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At least 415 records · Page 23Linked to original sources
USGS2000

Cassin's Sparrow (Aimophila cassinii) status assessment and conservation plan

Executive Summary Cassin’s Sparrow ( Aimophila cassinii ) is a grassland species endemic to the southwestern U.S. and northern Mexico. Its behavior and ecology have been shaped by these arid ecosystems and the health of its populations is dependent on the availability of grasslands that contain a shrub component. Populations of many grassland birds have experienced dramatic declines due to the loss and deterioration of grassland habitats, and there has been concern about the trends in Cassin’s Sparrow populations. Without better information about population trends, ecology, and effects of management activities, and without a stronger emphasis on grassland management, Cassin’s Sparrows and other grassland species may continue to experience declines. Little information exists about historic Cassin’s Sparrow population levels, and current population estimates for states in the breeding range are unknown. Significant survey-wide declines are documented by the Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) between 1966 and 1996. However, closer examination of these data suggest that the survey-wide trends are driven by population declines in the Edwards Plateau and South Texas Brushlands in Texas. No other areas within the core of its range or on the periphery show consistent, significant trends. In fact, there is consensus that in the core of its range in New Mexico Cassin’s Sparrow remains the most abundant breeding bird in grasslands with a shrub component. Understanding of population patterns in this species is complicated by large yearly fluctuations in distribution and numbers at any particular location, apparently in response to precipitation. This is particularly obvious in the periphery of its range. These dramatic fluctuations have hampered a clear assessment of population status, and our understanding has been confounded by the fact that the timing of BBS data collection does not always coincide with the peak breeding season of this species. The lack of information about the Cassin’s Sparrow’s status, ecology, and response to management activities, and the apparent declines indicated by BBS data, have been cause for concern. Habitat disturbance and degradation, mainly due to grazing and rangeland management practices such as shrub control, fire management, and planting of exotics, pose threats to Cassin’s Sparrow populations, as does habitat conversion through suburban development and agriculture. There is evidence that heavy grazing negatively affects populations, but the information is primarily available from the southwestern portion of its range (Arizona) and may not be applicable throughout the Cassin’s Sparrow’s entire range. Any management practice that results in complete removal of the shrub component, or loss of grass cover and an increase in shrub density beyond a threshold preferred by the species, also poses a threat. Lack of standardized or coordinated studies of Cassin’s Sparrow ecology and response to management practices in different geographic portions of its range has made it difficult to assess its status and make specific management recommendations. Limited data are available from the wintering grounds, and from its range (both breeding and wintering) in Mexico. The greatest needs are for determining of the causes of significant declines where they occur, determining of the effects of various management activities on Cassin’s Sparrow throughout its range, improved assessments of population and trends, and a better understanding of the annual population and distribution dynamics of this species, which shows such dramatic annual distributional fluctuations.

Wyoming, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma,Texas, New Mex↗
USGS1995

Organophosphorus and carbamate pesticides

Organophosphorus and carbamate pesticides are used throughout the world to control a large variety of insects and other invertebrates, fungi, birds, mammals, and herbaceous plants. Over 100 different organophosphorus and carbamate chemicals are registered in the U.S. alone for use in thousands of products applied to widely diverse habitats including agricultural crops, forests, rangelands, wetlands, towns, and cities. These applications are estimated to be nearly 200 million acre-treatments (i.e., number of acres treated corrected for number of treatments) per year to control nuisance, depradating, and disease-bearing invertebrates and vertebrates, and to maintain landscape aesthetics. Except for mosquito control, most applications target terrestrial habitat. Due to drift or run-off, pesticide and degrades are inevitably detected in soils and water that are fundamental to the primary productivity of ecosystems. Thus, critical life-giving systems are frequently contaminated with organophosphorus and carbamate pesticides, however briefly, each year.

Book chapter↗
USGS2001

U.S. Geological Survey programs and investigations related to soil and water conservation

The U.S. Geological Survey has a rich tradition of collecting hydrologic data, especially for fluxes of water and suspended sediment, that provide a foundation for studies of soil and water conservation. Applied and basic research has included investigations of the effects of land use on rangelands, croplands, and forests; hazards mapping; derivation of flood and drought frequency, and other statistics related to streamflow and reservoir storage; development and application of models of rainfall-runoff relations, chemical quality, and sediment movement; and studies of the interactive processes of overland and channel flow with vegetation. Networks of streamgaging stations and (or) sampling sites within numerous drainage basins are yielding information that extends databases and enhances the ability to use those data for interpretive studies.

