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Location Folder Show Tree ROOT _ScienceBase Catalog __Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center 1-Resources Agricultural Land Drainage Alternative Energy Carbon and Greenhouse Gases Climate Change More... Filters Date Range Past year (0) Past month (0) Past week (0) Past day (0) Custom range... To   Search Extensions Project (74) Types Map Service (1) OGC WFS Layer (1) OGC WMS Layer (1) OGC WMS Service (1) Contacts Amy Symstad Diane L Larson Mark H Sherfy Wesley E Newton Michael J Anteau More... View Results as: JSON ATOM CSV Browse Folder

Predicting bird and bat fatality risk at wind farms and proposed wind farm sites using acoustic-ultrasonic recorders The USGS and University of Minnesota collaborators used acoustical and ultrasonic recorders to monitor flight notes of birds and calls emitted by bats flying at low elevations. Recorders were deployed in conjunction with ongoing fatality searches at wind facilities and at sites with a variety of landscape features. Objectives are to determine whether the recorders can be used to compare low-elevation flight activity among sites, and to relate recorder results to numbers of dead birds and bats found at wind facilities. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service joined the partnership to deploy the recorders at numerous locations along the shores of several Great Lakes to estimate low-elevation flight activity of birds and... Categories: Project Prediction of vegetation structure and wildlife species occurrences using point-intercept data from remotely sensed images (Walker River Basin, Nevada) USFWS, Region 8, Reno, Nevada desired to acquire LIDAR along the East and West forks of the Walker River, Nevada. Their goal is develop an accurate digital elevation model (DEM) within the river channel and into the uplands approximately 500 meters on each side. The goal is to use the DEM to assist in targeting restoration efforts for Lahonton Cutthroat as well as characterize the riparian vegetation and associated nearby uplands. [see Narratives for more information.] Categories: Project An assessment of the native invertebrate pollinator community and the plants they use in native prairie and restored grasslands of the Conservation Reserve Program in eastern North Dakota 1) Refine the pollinator model to allow for the estimation of the number of hives that can be supported in any given landscape setting 2) Extend the pollinator model to address interactions between weather, land cover, and bees that affect levels of honey production 3) Integrate the findings from the USDA-ARS field study into the pollinator model to refine forecasts of how land-use features in the PPR affect national agricultural pollination services [see Narratives for more information.] Categories: Project Monitoring and evaluation of emergent sandbar habitat construction and management projects on the upper Missouri River System The Army Corps of Engineers recently initiated a program to create and improve emergent sandbar habitat (hereafter ESH) throughout the upper Missouri River system. This program has resulted in creation of three sandbar complexes and implementation of vegetation control on existing sandbars in the Gavins Point reach during 2004 and 2005. In order to meet habitat acreage goals in the Biological Opinion, the Corps has developed extensive plans for numerous additional habitat creation and improvement projects throughout the upper Missouri River system. Given the momentum of current habitat creation and improvement projects and their associated costs, it is imperative that the capacity be available to quantify changes... Categories: Project An evaluation of the movements and distribution of elk at Theodore Roosevelt National Park, North Dakota The elk herd that currently inhabits the South Unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park (THRO) originated in 1985, when the National Park Service (NPS) translocated 47 animals from Wind Cave National Park. The reintroduction was undertaken to restore a culturally and ecologically important species to its native range, but was initially opposed by the State of North Dakota because area landowners feared that elk might escape the park and cause damage to crops and fences. To alleviate this concern, the NPS agreed to regulate elk numbers at levels that “do not unduly interfere” with livestock grazing or agriculture, and to generally resolve conflicts in favor of existing land uses (Memorandum of Understanding 1540-5-0001).... Categories: Project Placing biofuel production into the context of prairie ecosystem function and sustainability We are living in a period of unprecedented global change where even the most remote areas of the planet are influenced by the activities of man. Modern landscapes have been highly modified to accommodate a growing human population that is forecast to peak at 9.1 billion by 2050. Over this past century, human reliance on goods and services from ecosystems has greatly increased and sustainability of our modern and intensively managed ecosystems has been a topic of serious national and international concern. Not