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Assessment of small scale tallgrass prairie restoration in an urban environmentMutch, Paul D. 26 October 2007 (has links)
Tallgrass prairie restoration is an important conservation activity in rural areas. However, little is known about prairie restoration in urban environments. The overall objective of this study was to characterize and better understand urban prairie restoration. This was carried out through an examination of 29 restoration sites within Winnipeg, Manitoba. The results indicated that actively restored urban prairies were successful and high in diversity. Multiple attributes of the restorations were examined as indicators of success including vegetation, the propagule bank and insects. However, not all attributes delivered equivocal results. This suggests that multiple measures should be used to assess a restoration site. Anthropogenic and biophysical variables were found to influence vegetation of the restorations equally, highlighting the importance of incorporating a human component in urban ecological research. These urban restorations were seen to surpass larger rural restorations in quality; thus, efforts should be made to increase their prevalence. / February 2008
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Assessment of small scale tallgrass prairie restoration in an urban environmentMutch, Paul D. 26 October 2007 (has links)
Tallgrass prairie restoration is an important conservation activity in rural areas. However, little is known about prairie restoration in urban environments. The overall objective of this study was to characterize and better understand urban prairie restoration. This was carried out through an examination of 29 restoration sites within Winnipeg, Manitoba. The results indicated that actively restored urban prairies were successful and high in diversity. Multiple attributes of the restorations were examined as indicators of success including vegetation, the propagule bank and insects. However, not all attributes delivered equivocal results. This suggests that multiple measures should be used to assess a restoration site. Anthropogenic and biophysical variables were found to influence vegetation of the restorations equally, highlighting the importance of incorporating a human component in urban ecological research. These urban restorations were seen to surpass larger rural restorations in quality; thus, efforts should be made to increase their prevalence.
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Assessment of small scale tallgrass prairie restoration in an urban environmentMutch, Paul D. 26 October 2007 (has links)
Tallgrass prairie restoration is an important conservation activity in rural areas. However, little is known about prairie restoration in urban environments. The overall objective of this study was to characterize and better understand urban prairie restoration. This was carried out through an examination of 29 restoration sites within Winnipeg, Manitoba. The results indicated that actively restored urban prairies were successful and high in diversity. Multiple attributes of the restorations were examined as indicators of success including vegetation, the propagule bank and insects. However, not all attributes delivered equivocal results. This suggests that multiple measures should be used to assess a restoration site. Anthropogenic and biophysical variables were found to influence vegetation of the restorations equally, highlighting the importance of incorporating a human component in urban ecological research. These urban restorations were seen to surpass larger rural restorations in quality; thus, efforts should be made to increase their prevalence.
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Patterns of carbon dioxide and water vapor flux following harvest of tallgrass prairie at different times throughout the growing seasonMurphy, John Thomas January 1900 (has links)
Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Agronomy / Clenton E. Owensby / Most rangelands are harvested at some point during the year and removal of plant leaf area and biomass alters a host of ecosystem processes including gas exchange. An experiment was conducted in 2005 and 2006 to study the effects of
clipping tallgrass prairie at different dates on water vapor and CO2 fluxes. A portable,
non-steady-state chamber was designed to measure CO2 and water vapor fluxes from
small plots in less than 40 s. A combination of sunlit and shaded readings allowed
measurements of net carbon exchange (NCE) and ecosystem respiration (RE); by summing NCE and RE, gross canopy photosynthesis (GCP) was calculated. Throughout the two-year study, the chamber had a minimal effect on microclimate, i.e.,
average chamber temperature increased 2.9° C, while chamber pressure increased
only 0.3 Pa during measurements, and photosynthetically active radiation attenuation was 10%. The immediate effect of all clipping treatments was a loss of leaf area that led to reductions in GCP, NCE, and RE and in most cases decreased water vapor flux. Further patterns of carbon flux were governed by the amount of water stress during
canopy development, while water vapor flux rates varied with water availability.