International Journal of Sediment Research↗
USGS2004

Guidelines for managing lesser prairie-chicken populations and their habitats

Lesser prairie-chicken (Tympanuchus pallidicinctus) populations have declined by >90% since the 1800s. These declines have concerned both biologists and private conservation groups and led to a petition to list the lesser prairie-chicken as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. Most of the land in the current range of the lesser prairie-chicken is privately owned, and declines have been primarily attributed to anthropogenic factors. Conversion of native rangeland to cropland and excessive grazing have been implicated as leading causes in the species' decline. Periodic drought probably has exacerbated these problems. Little research on habitat requirements was conducted prior to 1970. Despite recent advances in the knowledge of lesser prairie-chicken ecology, no comprehensive guidelines for management of the species have been published. In these guidelines, we provide a synopsis of our current knowledge of lesser prairie-chicken habitat requirements and suggest management strategies to monitor, maintain, and enhance lesser prairie-chicken populations.

Conference Paper↗
USGS2012

Bioenergy potential of the United States constrained by satellite observations of existing productivity

Background/Question/Methods Currently, the United States (U.S.) supplies roughly half the world’s biofuel (secondary bioenergy), with the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA) stipulating an additional three-fold increase in annual production by 2022. Implicit in such energy targets is an associated increase in annual biomass demand (primary bioenergy) from roughly 2.9 to 7.4 exajoules (EJ; 1018 Joules). Yet, many of the factors used to estimate future bioenergy potential are relatively unresolved, bringing into question the practicality of the EISA’s ambitious bioenergy targets. Here, our objective was to constrain estimates of primary bioenergy potential (PBP) for the conterminous U.S. using satellite-derived net primary productivity (NPP) data (measured for every 1 km2 of the 7.2 million km2 of vegetated land in the conterminous U.S) as the most geographically explicit measure of terrestrial growth capacity. Results/Conclusions We show that the annual primary bioenergy potential (PBP) of the conterminous U.S. realistically ranges from approximately 5.9 (± 1.4) to 22.2 (± 4.4) EJ, depending on land use. The low end of this range represents current harvest residuals, an attractive potential energy source since no additional harvest land is required. In contrast, the high end represents an annual harvest over an additional 5.4 million km2 or 75% of vegetated land in the conterminous U.S. While we identify EISA energy targets as achievable, our results indicate that meeting such targets using current technology would require either an 80% displacement of current croplands or the conversion of 60% of total rangelands. Our results differ from previous evaluations in that we use high resolution, satellite-derived NPP as an upper-envelope constraint on bioenergy potential, which removes the need for extrapolation of plot-level observed yields over large spatial areas. Establishing realistically constrained estimates of bioenergy potential seems a critical next step for effectively incorporating bioenergy into future U.S. energy portfolios.

Conference Paper↗
USGS2012

Statewide summary for Texas

The Texas coast (Figure 1) consists of complex and diverse ecosystems with a varying precipitation gradient. The northernmost portion of the coast, extending from Sabine Lake to Galveston Bay, is composed of salt, brackish, intermediate, and fresh marshes, with humid flatwoods inland (Moulton and others, 1997). Coastal prairies are found across the entire coast. From Galveston Bay to Corpus Christi Bay, rivers feed into large bays and estuarine ecosystems. Barrier islands and peninsulas exist along the coast from Galveston Bay to the Mexican border. The southernmost portion of the coast is composed of wind-tidal flats and the hypersaline Laguna Madre. The Laguna Madre lacks rivers and has little rainfall and restricted inlet access to the Gulf. Semiarid rangeland and irrigated agricultural land can be found inland. Approximately 6 million people live in Texas’ coastal counties (U.S. Census Bureau, 2010; Texas GLO, 2013). Seventy percent of the state’s industry and commerce occurs within 160.9 km (100 miles) of the coast (Moulton and others, 1997). Texas ports support 1.4 million jobs and generate $6.5 billion in tax revenues (Texas GLO, 2013). Chemical and petroleum production and marine commerce thrive on the Texas coast. Agriculture, grazing, commercial and recreational fishing, and recreation and tourism are strong industries along the coast and in adjacent areas; oil and gas production, agriculture, and tourism are the state’s three largest industries.