surprisingly, sustainability of ecosystems has become an explicitly stated goal of many agencies and, in some cases, has been legislatively mandated to ensure the provisioning of resources for future generations.... Categories: Project Metapopulation dynamics of northern great plains piping plovers Piping plovers ( Charadrius melodus) are a Federally threatened shorebird that breeds in three principal habitat types in the Northern Great Plains (NGP): reservoir shorelines, alkali wetlands (including managed impoundments on refuges and isolated wetlands on private lands), and midchannel emergent sandbars on major river systems in the Missouri River Basin. However, the long-term concurrent mark-recapture programs on the Missouri River have thus far been limited to the lower Missouri and Platte rivers, a region that represents only one of the three primary habitat types (e.g. midchannel emergent sandbars). In contrast, the northern Missouri River system (e.g. Lake Oahe north to the Garrison dam, Lake Sakakawea,... Categories: Project Interaction of climate variability and landscape modification on trophic structure and amphipod populations in prairie wetlands: Implications for waterbird habitat conservation Waterbirds breeding at wetlands in North Dakota forage mostly on aquatic invertebrates. Historically, productivity and abundance of aquatic invertebrates primarily was driven by inter-annual hydrological dynamics (i.e., wet-dry cycles). Wetland drying allows for nutrient cycling and a subsequent pulse of productivity when wet conditions return. However, abundance and quality of wetlands in North Dakota has declined due to landscape modifications, primarily agriculture. Consolidation drainage, a practice of draining less permanent wetlands into larger more permanent ones, is common in North Dakota and it increases connectivity and stabilizes water levels among remaining wetlands. For the effective management and... Categories: Project; Types: Map Service, OGC WFS Layer, OGC WMS Layer, OGC WMS Service Ecological effects of invasive species Leafy spurge (Euphorbia esula L.; Euphorbiaceae) is a noxious weed accidentally introduced from Eurasia into North America in the late 1800s and early 1900s via multiple shipments of contaminated crop seed. It has spread extensively throughout pasture, rangeland, and natural areas in the Great Plains, inflicting substantial economic and ecological damage. Leafy spurge is unpalatable to most domestic and native ungulates and thus reduces carrying capacity of both rangeland and natural areas. In the four-state region including Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming, costs due to control and reduced forage availability were estimated at $144 million annually. Department of Interior land managers will treat... Categories: Project Developing a framework for evaluating tallgrass prairie reconstruction methods and management The goal of this project is to improve the practice of prairie reconstruction by developing criteria by which success can be measured and related to reconstruction methodology. To achieve this goal, two teams of two botanists will document plant species present on previously reconstructed prairies at two national wildlife refuges, Neal Smith in Iowa and Glacial Ridge in Minnesota. This information will be used to evaluate the methods used on those reconstructions to determine which methods result in relatively greater presence of desirable planted prairie species and less invasion by exotic species. Field work is slated to begin in 2015. Categories: Project Habitat selection, productivity, and estimation of available nesting habitat for piping plovers on Lake Sakakawea Lake Sakakawea is a large (404,810 ac [163,800 ha]) reservoir located on the Missouri River in northwestern and central North Dakota, which recently was designated a high priority area for endangered species management. The reservoir shoreline is irregular, dissected, and consists of a wide variety of substrates, slopes, and aspects. The extent, distribution, and abundance of these features vary annually as lake elevation changes in response to precipitation, melt of Rocky Mountain snowpack, and releases from Garrison and Fort Peck dams. Water levels on Lake Sakakawea have declined over the past decade due to extended drought conditions; in 2005 they reached a record low since the initial flooding of the reservoir.... Categories: Project Assessment of greenhouse gas fluxes and carbon sequestration from wetland catchments in the Prairie Pothole Region Our research focuses on the abiotic and biotic factors that regulate greenhouse gas fluxes of PPR wetlands and uplands to reduce the uncertainties associated with temporal and spatial variability that characterizes these wetland systems. Our studies range from plot-level experiments in wetland catchments situated in grasslands and agricultural fields, to regional- and national-scale modeling to predict changes in soil processes associated with climate and land use. We use a combination of commercial and custom-made sampling devices to facilitate the collection of temporally-intensive data. The ability to extrapolate plot-level fluxes and to assess