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New technologies, such as hydraulic fracturing, have increased energy development in the Bakken region of North Dakota. But the hydraulic fracturing process requires massive amounts of water input and disposal, which has in turn increased truck traffic on rural, unpaved roads. This traffic generates fugitive dust, which often settles on adjacent rangelands and crop fields. Currently, there is little research on the effect of fugitive dust on plants. Potential impacts include altered leaf-level physiology such as photosynthesis, respiration, productivity, and transpiration rates. Because precipitation increases spatial and temporal variability in foliar dust load, field studies can be complicated, so we conducted a greenhouse study to simulate the conditions of dust deposition in the Bakken region. We focused on native and exotic perennial rangeland grasses and annual crops of economic importance to the Northern Great Plains. To simulate actual and extreme foliar dust exposure in the Bakken, we applied 40 g/m^2 of scoria road dust�approximately that accumulated after 1 mo of truck traffic�at thrice-weekly intervals, for total dust exposures of 280 g/m^2 in perennial grasses and 200 g/m^2 in crops per round. Prior to dust application, perennial grasses had been established in 8-in pots for > 9 mo and crops had reached the 5-leaf stage. Measurements for perennial grasses included dry weight of post-clipping biomass recovery following two rounds of dust exposure. Measurements for crops included stomatal conductance, photosynthetic efficiency, chlorophyll content, leaf area and specific leaf area.We found no evidence of extreme foliar dust on post-clipping recovery of perennial grasses, and discuss impacts of extreme foliar dust on adolescent crops.� Overall, our results suggest increased dust deposition due to energy development likely has little impact on the performance of rangeland grasses and crops in the Bakken region.