Texas↗
USGS1985

New horizons in remote sensing for forest and range resource management

Forest and range resource scientists were among the first to recognize the potential of aircraft and satellite remote sensing for management of timber, forage, water, and wildlife resource. Today, data from a variety of sensor systems are being put to practical use for inventorying, monitoring, and assessing forest and range resources. In the future, improved sensor systems providing new kinds of data will be available. Likewise, new types of data handling and processing systems can be anticipated. Among the new or anticipated aircraft and satellite systems and/or data are National High-Altitude Photograph II, U. S. Geological Survey-acquired Side-Looking Airborne Radar, the Landsat thematic mapper, the National Oceanic Resolution Radiometer, the French Systeme Probatoire d'Observation de la Terre (SPOT) satellite, the European Space Agency Earth Resources Satellite, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Large Format Camera and Shuttle Imaging Radar (SIR-A, -B, and -C), and a variety of other systems in existence or planned by the Soviets, Japanese, Canadians, Chinese, Brazilians, Indonesians, and other. Application examples are presented that illustrate uses of 1-kilometer-resolution AVHRR data, 80-meter Landsat multispectral scanner data, 30-meter Landsat thematic mapper data, and 10-meter SPOT-simulator data. These examples address fire fuel monitoring, land cover mapping, rangeland assessment, and soils landscape mapping.

Conference Paper↗
USGS1982

Assessing mesquite-grass vegetation condition from Landsat

Landsat multispectral scanner (MSS) band values, band ratios, and vegetation index models were compared with selected rangeland vegetation parameters collected at six test sites within the honey mesquitellotebushlmixed grass association in north-central Texas. The comparisons at four dates showed that two vegetation index models, TV16 and GVI, are highly correlated (P = 0.01) with green yield, green cover, and plant moisture content. The green vegetation index (GVZ) developed by Kauth and Thomas (1976), was highly correlated and superior to other models in relationship to wet green yield, dry green yield, and cured vegetation cover. TV16, developed by Rouse et al. (1974), was more highly correlated with green vegetation cover and vegetation moisture content. Both TV16 and GVI are superior to other models in their relationship with green cover. None of the Landsat MSS parameters tested was significantly correlated with dry total yield, percent bare ground, or moisture of the soil measured at the surface or at a 20 cm depth. I t is concluded that Landsat MSS data are sensitive to seasonal changes in vegetation growth conditions and inherent ecological differences within a relatively unqorm vegetationlsoil system.

Texas↗
USGS2012

Corpus Christi, Nueces, and Aransas Bays: Chapter C in Emergent wetlands status and trends in the northern Gulf of Mexico: 1950-2010

Corpus Christi Bay and Nueces Bay comprise the middle estuarine portion of Texas’ Coastal Bend region (Figure 1; Burgan and Engle, 2006). Aransas Bay is part of the upper estuarine portion of the region. These bays make up part of the Coastal Bend Bays and Estuaries Program, one of the many estuarine areas in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s National Estuary Program (Holt, 1998). The Coastal Bend region is sub-humid and sub-tropical. Summers are long, hot, and humid, and winters are short and mild. The landscape around the estuaries is dominated by row crops, pastures, and brushy rangeland (Handley and others, 2007). The Nueces River, along with other smaller rivers and creeks, provides freshwater inflow - along with essential nutrients and sediment - into Nueces Bay, which feeds into Corpus Christi Bay (Holt, 1998). Freshwater inflow into the Aransas Bay comes from Mission River, Aransas River, and Copano Creek. The region is relatively dry otherwise and prone to droughts. Corpus Christi receives an average of 76.2 cm (30 in) of rain annually; evaporation usually exceeds 177.8 cm (70 in) (Holt, 1998; Handley and others, 2007). The San Antonio-Nueces Coastal Basin drains into Aransas Bay. The Nueces River basin covers 43,253 km 2 (16,700 miles 2 ), from northwest of San Antonio, flowing southeast to where it drains into Nueces and Corpus Christi Bays (Holt, 1998). The Nueces-Rio Grande basin covers approximately 18,648 km 2 (7,200 miles 2 ) and flows partially into Corpus Christi Bay (as well as the upper Laguna Madre). The inflow from Nueces River has declined by approximately 20 percent over the past several decades, partly due to construction of lakes and reservoirs, particularly Lake Corpus Christi and Choke Canyon reservoir. The Corpus Christi Estuary receives approximately 35 percent of the total freshwater inflow of 1,480,178,205 cubic meters (m 3 ) (1.2 million acre-feet) in the region; the Aransas Estuary receives about 53 percent. Tidal range is only 0.46 m (1.5 ft) on the Gulf shoreline and 0.15 m (0.5 ft) in Nueces Bay. Strong winds are the primary force behind water circulation in the Coastal Bend estuaries.

