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INFLUENCE OF GRAZING ON ABUNDANCE AND DIVERSITY OF GRASSLAND BIRDS IN THE NORTHERN TALLGRASS PRAIRIE.
Author
Naber, Sabine M.
Hovick, Torre J.
Limb, Ryan F.
Publisher
Society for Range Management
Publication Year
2016
Body

Rangelands cover more than 60 % of the land surface of the United States and have the potential to support diverse native communities that sustain many ecological services. Therefore, understanding how management practices influence grassland biodiversity is of value to land managers and society as a whole. To address this, we compared patch-burn grazing, a management practice focused on restoring heterogeneity to rangelands, to grazing regimes commonly practiced in the northern tallgrass prairie region. We sought to determine grassland bird abundance and diversity across grazing regimes and to relate vegetation heterogeneity across space and time to bird communities. Our study sites were located within the Albert Ekre Grassland Preserve and the Sheyenne National Grasslands in southeastern North Dakota. Grazing treatments were 1) Rotational, 2) Rotational with summer mowing, 3) Season-long, and 4) Patch-burn grazing. We recorded 42 bird species, 11 of which were grassland obligates. The most commonly detected grassland-obligate species were bobolink, grasshopper sparrow, savannah sparrow, and western meadowlark. Detections of obligate grassland birds were similar in three of the treatments, but lower in the rotational treatment. Obligate diversity was lowest in the season-long treatment. Because this is the first year of our study, our results should be viewed as preliminary. We expect greater differences between treatments to emerge as plant community structure becomes more contrasting over time. Additionally, precipitation in the month of May was a record high for this region, likely limiting differences across treatments that would exist under conditions closer to the long-term average.

Language
English
Resource Type
Text
Document Type
Conference Proceedings
Conference Name
SRM Corpus Christi, TX
Collection
SRM Annual Meeting Abstracts