Range Science

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Research from the Department of Range Science. The department is part of the School of Natural Resources, and their website may be found at https://www.ndsu.edu/snrs/

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Browsing Range Science by browse.metadata.department "Natural Resource Sciences"

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Now showing 1 - 9 of 9
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    Application of Pyric-Herbivory in the Northern Mixed-Grass Prairie to Enhance Biodiversity
    (North Dakota State University, 2021) Hamel, Michael Charles
    Pyric-herbivory is a naturally occurring disturbance that historically created shifting mosaics of heterogeneous plant communities and vegetation structure, supporting a biodiverse Great Plains ecosystem. Present land management has decoupled this interactive disturbance leading to homogenous grasslands, resulting in a reduction of biodiversity, which is exasperated by the dominance of non-native grasses. We believe reintroducing this disturbance will increase heterogeneity and enhance biodiversity. First, we compared the effects of a season-long grazing and two patch-burn grazing systems on plant communities. Second, we evaluated how small mammal communities were affected by each grazing system. Our findings show re-establishing pyric-herbivory, via patch-burn grazing, can enhance biodiversity compared to season-long grazing. We hypothesize further implementation of patch-burn grazing will continue to enhance biodiversity, as thatch and basal litter are further reduced. In conclusion, our findings support re-establishing pyric-herbivory to enhance biodiversity though further study is needed to determine what effect continued implementation will have.
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    Butterfly Community and Behavioral Responses to Restored Disturbance Regimes
    (North Dakota State University, 2020) Karasch, Brooke
    Grassland organisms evolved alongside the interaction of fire and grazing, but modern management often decouples these disturbances. In order to analyze the effects of reintroducing this interaction, we implemented four treatments. Two of these treatments were variations of patch-burn grazing, one was modified rest-rotation grazing, and one was season-long grazing. We chose to monitor the butterfly response to these treatments because butterflies have short generations, require a wide variety of resources, and are easily identifiable as adults. We quantified both the butterfly community and the behavioral time budgets of two species. We found that the butterfly community is more species-rich and abundant in treatments including fire than in treatments without fire. We found no difference in time budgets between treatments. Overall, we suggest that managers implement a carefully-planned patch-burn grazing regime in order to support grassland butterflies and other organisms.
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    Effect of Livestock Species on Floral Resources and Pollinators in Low-Diversity Grasslands
    (North Dakota State University, 2020) Cutter, Jasmine Antonia Villamarin
    Livestock management influences the extent to which grazing lands provide resources for native species. We compared how livestock species – sheep or cattle – affected floral resources and bee and butterfly communities in low-diversity, post-Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) pastures managed with patch-burning. We sampled bees and butterflies three times per season 2017-2019 and counted flowering stems within 1 m of transects. Pastures grazed by sheep had significantly fewer flowers and significantly lower floral richness than cattle pastures. Native bees were three to sixteen times more abundant in cattle pastures compared to sheep. Butterfly communities were similar between grazing treatments, because agricultural-tolerant, habitat generalists comprised the majority of the butterfly community. Grassland-obligate butterflies comprised only 2% of observations. The dearth of grassland-obligate butterfly species and low native bee abundances suggest that post-CRP fields, especially those grazed by sheep, do not provide abundant and diverse floral resources for native bees and imperiled butterfly species.
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    Effects of Grazing of Reed Canarygrass (Phalaris arundinacea) in Restored Wet Meadows in the Northern Tall Grass Prairie
    (North Dakota State University, 2019) Cleys, Jake Robert
    Reed canarygrass (Phalaris arundinacea) is a grass species that can dominate wet meadow plant communities. This study investigated if grazing by cattle on restored wet meadows suppresses reed canarygrass, thereby promoting the restored plant community. This study was conducted at two locations in northwest Minnesota. Management practices used were a patch-burn grazing treatment and a four-pasture high intensity-short duration grazing rotation. A pretreatment survey was conducted before grazing followed by annual surveys every five years after grazing. Both treatments reduced reed canarygrass canopy cover by 49 percent compared to non-grazed control sites. Grazed patches were moving towards a Carex dominated community. The community not invaded with reed canarygrass had similar native species richness at the end of the experiment in the rotational grazing treatment, and improved plant richness in the patch-burn grazing treatment. This study demonstrates grazing reduces cover of reed canarygrass, while maintaining or increasing native plant species richness.
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    Gamebird Management in Southwestern North Dakota
    (North Dakota State University, 2020) Rischette, Alexander Curtis
    Grassland biodiversity is threatened by habitat loss associated with human expansion. In response, land managers need to collect wildlife data more efficiently and implement management practices that promote wildlife habitat. To assess methods and land use practices for managing game birds in the Northwestern Great Plains, we quantified the behavioral response of sharp-tailed grouse (Tympanucus phasianellus) to small unmanned aerial systems (sUAS) exposure and measured production of upland nesting ducks on former Conservation Reserve Program land. We found survey altitudes ≥ 121 m above ground level and moderate wind speeds reduced behavior response of grouse. For waterfowl production, we found that nest survival increased with nest age, vegetation height, and relative humidity. Future sUAS application for grouse surveys should explore altitudes ≥121 m above ground level. In terms of duck production, we suggest land managers use practices that increase vegetation structure.