potential effects of climate and land-use change on wetland ecosystems... Categories: Project Lipid metabolites of birds Categories: Project North American analysis and synthesis on the connectivity of geographically isolated wetlands to downstream waters Wetlands occur along gradients of hydrologic and ecological connectivity and isolation, even within wetland types (e.g., forested, emergent marshes) and functional classes (e.g., ephemeral systems, permanent systems, etc.). Within a given watershed, the relative positions of wetlands and open-waters along these gradients influence the type and magnitude of their chemical, physical, and biological effects on down-gradient waters. In addition, the ways in which wetlands connect to the broader hydrological landscape, and the effects of such connectivity on down-gradient waters, depends largely upon climate, geology, and relief, the heterogeneity of which expands with increasing scale. Developing an understanding of... Categories: Project Least tern productivity and forage availability on the Gavins Point reach of the Missouri River This task focuses on least tern use of natural, restored, and newly created habitats under the Emergent Sandbar Habitat program on the Gavins Point reach. It is designed to fully integrate with a concurrent study of piping plover productivity and foraging ecology for the same river reach. The goal of this task is to provide information on the breeding population and success of least terns and a rigorous scientific evaluation of the value of restored and created sandbar habitat for meeting productivity goals for interior least terns. [see Narratives for more information.] Categories: Project Interactions of consolidation drainage and climate on water-level dynamics, wetland productivity, and waterbirds In the Prairie Pothole Region (PPR) wetland plant, invertebrate, and waterbird productivity are primarily driven by water-level dynamics in response to climate cycles. Large proportions of wetlands in the PPR have been drained, often consolidating water from smaller to larger-interconnected wetlands. This project will examine whether large basins that receive inflow from consolidation drainage have reduced water-level dynamics in response to climate cycles than those in undrained landscapes, resulting in relatively stable wetlands that have lower densities of invertebrate forage for ducks and shorebirds. We will also include a sample of wetland historically used by piping plovers to assess the threat of consolidation... Categories: Project Elk movements and distribution at Wind Cave National Park: implications for population control and CWD management In 1997, chronic wasting disease (CWD) was discovered in a captive elk herd occupying lands adjacent to Wind Cave National Park (WICA). In 2000, WICA became the first National Park outside the endemic area of Colorado and Wyoming to confirm the presence of CWD in a wild elk. Prior to 1997, elk numbers at WICA were controlled by periodically translocating excess animals to other sites. Termination of the control program in 1997 to prevent the spread of CWD is likely to result in high elk densities, with undesirable consequences for other park resources, relations with neighboring landowners, and the incidence and spread of CWD. Due to anticipated effects of growing elk populations at WICA and Theodore Roosevelt National... Categories: Project Effects of wind generators on grassland breeding birds Categories: Project Demographic responses of interior least terns and piping plovers to the Missouri River flood of 2011: an ecological experiment Federally listed least terns ( Sternula antillarum) and piping plovers ( Charadrius melodus) nest in spatially and temporally variable riverine, sandbar and shoreline habitats in the North American midcontinent. In a naturally functioning river system, sand is eroded, transported, and deposited by seasonally variable flows, creating and maintaining emergent sandbars. However, operation of dams on the Missouri River has attenuated peak spring flows, resulting in declines in abundance and quality of unvegetated sandbar habitats favored by nesting terns and plovers. The Missouri River Flood of 2011 was a historically and ecologically significant event in which summer flows exceeded all historical records for the post-dam... Categories: Project Population dynamics of the American white pelican colony at Chase Lake, North Dakota American white pelicans in the central United States breed primarily in the northern Great Plains and winter in the Lower Mississippi Valley and along the Gulf of Mexico. White pelicans have been identified as one of the principal hosts in the life cycle of several commercial catfish parasites, especially digenetic trematodes. Pelicans come into conflict with southeastern aquaculture by exploiting the abundant and readily available fish food source in aquaculture ponds, but also potentially transmitting detrimental parasites to uncontaminated fish (King 1997). Exacerbating the problem, many white pelican colonies east of the Rocky Mountains are rapidly increasing in size, possibly because of increased precipitation... Categories: Project 1 2 3 4 »