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One of the major concerns about global warming is the potential for an increase in decomposition and soil respiration rates, increasing CO2 emissions and creating a positive feedback between global warming and soil respiration. This is particularly important in ecosystems with large belowground biomass, such as grasslands where over 90% of the carbon is allocated belowground. A better understanding of the relative influence of climate and litter quality on litter decomposition is needed to predict these changes accurately in grasslands. The Long-Term Intersite Decomposition Experiment Team (LIDET) dataset was used to evaluate the influence of climatic variables (temperature, precipitation, actual evapotranspiration,...
Implementation of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) and Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP) has resulted in the restoration of >2 million ha of wetland and grassland habitats in the Prairie Pothole Region (PPR). Restoration of habitats through these programs provides diverse ecosystem services to society, but few investigators have evaluated the environmental benefits achieved by these programs. We describe changes in wetland processes, functions, and ecosystem services that occur when wetlands and adjacent uplands on agricultural lands are restored through Farm Bill conservation programs. At the scale of wetland catchments, projects have had positive impacts on water storage,...
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Rental rates for non-irrigated cropland in 2016, clipped to Midwest Grasslands Network Focal Area
Our objective is to improve the scientific understanding of the modes, rates, and mechanisms of carbon stabilization and losses in soils from Alaska, California, and other Western states. We focus on the biophysical and microbial mechanisms that drive carbon gains and losses, and to use our data to improve models of soil carbon cycling. This catalog supports research from several projects focused on soil carbon cycling. It encompasses multiple types of datasets including environmental, ecological, biological, isotopic, mineralogical, genomic, flux, and modeled data from water, vegetation, soil, and atmospheric matrices. The catalog will be available online and to the public. Therefore, publication of data through...
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To better inform conservation efforts targeted at reversing grassland bird declines and ensure self-sustaining populations of at-risk species such as the lesser prairie-chicken (Tympanuchus pallidicinctus), a better understanding of broad-scale habitat availability for grassland birds is needed. his project will evaluate the utility of NDVI and phenology-based metrics in estimating lesser prairie-chicken reproductive habitat quality remotely over broad spatial scales.1. Evaluate the influence of grazing, fire, and precipitation on NDVI-related metrics in the Central and Southern Great Plains.2. Identify NDVI-related metrics that best distinguish lesser prairie-chicken reproductive habitat from non-habitat. 3. Relate...
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The US Prairie Pothole Region (PPR) has experienced some of the highest rates of grassland loss in North America over a time that coincides with dramatic declines in grassland songbird populations yet increasing abundance of most grassland-nesting duck species except for northern pintail. To provide more insight into this contradiction, we propose to capitalize on long-term databases to evaluate how a key population driver nest survival for North American ducks has responded to system changes in the region including landscape and climatic factors. Outcomes of these analyses will contribute to testing primary conservation planning assumptions for the PPJV a vital component of the PPJV Strategic Habitat Conservation...
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Using a solutions-oriented, multi-agency collaboration, we propose to pilot a large-scale assessment of an alternative (herding, electric- and virtual-fence) grazing strategy designed to mimic pre-colonial grazing patterns by bison, to ascertain their value for local- and regional-scale assemblages ofsagebrush- and grassland-associated birds in Montana. A fundamental goal of most wildlife-based grazing programs is to foster a mosaic of patches that represent the broadest possible spectrum of habitat types that benefits different sagebrush- and grassland-associated birds in different parts of the landscape (for example, western meadowlarks, vesper sparrows, and thick-billed longspur in open, heavily grazed areas;...
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Grassland loss to woody encroachment is widespread and ongoing. Mechanical removal of Eastern Red Cedar (ERC) is the most cost-shared practice to address this threat. Cost-share is provided based on acres with different levels of infestation. Delineation of the different levels of infestation is time consuming butrequired to ensure the appropriate amount of cost-share is provided and contractors are not over/under compensated. The Rangeland Brush Estimation Toolbox(RaBET) is geospatial tool that can accurately automate this process. Unfortunately,wet-meadows and other wetland features cause the tool to overestimate woody cover. This project will provide funds to finish the National Wetlands Inventory (NWI). This...