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    Investigating the Effects of Alternative Reclamation Practices on Recently Reclaimed Grasslands
    (North Dakota State University, 2021) Puffer, Maureen
    Surface mining operations in the Northern Plains result in complex grassland ecosystems being dismantled and later systematically reclaimed. Such processes can create long-term challenges with regards to the ecological recovery of reclaimed grasslands, prompting the need to find alternative reclamation practices that improve plant community dynamics and soil properties. We assessed both plant community characteristics (i.e., species richness, diversity, abundance, and community composition) and soil properties (i.e., penetration resistance and volumetric soil moisture) of reclaimed grasslands with alternative reclamation practices. Early findings showed that certain alternative reclamation practices may aid in the initial recovery of reclaimed grasslands by supporting desirable native plant communities and improving soil conditions. However, newly reconstructed landscapes are dynamic and are susceptible to change over time. Overall, we suggest continued monitoring of these reclaimed grasslands, and perhaps the use of supplemental management to maintain and/or enhance the current conditions.
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    Pollinator Response to Annual Forb Plantings and Self-Pollinating Dry Bean Crops in Agroecosystems
    (North Dakota State University, 2021) Adams, Savannah Shay
    Intensive agricultural systems have had several ecological effects on the surrounding ecosystem, including contributing to widespread pollinator declines. In order to help supplement bee communities and potentially improve crop production, we set out to study annual forb plantings adjacent to dry bean crops to determine the pollinator response to both plantings and any potential effects on dry bean yield. We found that annual forb plantings provided continual floral resources throughout the sampling period, which can support bees and their pollination services in agroecosystems. We also found cross-pollination had no effect on dry bean yield in Carrington and a negative effect in Hettinger, which could be due to methodological issues. While we did not observe a yield increase in dry bean production, the addition of annual forb plantings in agroecosystems could help support the local bee community, and potentially encourage pollination services in other crops that do benefit from insect pollination.
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    Restoring Heterogeneity-Based Management to Rangelands for the Benefit of Grassland Birds and Floral Resources
    (North Dakota State University, 2021) Duquette, Cameron Albert
    Worldwide grassland loss necessitates careful consideration of management practices occurring on those grasslands that remain. Concerns with overgrazing in the early twentieth century led to overcorrection via uniform, moderate stocking. While these practices reversed some forms of rangeland degradation, they also suppressed variability in vegetation structure that is characteristic of native systems. Reduced heterogeneity resulted in biodiversity declines across many trophic levels. In an effort to restore heterogeneity, we reinstated the historic processes of fire and ungulate grazing. We studied the impacts to grassland birds and floral resources, as the Northern Plains are valuable landscapes for breeding grassland birds and both native and managed pollinators. We conducted our research at the Central Grasslands Research Extension Center in Streeter, North Dakota, USA. From 2017-2020, we evaluated grassland bird community composition, nest survival, and floral resource availability. We found that patch-burn and season-long grazing pastures had higher avian diversity than modified twice-over rotational grazing. Avian community composition was also sensitive to ecological site, topographic variability, and wetland area, suggesting that both the fire-grazing interaction and underlying inherent topoedaphic variability maintain biodiversity. Species densities were sensitive to different sources of heterogeneity, with some responding to inherent landscape conditions and some responding to imposed grazing management. We found no differences in nest survival between grazing treatments for any of our 12 focal species despite treatment differences in vegetation and structural components associated with survival. Survival of five species was associated with vegetation structure, and one was associated with litter depth, smooth brome, and forb cover, respectively. We found higher nesting densities of three species (Chestnut-collared longspur, Northern pintail, Brewer’s blackbird) in patch-burn pastures compared to season-long pastures. All are associated with shorter, sparse vegetation. At a treatment scale, we found that patch-burn grazed pastures had shallower litter, less smooth brome, more forbs, and shorter vegetation structure than season-long pastures. Patch-burn grazing pastures increased floral resources across the majority of species. Patch-burn pastures had higher species richness, seasonal availability, and maximum abundance compared to season-long grazing. Our results broadly show the benefits of heterogeneity-based management on two important grassland guilds, birds and flowering plants.
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    The Use of Land Management Practices to Reclaim Brine-Affected Cropland Soils and Restore Shrub Invaded Rangeland
    (North Dakota State University, 2021) Bartels, Dylan John
    Land management techniques can enhance altered ecosystems on a variety of landscapes. In the Williston Basin of North Dakota, brine ponds created 50 years ago still cause problems today. We applied six treatments to reclaim the A-horizon of brine-affected soil on six legacy brine ponds and monitored soil nutrients until 23 months after treatment. We found that from 0-15 cm, all treatments were significantly better at reducing electrical conductivity than the control. In addition, sodium adsorption ratio was reduced at all depths over time. In Southcentral North Dakota, we monitored the effects of fire and grazing on colonies of western snowberry (Symphoricarpos occidentalis), an invasive woody shrub. Prescribed burning had a significant effect on western snowberry by reducing the number of mature plants and increasing the number of new shoots/m2. By incorporating drone aerial imagery, we helped develop an increasingly useful tool in vegetation monitoring.