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Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons

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Natural Resources Management and Policy

South Dakota State University

Remote sensing

Articles 1 - 3 of 3

Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Prairie Dogs And Livestock In Rangeland Systems: Balancing Biodiversity And Production In The Northern Mixed-Grass Prairie, Jameson Robert Brennan Jan 2019

Prairie Dogs And Livestock In Rangeland Systems: Balancing Biodiversity And Production In The Northern Mixed-Grass Prairie, Jameson Robert Brennan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A major constraint of beef production within the Standing Rock Reservation has been identified as a reduction in rangeland quality due in large part to wide-scale colonization by black-tailed prairie dogs (Cynomys ludovicianus). The desire exists within the community to design a holistic framework which incorporates livestock management with the goal of increasing production and rangeland health while still maintaining increased diversity associated with prairie dogs. Prairie dogs reduce the carrying capacity of cattle on rangelands by up to 50% on occupied hectares through direct consumption of vegetation and waste due to clipping to improve detection of predators. Livestock stocking …


Mapping And Risk Assessment Of Juniper Encroachment Into A Prairie Landscape, Kyle D. Kaskie Jan 2018

Mapping And Risk Assessment Of Juniper Encroachment Into A Prairie Landscape, Kyle D. Kaskie

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Juniper encroachment is a considerable threat to the prairie ecosystems of the Great Plains because it has the potential to alter native grasslands by changing soil characteristics, limiting herbaceous biomass, and hindering native community regeneration. Accurate maps of juniper cover and predictions of areas at risk for future expansion are needed to support proactive management measures. Therefore, our objectives are to: (1) Develop a practical workflow for large-scale juniper mapping using Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager (OLI) imagery and partial unmixing techniques, (2) Compare the classification accuracies from the resulting map based on different juniper density thresholds and different types …


Linking Phenology And Biomass Productivity In South Dakota Mixed-Grass Prairie, Matthew Rigge, Alexander Smart, Bruce Wylie, Tagir Gilmanov, Patricia Johnson Sep 2013

Linking Phenology And Biomass Productivity In South Dakota Mixed-Grass Prairie, Matthew Rigge, Alexander Smart, Bruce Wylie, Tagir Gilmanov, Patricia Johnson

Natural Resource Management Faculty Publications

Assessing the health of rangeland ecosystems based solely on annual biomass production does not fully describe the condition of the plant community; the phenology of production can provide inferences about species composition, successional stage, and grazing impacts. We evaluated the productivity and phenology of western South Dakota mixed-grass prairie in the period from 2000 to 2008 using the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI). The NDVI is based on 250-m spatial resolution Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) satellite imagery. Growing-season NDVI images were integrated weekly to produce time-integrated NDVI (TIN), a proxy of total annual biomass production, and integrated seasonally to …