in biodiversity abound in modern agroecosystems, and biodiversity loss hampers ecosystem function and primary productivity comparable to abiotic stress. One of the most endangered ecosystems in the world is North American tallgrass prairie, and native birds and pollinators that historically depended on tallgrass prairie are in precipitous decline. Fortunately, native warm-season grasses that dominated tallgrass prairie present a valuable opportunity for summer forage to beef producers in the Eastern United States—a time when coolseason grasses endure a lack in productivity called the “summer slump.” Tallgrass prairie was sustained by periodic disturbance from grazing and fire, and combining fire and …

Maintaining Grassland Plant Diversity While Controlling Woody Plant Encroachment, James Stubbendieck, Kay L. Kottas, S. J. Tunnell, S. J. Palazzolo

IGC Proceedings (1997-2023)

The tallgrass prairie region of the United States is a fragmented grassland ecosystem. Much of the 1 to 2% of the remaining prairie is being degraded by invading woody plants, which frequently results in a shift from grassland to woodland. Smooth sumac (Rhus glabra L.), a shrub native to the region, can rapidly increase in density and become dominant in the plant community. Prescribed fire alone is not a constraint to this resprouting species (Stubbendieck et al., 2003). Herbicides are useful tools for managing woody plants in grasslands, but the negative response of desirable plants to herbicides is …

Long-Term Responses Of A Mesic Grassland To Manipulation Of Rainfall Quantity And Pattern, A. K. Knapp, J M. Blair, P. A. Fay, M. D. Smith, S. L. Collins, J. M. Briggs

IGC Proceedings (1997-2023)

Climatic variability is an inherent feature of grassland biomes, with large fluctuations in temperatures combined with precipitation regimes characterised by floods and severe drought occurring on both an interannual and seasonal scale. Global climate models and emerging data indicate that extremes in precipitation regimes are increasing worldwide coupled with increases in temperature. Thus, variability in spatial and temporal patterns of water availability in grasslands, as directly influenced by altered precipitation patterns and indirectly by increased temperatures, will likely increase in the future. The objectives of our experiments were to experimentally manipulate rainfall amount and temporal patterns (amount and timing of …

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 …

Sericea Lespedeza Control Strategies Differ In Their Impacts On Overall Range Health And Native Plant Species Composition, G. A. Gatson, W. H. Fick, W. W. Hsu, K C. Olson

Kansas Agricultural Experiment Station Research Reports

Objective:The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of sericea lespedeza (Lespedeza cuneata) control strategies of late summer prescribed burning and fall her­bicide application on soil cover, native plant populations, and biological diversity.

Study Description:We established 16 individual units within an 80-acre native tallgrass pasture. Each unit was assigned to 1 of 4 treatments: control, spray only, burn only, or burn-plus-spray. Burn only and burn-plus-spray units were burned in early September. Spray only and burn-plus-spray units were sprayed with metsulfuron methyl (Escort XP, DuPont, Wilmington, DE) in late September. The change in …

Project Prairie And Tallgrass Education On The Rice Lake Plains: A Journey From 1870 To Today And Beyond, Todd Farrell, Mark Rupke, Mark Stabb

The Prairie Naturalist

Project Prairie began in 2011 as a curriculum-linked integrated environmental studies program to showcase the Rice Lake Plains (RLP), a tallgrass prairie landscape of sandy rolling hills located at the eastern extent of the Oak Ridges Moraine in southern Ontario. Project Prairie provides educators both indoor and outdoor activities that support their curriculum and share the story of the RLP. Project Prairie provides teacher and student resources that focus on the RLP from the mid-nineteenth century to present day. Learning objectives of Project Prairie are developed from the subjects of science, social science, language arts, geography, history, and Aboriginal culture. …

Prairie Restoration: Bridging The Past And The Future, Daryl D. Smith

The Prairie Naturalist

Tallgrass prairie once dominated most of mid-continent North America. Conversion of this prairie to cropland was rapid and extensive. Today, it is the most decimated ecosystem in North America with less than two percent remaining. Prairie reconstruction began at the University of Wisconsin Arboretum in the 1930s. Thirty years later, exemplary initiatives by a group of highly motivated restorationists in Illinois and Iowa became a part of the legacy of restoration ecology. Their work generated widespread public interest in prairie restoration and initiated the ongoing biennial North American Prairie Conference. Since then, practitioners have made significant advances in reconstruction and …

Spatiotemporal Variation In Vegetation Structure Resulting From Pyric-Herbivory, Sherry Leis, Lloyd W. Morrison, Michael D. Debacker

The Prairie Naturalist

Pyric-herbivory is a process that is widely assumed to create greater habitat heterogeneity in grasslands at the landscape scale than could be achieved by either fire or grazing alone. Yet, few studies have actually quantified the effects of pyric- herbivory on vegetation structure within layers of the grass canopy. Here we quantify the effects of pyric-herbivory on a pasture at Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve in Kansas. We subdivided the pasture into three patches and burned one patch each year in a three-year rotation. We estimated visual obstruction for 25-cm strata and recorded maximum vegetation height. We found that recently burned …

Cattle Grazing Reduces Survival And Reproduction Of The Western Prairie Fringed Orchid, Bonnie Warner Alexander, Donald Kirby, Mario Biondini, Edward Dekeyser

The Prairie Naturalist

QuantifYing impacts of livestock grazing and prairie management strategies on the threatened western prairie' fringed orchid (Platanthera praeclara) is difficult due to the erratic appearance of the orchid above-ground. We monitored above-ground survival of orchids from flowering to mature seed capsule production, comparing plant height, flower numbers, and seed capsule numbers from 2002-2004 in rotationally grazed pastures and non-grazed sites. Orchid survival differed significantly between grazed and non-grazed pastures, with the proportion of plants surviving from flower to capsule production consistently lower in grazed pastures. Mean orchid survival in grazed and non-grazed areas was 40% and 87%, respectively. …

Patterns Of Bison Hair Use In Nests Of Tallgrass Prairie Birds, Bryan R. Coppedge

The Prairie Naturalist

I examined patterns of bison (Bison bison L.) hair use by passerine birds nesting in the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve, Osage County, Oklahoma, 2002-2004. I collected and dissected 103 nests of 15 species into their constituent components. Nests were predominately composed of herbaceous material such as grass stems and leaves. Woody material and mud were rarely used. Bison hair was the most prominent zoological material used in nests, with lesser amounts and occurrence of arthropod silk, snake skin, feathers, jack rabbit (Lepus californicus Oray) fur, and man-made materials such as cellophane and string. At least one nest of 13 …