Canopies that developed during periods of low water stress quickly increased carbon
flux rates following precipitation after a mid-season drought. However, flux rates of
canopies, which developed during the mid-season drought, responded considerably
slower to subsequent water availability. A separate experiment was conducted from
June-October of 2006 to estimate GCP, leaf area index (LAI), and total aboveground
biomass with a hyperspectral radiometer. Indices such as the Normalized Difference
Vegetation Index and the Simple Ratio were used to estimate LAI and biomass had
poor correlations with measured values. However, GCP was significantly correlated to
all six indices derived in this study. While GCP measured from June-October was
significantly correlated with all indices, removal of the senesced canopy scans recorded
during October greatly increased the relationship.
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Soil Organic Carbon Dynamics and Tallgrass Prairie Land ManagementBeniston, Joshua W. 15 December 2009 (has links)
No description available.
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Geomorphic function of large woody debris within a headwater tallgrass prairie stream networkRoberts, Brianna January 1900 (has links)
Master of Arts / Department of Geography / Melinda Daniels / Large woody debris, (LWD), defined as pieces measuring ≥ 1 meter in length and ≥ 10
centimeters in diameter (Swanson and Lienkaemper, 1978; Marston, 1982) is an influential
stream component. Once stable LWD obstructs streamflow and regulates key processes, causing
increases in storage capacity, scouring, and variations to the bed, the extent contingent upon
LWD’s average length of residence time within a system. Several North American studies have
acknowledged the effects of interactions between wood, sediment, and flow regimes (Bilby,
1981; Keller, E.A., and Swanson, F.J., 1979; Montgomery et al., 1995; Wohl, E., 2008), linking
the triad to geomorphic changes, the redistribution of bed materials, and ecological benefits. A
consensual baseline reference for LWD’s function over time does not exist however, partly due
to previous research being primarily conducted in the Northeast and Pacific Northwest regions
where historic actions of humans, particularly riparian logging and stream clearing, have greatly
impacted the condition of the watersheds. Researchers having long-overlooked the Great Plains
and other regions not commonly associated with woody vegetation has increased the ambiguity
regarding the transferability of LWD findings between regions. By shifting the focus to a non-forested
region, the goal of this thesis is to measure the dynamics and influence of a prairie
stream’s wood load on sediment storage and bed morphology. The Kings Creek network study
area is located on the Konza Prairie Biological Station in northeastern Kansas, and drains one of
few remaining unaltered North American watersheds. Results document the ongoing forest
expansion into the surrounding pristine grassland, and provide a temporal context of the regions
changing climate representative of atypical stream conditions caused by drought. In total, 406
individual pieces of wood were measured. The wood load was lower than most forest streams
referenced (13.05 m[superscript]³/100 m), though higher than expected resulting from the absence of
streamflow. LWD stored 108 m[superscript]³ of sediment within the channel, and the cumulative volume of
LWD-formed pools was 169 m[superscript]³. Additionally, statistical analysis showed longitudinal bed
variations to be strongly associated to LWD abundance, further indicating that LWD influences
prairie stream processes similarly to those in a forest stream.
