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Intensive Flächennutzung und Veränderungen von Klima und Standortbedingungen haben dazu geführt, dass mittlerweile 25 von 65 heimischen Heuschrecken-, Fangschrecken-, Schaben- und Ohrwurmarten als gefährdet oder ausgestorben gelten. Die Rote Liste enthält eine Artenliste und gibt einen Überblick über die Gefährdungssituation der einzelnen Arten. Bewertet werden Bestandssituation und der Bestandstrend.

Some of the most problematic agricultural weeds found in the Midwest United States are found in the Amaranthaceae family, such as Amaranthus palmeri and A. tuberculatus. These summer annual weeds are troublesome due to their competitive ability, high seed production, and resistance to herbicides from several modes of action which complicates management in field crops and has led to significant yield loss. Achyranthes japonica and Iresine rhizomatosa are two perennial species in the same family as A. palmeri and A. tuberculatus that occur in similar habitats as one another, but differ in invasiveness. Achyranthes japonica is a non-native, invasive species that is becoming a threat to forested areas and has been observed along agricultural field margins. Iresine rhizomatosa also occurs in forest habitats but is an endangered species in Illinois. This research seeks to determine the comparative life history and relative competitiveness of closely related weedy species when challenged with a dominant species. Specifically, select, closely related weedy species in the Amaranthaceae plant family that occur in southern Illinois were compared, i.e., Achyranthes japonica, Amaranthus palmeri, Amaranthus tuberculatus, and Iresine rhizomatosa. The first study examined the life history characteristics of A. japonica in regards to survivorship, growth and fecundity at two sites in southern Illinois (Chapter 2). Achyranthes japonica is a relatively new invasive species that has been poorly studied. This experiment showed that regardless of site, environmental factors had a significant effect on seedling emergence and seed viability, which decreased from 2012 to 2013 during a drought year and rebounded from 2013 to 2014 following flooding. On average, individuals at the driest site had higher performance and fecundity, regardless of year. The second experiment tested the relative competitive effect and response of the Amaranthaceae species to Glycine max, first in a greenhouse study that tested shading and nitrogen resource drawdown for each species, and second in a controlled field experiment that tested intraspecific competition (Chapter 3). In addition, A. japonica seedlings were planted as either unmanipulated seedlings (uncut A. japonica) or as a seedling cut back to the soil surface at the four-node stage (cut A. japonica) at which point seedlings have reached a perennial growth stage. The greenhouse experiment showed that the four species each drew down light significantly, but not nitrogen. Shading decreased the aboveground biomass of the species in comparison to unshaded controls. Supplemental nitrogen, however, increased the aboveground biomass of A. palmeri and A. japonica. The supporting controlled field experiment showed that the competitive response of the weed species to the presence of G. max showed a reduction in height compared to the weed species grown in monocultures. Glycine max and the weed species, except I. rhizomatosa, showed a similar competitive effect and response when aboveground biomass was measured. Achyranthes japonica attained the highest belowground biomass when grown as a monoculture and in the presence of G. max. A competitive effect ranking was determined to be A. palmeri > A. tuberculatus > cut A. japonica = uncut A. japonica = I. rhizomatosa with the competitive response ranking being the inverse. The third study implemented an integral projection model (IPM) to determine the population growth rate of each species and how they compared to one another (Chapter 4). This experiment showed that A. palmeri, A. tuberculatus and A. japonica each had a population growth rate greater than one indicating rapidly growing populations. By contrast, I. rhizomatosa had a population growth rate less than one indicating a declining population. The results suggest that A. japonica has not yet shown the ability to escape management strategies in agricultural fields implemented by farmers, but it is still an aggressive invasive species that farmers and land owners need to be able to identify. This species has many similar characteristics to the Amaranthus species, such as the ability to colonize in areas with limiting resources, continual flushes of germination throughout the growing season, the ability to outcompete other weed species, and high fecundity but, A. japonica also is a perennial species that can withstand removal of shoot material and has a high germination rate. Based on these results, only early detection and rapid response methods should be relied on to keep these species out of areas in and around agricultural fields. Iresine rhizomatosa’s performance in these studies was consistent with its rarity.