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This data set shows the grasslands priority conservation areas (GPCAs) within North America’s Central Grasslands, an ecosystem considered among the most threatened in the continent and the world. GPCAs are defined as areas of tri-national importance due to their ecological significance and threatened nature, which are in need of international cooperation for their successful conservation. The 59 GPCAs were identified by biodiversity experts through research and a workshop co-organized by the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) and the Nature Conservancy in 2004 and Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory in 2010. This is an amended version of the 2007 data set.
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The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission (NGPC) contracted the Rainwater Basin Joint Venture (RWBJV) to conduct a black-tail prairie dog colony inventory of Nebraska using 1-meter National Agriculture Imagery Program ( 2010) aerial imagery. We estimated the extent of each colony by placing polygon vertices on the furthest visible burrows. Burrows were then re-evaluated using sub-meter resolution imagery. Burrow delineations within 3 kilometers of one another were combined and considered a single colony resulting in 669 distinct colonies totaling 97,438 acres across the state of Nebraska.
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Maintaining the native prairie lands of the Northern Great Plains (NGP), which provide an important habitat for declining grassland species, requires anticipating the effects of increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations and climate change on the region’s vegetation. Specifically, climate change threatens NGP grasslands by increasing the potential encroachment of native woody species into areas where they were previously only present in minor numbers. This project used a dynamic vegetation model to simulate vegetation type (grassland, shrubland, woodland, and forest) for the NGP for a range of projected future climates and relevant management scenarios. Comparing results of these simulations illustrates...
Abstract (from http://www.nature.com/articles/srep24441): The 170 National Forests and Grasslands (NFs) in the conterminous United States are public lands that provide important ecosystem services such as clean water and timber supply to the American people. This study investigates the potential impacts of climate change on two key ecosystem functions (i.e., water yield and ecosystem productivity) using the most recent climate projections derived from 20 Global Climate Models (GCMs) of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phase 5 (CMIP5). We find that future climate change may result in a significant reduction in water yield but an increase in ecosystem productivity in NFs. On average, gross ecosystem productivity...
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To determine if invasive annual grasses increased around energy developments after the construction phase, we calculated an invasives index using Landsat TM and ETM+ imagery for a 34-year time period (1985-2018) and assessed trends for 1,755 wind turbines (from the U.S. Wind Turbine Database) installed between 1988 and 2013 in the southern California desert. The index uses the maximum normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) for early season greenness (January-June), and mean NDVI (July-October) for the later dry season. We estimated the relative cover of invasive annuals each year at turbine locations and control sites and tested for changes before and after each turbine was installed. These data were used...
Increases in net primary production (NPP) may not necessarily result in increased C sequestration since an increase in uptake can be negated by concurrent increases in ecosystem C losses via respiratory processes. Continuous measurements of net ecosystem C exchange between the atmosphere and two experimental cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum L.) ecosystems in large dynamic flux chambers (EcoCELLs) showed net ecosystem C losses to the atmosphere in excess of 300 g C m?2 over two growing cycles. Even a doubling of net ecosystem production (NEP) after N fertilization in the second growing season did not compensate for soil C losses incurred during the fallow period. Fertilization not only increased C uptake in biomass but...
This study examined whether an individual plant's risk of herbivory was affected by its nearest neighbor. Individually potted tillers of Bouteloua gracilis were placed in a natural habitat with one of two neighbors (B. gracilis conspecifics or Aristida spp.), and in one of two cover treatments (high: in center of neighbor canopy, and low: at periphery of canopy). After one month, the experimental tillers were collected and scored for herbivory. We found that the less palatable neighbor, Aristida spp., reduced the probability that herbivores would feed upon experimental tillers in one of the two years of our study, but in both years increased the amount of feeding on those tillers that were attacked. The amount of...
The availability of nutrients is a critical determinant of ecological dynamics in grasslands, but the relationships between soil resource availability and nutrient limitation across ecosystems are not clear. To better understand how soil nutrient availability determines nutrient limitation in vegetation, we grew the same species of grass (Schizachyrium scoparium) in 98 North American grassland soils and fertilized them factorially with nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P). On average adding N, P, and the two nutrients together increased biomass relative to unfertilized plants by 81%, 22%, and 131%, respectively. Plants grown on low-P soils were not primarily limited by P. Instead, these plants were colimited by N and...