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Interactions between grassland birds and their snake predators: the potential for conservation conflicts in the Tallgrass prairieKlug, Page Elizabeth January 1900 (has links)
Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Biology / Kimberly A. With / The loss, fragmentation, and degradation of grasslands have resulted in widespread declines in grassland birds. Nest predation is the leading cause of avian reproductive failure; therefore minimizing nest predation can lessen the severity of bird declines. Snakes are important predators of bird nests, but little is known about how snakes may enhance predation risk. To address this issue, I studied the habitat use, movement behavior, population genetic structure, and connectivity of snakes in the grasslands of northeastern Kansas. I addressed the connectivity of eastern yellowbelly racer (Coluber constrictor flaviventris) populations by using a landscape genetics approach at a broad scale (13,500 km2). I also radio-tracked the yellowbelly racer and Great Plains ratsnake (Pantherophis emoryi) at Konza Prairie Biological Station to understand their spatial ecology while simultaneously evaluating nest survival in grassland birds. Individual racers had limited dispersal (<3 km), but substantial admixture occurred within 30 km and populations were in migration-drift equilibrium and had high allelic diversity; therefore, racers must be abundant and continuously distributed for gene flow to be fluid throughout the region. Racers may be more likely to encounter bird nests, as they had more frequent movements and traversed greater distances on average than ratsnakes, which exhibited long periods of inactivity between directed movements. As for grassland birds, nest survival rates decreased with increasing shrubs and decreasing vegetation height. Discriminant function analysis revealed that successful nests were likely to occur in tall vegetation but reduced shrub cover, whereas higher shrub cover characterized snake habitats. Because snakes often use shrubs, nests in areas of increased shrubs may be at higher risk of predation by snakes. Targeted removal of shrubs may increase nest success by minimizing the activity of predators attracted to shrubs. Although predator removal is often a strategy for protecting bird populations, it may not be feasible in this instance, especially since snakes are a native component of the grassland community. Efforts to reduce snake predation on grassland bird nests should therefore focus on managing habitat within grasslands (i.e., shrubs) that influence snake activity, as no natural or anthropogenic habitat barriers currently limit snake movement across the landscape.
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Indicators of disturbance and recovery of a tallgrass prairie ecosystem following military vehicle trafficShaw Althoff, Peggy S. January 1900 (has links)
Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Agronomy / Stephen J. Thien / Range and Training Land Assessment (RTLA) and Land Rehabilitation and Maintenance (LRAM) are key components of The United States Army's Integrated Training Area Management (ITAM) Program, which outlines its commitment to support the sustainable use of military training lands. The primary purpose of the RTLA Program is to provide information and recommendations regarding the condition of training lands to range managers for scheduling of training areas and monitoring the effectiveness of rehabilitation projects. The goal of the LRAM component of ITAM is to reduce the long-term impacts of training on installations through the implementation of improvements to vegetation cover and repairs to landscape damage in disturbed areas. Fort Riley Military Installation, located in the largest remaining expanse of tallgrass prairie in the Flint Hills of northeastern Kansas, is a major training reservation, with seventy percent of its 40,434 ha used for mechanized maneuvers. A randomized complete block design composed of M1A1 tank traffic in a figure-eight pattern during wet and dry soil conditions was established in each of two soil types, a silty clay loam and a silt loam, and recovery of physical, chemical, and biological indicator variables was monitored from 2005 through 2007. In a second study, the effectiveness of LRAM procedures, including leveling, mulching, and reseeding, was evaluated following wheeled vehicle disturbance. The goals of this study were to identify disturbance indicators appropriate for assessing soil quality and, based on the status of these indicators, develop a method for modeling the stage and rate of ecological degradation and potential response to remediation. Disturbance increased significantly during wet compared to dry soil conditions, for increased traffic intensity, and for curve compared to straight-a-way areas in both soil types. The greatest impacts were on above and below ground community structure, providing an effective bioindicator of ecosystem health for military training land managers. Remediation of wheeled vehicle disturbance with leveling and mulching, but not reseeding, increased total vegetation production. The tallgrass prairie typically is considered to be among the most resilient of military training lands, but resiliency is dependent upon soil type and training conditions, and may require longer periods of recovery than previously thought.
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How Does An Invasive Ant, <i>Nylanderia fulva</i>, Affect Prairies?Reihart, Ryan William 09 August 2021 (has links)
No description available.
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Assessing Gene Flow in Switchgrass (<i>Panicum virgatum</i>) and <i>Miscanthus</i> spp.:Implications for Bioenergy CropsChang, Hsiaochi 16 September 2015 (has links)
No description available.
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