Past grassland restoration efforts in the Prairie Pothole Region (PPR) of North America often aimed to restore nesting habitat for waterfowl species. A low-diversity non-native grass and forb seeding mix, known as Dense Nesting Cover (DNC), was frequently used in restoration, and was believed to benefit the broad diversity of wildlife dependent upon restored grasslands. However, grasslands restored with DNC often experience high rates of invasion by non-native vegetation species, and maintenance of these restorations is expensive and requires intensive management. More recently, high-diversity native seeding has been explored as a restoration strategy to decrease the cost of DNC maintenance and provide resources for a greater number of grassland dependent fauna. However, there are gaps in the information concerning how grassland-dependent fauna respond to these restorations, and as such, there is hesitation among land managers to invest in the initial higher cost of high-diversity native seeding mixes until faunal responses are known. The goals of this research were to (1) understand how vegetation diversity, richness, and cover type, variables directly influenced in reseeding restoration, impact grassland-dependent faunal communities; (2) understand how vegetation structure influences the grassland dependent faunal communities to inform post-restoration management activities; and (3) understand how waterfowl and grassland passerines respond to grassland vegetation, structure and landscape variables, in efforts to understand which restoration strategies may be most beneficial to the broader grassland bird community. To perform this study, I selected 26 study sites representing a gradient of vegetation species richness and three cover types; unseeded native grassland (Native), low-diversity and non-native Dense Nesting Cover (DNC), and high-diversity native seed mix (HDM). At each study site, I documented the responses of grassland arthropods, small mammals, grassland birds to vegetation cover type, richness, diversity and structure. I also assessed how vegetation cover type influenced differences in community structure of each of the taxonomic groups. Additionally, because I suspected that bird species are also likely to respond to landscape-level and nest-site level habitat characteristics, I accounted for these variables in our bird models. In Chapter One of this dissertation, I studied the effects of vegetation species richness, diversity and structure on grassland arthropod communities at 23 of our study sites. Arthropod sampling was conducted during July of 2016 using pan traps and sweep net surveys. The goal of using two methods of evaluation was to account for a greater proportion of species in the arthropod community and target taxa that inhabit different parts of the vegetation (i.e., pan traps are better for surveying pollinators and ground dwelling arthropods, whereas sweep net surveys better target arthropods that live higher in the vegetation such as leafhoppers). A total of 25,521 arthropods representing 107 taxonomic families were collected. Vegetation richness and diversity, cover type, percent live vegetation and native cover, and litter depth were important predictors of arthropod community measures, and multivariate analysis of the arthropod community indicated significant differences between Native and DNC sites, which was explained by differences in vegetation richness, percent forb cover, and litter depth. Results suggest that species richness of grassland restoration seeding mixes likely impacts arthropod richness and diversity, and DNC does not produce arthropod communities similar to native grassland. Additionally, because vegetation structural variables were important determinants of arthropod community measures, grassland management practices will influence the resulting arthropod community and influence the success of grassland restoration seed mixes. Results demonstrate the potential for successful restoration outcomes using high-diversity seed mixes, and indicate that low-diversity, non-native seed mixes, such as DNC, do not restore native grassland arthropod communities. In Chapter Two, I assessed the responses of the grassland small mammal community to vegetation cover type, as well as richness, diversity and structure of the vegetation community. During July 2014 to 2016, I used Sherman live traps to survey grassland small mammal communities on 24 study of my study sites. Small mammal abundance was highest at low-diversity DNC sites, and lowest in native grassland. Small mammal diversity was highest at HDM sites and lowest at DNC restoration sites. I selected three focal species to investigate small mammal responses to grassland vegetation including Peromyscus spp., Microtus spp., and Ictidomys tridecemlineatus. Abundances of the different focal taxa were influenced by different vegetation structural variables. Peromyscus spp. abundance was negatively influenced by percent native vegetation cover, Microtus spp. abundance showed yearly variation and was impacted positively by litter depth and negatively by vegetation richness, and Ictidomys tridecemlineatus abundance was influenced by cover type. Small mammal communities of DNC sites differed from Native sites, but HDM was not different from Native or DNC. Ictidomys tridecemlineatus abundance was higher at Native and HDM sites, while DNC sites had higher Peromyscus spp. abundance. Results indicate species-specific management is required to meet small mammal management goals, and diversity of the restoration seed mix is likely to influence grassland small mammal communities. Additionally, DNC is not supporting small mammal communities similar to what is observed at Native grassland sites. In Chapter Three of this dissertation, I investigated the responses of grassland bird communities to vegetation richness, diversity, structure on all study 26 sites. I conducted nest searches for waterfowl during May to July of 2014 to 2016, and searched for grassland passerines and other non-waterfowl bird species