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The mottled duck, a focal species for the Gulf Coast Prairie Landscape Conservation Cooperative, is one of only a few duck species adapted to breeding in southern marshes. A major part of its population spends its entire life cycle within a relatively small coastal area in eastern Texas and western Louisiana. This is a thriving part of the Mississippi and Central Flyways, two of four major waterfowl migration routes in North America. In recent years, the mottled duck’s habitat and surrounding areas have been compromised by urbanization, agricultural development, and changes to the area’s hydrology affecting coastal wetlands. The latter threat includes the ramifications of climate change, such as sea level rise and...
Categories: Data, Project; Types: Map Service, OGC WFS Layer, OGC WMS Layer, OGC WMS Service; Tags: 2012, 2013, ANIMALS/VERTEBRATES, ANIMALS/VERTEBRATES, ANIMALS/VERTEBRATES, All tags...
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The coastal prairie of Louisiana is classified as a Tier 1 Habitat in the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries’ Wildlife Action Plan, meaning that it is a priority habitat of primary conservation concern. Declines in pollinator populations worldwide have prompted questions about the role of such grasslands as habitat for pollinators. In this study, we surveyed bee populations and the plant communities present in the following three grassland types in southwest Louisiana: prairie remnants, restored prairies, and old fields.
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Habitat loss and fragmentation are widely recognized as among the most important threats to global biodiversity. New analytical approaches are providing improved ability to predict the effects of landscape change on population connectivity at vast spatial extents. This paper presents an analysis of population connectivity for three species of conservation concern [swift fox (Vulpes velox); lesser prairie-chicken (Tympanuchus pallidicinctus); massasuaga (Sistrurus catenatus)] across the American Great Plains region. We used factorial least-cost path and resistant kernel analyses to predict effects of landscape conditions on corridor network connectivity. Our predictions of population connectivity provide testable...
Categories: Data, Project, Publication; Types: Citation, Map Service, OGC WFS Layer, OGC WMS Layer, OGC WMS Service; Tags: 2010, CO-01, CO-02, CO-03, CO-04, All tags...


map background search result map search result map North America Grassland PCAs 2010 Projecting the Future Encroachment of Woody Vegetation into Grasslands of the Northern Great Plains by Simulating Climate Conditions and Possible Management Actions Climate change and connectivity: Assessing landscape and species vulnerability Spatially-Explicit Decision Support Tool for Guiding Habitat Conservation for Western Gulf Coast Mottled Ducks Crop Rental Rates 2016 USGS Soil Biogeochemistry Bee populations and habitat survey in southwest Louisiana grasslands Data supporting Landsat time series assessment of invasive annual grasses following energy development Patterns of greenness (NDVI) in the Southern Great Plains and their influence on the habitat quality and reproduction of a declining prairie grouse Evaluating patterns of long-term system change and demographic response for grassland nesting ducks in the US Prairie Pothole Region Wetland Mask to Improve Woody Cover Mapping Assessing Traditional and Emerging Grazing Strategies for Creating a Mosaic of Diverse Habitat Patches for Grassland- and Sagebrush Associated Birds Nebraska Black-Tailed Prairie Dog Colony Delineation Using Aerial Photography - 2010 Bee populations and habitat survey in southwest Louisiana grasslands Wetland Mask to Improve Woody Cover Mapping Data supporting Landsat time series assessment of invasive annual grasses following energy development Nebraska Black-Tailed Prairie Dog Colony Delineation Using Aerial Photography - 2010 Spatially-Explicit Decision Support Tool for Guiding Habitat Conservation for Western Gulf Coast Mottled Ducks Assessing Traditional and Emerging Grazing Strategies for Creating a Mosaic of Diverse Habitat Patches for Grassland- and Sagebrush Associated Birds Patterns of greenness (NDVI) in the Southern Great Plains and their influence on the habitat quality and reproduction of a declining prairie grouse Climate change and connectivity: Assessing landscape and species vulnerability Projecting the Future Encroachment of Woody Vegetation into Grasslands of the Northern Great Plains by Simulating Climate Conditions and Possible Management Actions Evaluating patterns of long-term system change and demographic response for grassland nesting ducks in the US Prairie Pothole Region Crop Rental Rates 2016 North America Grassland PCAs 2010