during May to July of 2015 and 2016. In 2016, I conducted additional point count surveys to detect bird species that may have been unaccounted for in nest searches. A total of 998 waterfowl nests of nine species, 282 passerine nests of nine species, and 32 nests of 10 other bird species were located. Five hundred and nineteen birds of 20 species were encountered in point count surveys. Richness and diversity of bird nesting and point count communities differed among cover types, and sites restored with HDM seeding had lower bird richness and diversity. Richness and diversity of the vegetation positively influenced the richness and diversity of both the bird nesting and point count communities. Multivariate analysis of the nesting communities indicated significant difference among HDM, Native, and DNC sites, and this was best explained by percent native vegetation cover, vegetation species richness, and vegetation density. Multivariate analysis of the point count communities did not reveal significant difference among cover types, but the structural variables vegetation density and litter depth were important explanatory variables for the ordination. Results study indicate that manipulation of vegetation species richness and diversity that occurs in high-diversity restoration has the potential to influence the grassland bird community, whereas greater vegetation richness and diversity are likely to support more diverse bird communities, but management of vegetation density will be an important management consideration. In Chapter Four, I investigated species-specific responses to vegetation diversity, richness, structure, and landscape variables in order to determine whether management efforts anticipated to benefit a particular taxonomic group of grassland bird species (i.e., waterfowl) are likely to meet the needs of other grassland-dependent birds (i.e., passerines) and to inform management efforts aimed at conserving and creating nesting habitat for grassland waterfowl and passerines. I used generalized linear mixed-models (GLMM) to determine which variables at the landscape, patch, and nest-site level were most influential to the nesting density and daily survival rates (DSR) of our primary focal species. Focal species included five waterfowl species: Blue-winged Teal (Spatula discors; N=365), Gadwall (Mareca strepera; N=173), Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos; N=302), Northern Pintail (Anas acuta; N=64), and Northern Shoveler (Spatula clypeata, N=61), and three species of grassland passerines: Bobolink (Dolichonyx oryzivorus; N=31), Clay-colored Sparrow (Spizella pallida; N=190), and Savannah Sparrow (Passerculus sandwichensis; N=20). Cover type only impacted two of our focal species, Blue-winged Teal and Clay-colored Sparrow, and density of both species was highest at HDM sites and lowest at DNC sites. Vegetation diversity and richness did not impact the nesting density of the majority of our focal species, but Northern Shoveler nesting density was negatively associated with vegetation species richness. DSRs of Northern Pintail and Gadwall were positively associated with vegetation species richness, and Bobolink DSR was negatively influenced by vegetation diversity. Responses to the other landscape-level and vegetation covariates of interest were mixed among species, and little consistency was observed across waterfowl or passerine species. However, at the landscape-level, several waterfowl and passerine species had lower DSRs associated with landscape-level components that contribute to the fragmentation of grasslands including wooded edges, crop fields, and developed areas (i.e., roads and buildings). Results indicated that waterfowl and passerine species respond to different parts of grassland vegetation, and successful management and restoration for nesting grassland birds will require the development of heterogenous habitat that provides resources for the diversity of grassland birds nesting at restored sites. Findings suggest that restoration that involves manipulating diversity, richness, or origin of the vegetation in grasslands through reseeding should be expected to directly influence grassland faunal communities. Because the taxa investigated in this study are responding to different aspects of the vegetation structure, management efforts should be multifaceted, and account for the differing needs of the diversity of grassland fauna dependent upon restored sites. Results also indicated that greater vegetation species richness and diversity results in a more rich and diverse wildlife community, and high-diversity native reseeding should be expected to promote more rich and diverse faunal communities, but successful implementation of high-diversity native reseedings will necessitate proper management of vegetation structure. Finally, all taxonomic groups studied demonstrated positive responses to native grassland habitat, regardless of vegetation richness and diversity. Therefore, preservation of native grassland and promotion of habitat heterogeneity should be prioritized in grassland conservation and restoration efforts.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the nutritional profile of mono- or multi-species pastures of native warm season grasses. One of four treatments were randomly assigned to Twelve pastures: 1) BG; 2) IG; 3) Mix G; 4) Mix NG. Growing steers (n = 225) were randomly assigned to one of nine pastures. Grass samples were taken from all pastures every 28 days during a four-month period and were analyzed for nutrient composition. Bermudagrass pastures had greater crude protein and ADF, but less NDF concentrations compared with the native warm-season grasses. Crude protein, IVDMD, and NDF IVDMD concentration decreased while NDF, ADF, and Hemicellulose concentration increased as grasses matured. Steers grazing IG and Mix G pastures gained more weight and consumed more forage than those on BG pastures. It appears that native warm-season grasses may offer a viable alternative to BG for grazing cattle during the summer.

Non-native macrophytes structurally impact aquatic assemblages, yet little is known regarding how they influence energy pathways in freshwater ecosystems. Allelopathy in Eurasian watermilfoil- Myriophyllum spicatum has been shown to target basal epiphytic organisms resulting in differences in assemblage structure of colonizing epiphyton between M. spicatum and native M. sibiricum. I conducted a growth chamber experiment to investigate the hypothesis that differences in assemblage structure of colonizing epiphyton between these two macrophytes influence trophic dynamics within aquatic systems. My data suggest M. spicatum produces higher concentrations of allelochemicals, resulting in a more diverse epiphytic assemblage compared to M. sibiricum. This could result in potential transformation of trophic dynamics by decoupling carbon as it flows from primary producer to primary consumer. This work identifies a contributing mechanism responsible for M. spicatum invasiveness and provides new insight in its ecology and management of this non-native macrophyte.

The presence and spread of invasive tree species have caused great ecological and economic damages. Previous studies usually ignored the role of socioeconomic factors and seldom treated presence and abundance as different phenomena. Using Classification and Regression Trees (CART) analysis, important driving factors affecting the presence and abundance of invasive tree species in Mississippi were identified. Then these selected important factors were spatially analyzed using a spatial lag model at the plot and county levels. The empirical results from the spatial lag model showed that: 1) presence was associated with elevation, ownership, population density and per capita annual income; 2) abundance was related to stand age, elevation, growing stock and per capita annual income. These findings suggested that socioeconomic factors besides ecological factors played a significant role and factors affecting the presence and abundance were different. Thus, management prescriptions to monitor and control invasions should depend on difference factors.

The legislative procedures regarding wild pigs in the United States are expanding in scope and priority, however, the uniformity of legislation is entropic at best. Each state addresses the issues of wild pigs differently and treatment is based on a priority of resource concerns. An evaluation was conducted at the national level of federal, state, and local policy with regards to wild pig control. Additionally, successful and unsuccessful legislation is evaluated to determine commonalities in the social, economic, and ecological factors contributing to the success or failure of legislation. Information collected provides state legislatures with sample model legislation that can be passed with the support of stakeholders and the citizenry, as well as help guide states into a more uniform system of policy. Furthermore, it provides states without, or with low populations of wild pigs, a proactive suite of legislation to prevent further spread and facilitate eradication of localized populations.

Phylogenetic relationships of 13 genera of Schoenobiinae (Lepidoptera: Crambidae) are postulated based on traditional characters of genitalia and wing venation and new characters of the descaled whole body. The phylogenetic analysis yielded one most-parsimonius tree (length 287 steps, CI= .36, RI= .62) that resulted in a monophyletic clade of all genera of Schoenobiinae examined. The monophyly of the Schoenobiinae is supported by a Bremer support value of five. Donacaula is not congeneric with the type-species of Schoenobius, S. gigantellus. The analysis confirms Lewvanich‘s hypothesis that Scirpophaga, Donacaula, Schoenobius, Catagela, and Helonastes are closely related. Based on this analysis, the New World genera appear to have originated in the Neotropical region with four independent dispersals to the Nearctic Region. The revision of Donacala resulted in recognition of 20 species that were previously described and descriptions of ten new species. Neotypes were designated for D. sordidella, D. unipunctella, D. tripunctella, D. dispersella, D. aquilella. Lectoypes were designated for D. albicostella, D. pallulella, D. immanis, D. pulverealis. Donacaula bicolorella was synonymized with D. roscidella, D. uniformella with D. albicostella, D. lanceolella with D. immanis, and D. amblyptepennis with D. longirostrella. Adults, wing venation, and genitalia of New World species of Donacaula are illustrated for the first time, and new distributional records are reported. A key to species, diagnoses, and photographs of imagoes and male and female genitalia are provided.