Texas↗
USGS2018

Historical and projected climate in the northern Rockies Region

Climate influences the ecosystem services we obtain from forest and rangelands. Climate is described by the long-term characteristics of precipitation, temperature, wind, snowfall, and other measures of weather that occur over a long period in a particular place, and is typically expressed as long-term average conditions. Resource management practices are implemented day-to-day in response to weather conditions; resource management strategies and plans are developed using our understanding of climate. With the need to consider climate change in planning and management, an understanding of how climate may change in the future in a resource management planning area is valuable. In this chapter, we present the current understanding of potential changes in climate for the Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USFS) Northern Region and the Greater Yellowstone Area (GYA), hereafter called the Northern Rockies region.

Idaho, Montana, Wyoming↗
USGS2020

Context-dependent effects of livestock grazing in deserts of western North America

This chapter provides a general review of grazing disturbance by large mammalian grazers and the role of ecological context in moderating its effects, with emphasis on North American deserts. It discusses the ecological consequences of cessation of livestock grazing and present a case study from the Mojave Desert, United States of America. A primary effect of grazing is selective removal and ingestion of herbaceous plants, in contrast to removal of woody biomass from woody plants by browsing herbivores. The consequences of grazing–and resilience of a system to grazing disturbance–are highly context-dependent and vary across rangelands globally. Synergistic interactions between soil depth and plant structural properties, such as rooting depth and water-use efficiency, also influence plant access to water, and therefore moderate plant responses to drought and resilience to grazing. In some ecosystems, livestock grazing constitutes a novel or intensified disturbance. Application of the Intermediate Disturbance Hypothesis to grazing disturbance has been relatively infrequently tested relative to other ecological disturbances.

California, Nevada↗
USGS2020

Vegetation sampling and management

What is the utility of vegetation measurements for wildlife managers? In the prairie, savanna, tundra, forest, steppe, and wetland regions of the world, mixtures of plant species provide wildlife with food, cover and, in some circumstances, water; the 3 essential habitat elements necessary to sustain viable wildlife populations. We define habitat in reference to use of a vegetation type by an animal (e.g., deer habitat) and vegetation type when referring to differences in vegetation stands (e.g., marsh vegetation type versus tall grass prairie vegetation type; Hall et al. 1997). In strict definition, the variety of wildlife using plants ranges from snails and voles (Microtus spp.) to bison (Bison bison) and elephants (Loxodonta spp.) in uplands and from mosquitoes and ducks to muskrats (Ondatra zibethicus) and manatees (Trichechus manatus) in wetlands. Through evolutionary processes, some wildlife species are totally dependent on vegetation for all annual life requirements, whereas other species use vegetation only for cover or food. Regardless of the role of vegetation in the sustenance of wildlife, any management or research project that requires evaluation of wildlife and vegetation type relationships on a unit of land will necessitate some form of vegetation measurement. The term vegetation can refer to a single plant or species on a specific site or a community in the landscape. Vegetation may occur naturally or be introduced, and may be live or dead. Uses of vegetation measurements are many: (1) evaluation of vegetation response to management practices, (2) estimation of carrying capacity and/or forage production, (3) characterization of cover and habitat components for an endangered species, or (4) long-term monitoring of the general trend of plant vigor or vegetation type condition. Surveying and measuring quantity and quality of vegetation within habitats are basic to wildlife research and management. Grassland, shrubland, and woodland vegetation types are comprised of populations in which individual plants are usually too numerous to inventory completely. Consequently, wildlife biologists usually use sampling techniques to make inferences about the total plant population within a given vegetation type. Vegetation sampling methodologies have evolved within several ecological disciplines (e.g., plant ecology, forestry, rangeland science) and for a variety of management or research objectives (e.g., estimating forage for ungulates, describing habitat use by passerine birds). Description of every method that has been used to sample vegetation is beyond the scope of this chapter. We describe how to measure vegetation structure, which Dansereau (1957) defined as the spatial organization (distribution) of individuals that form a stand. We have organized this chapter into a description of basic methods of vegetation sampling with examples of how those methods have been applied or modified in wildlife research and management. We assume the investigator/reader has adequate knowledge of the concepts of wildlife ecology, primary habitat requirements of wildlife species under study, and ability to systematically identify the species of wildlife and vascular plants within the geographical area of investigation.

Book chapter↗
USGS1978

Potential applications of satellite imagery in some types of natural resource inventories

Landsat satellite imagery has been routinely available to researchers and resource scientists since 1972. Many studies have demonstrated the application of Landsat imagery for conducting inventories and mapping various natural resources. Examples of applications presented in this paper include: timber volume inventory, range productivity inventory, wildland vegetation mapping, inventory of rangeland conversion and irrigated lands, and mapping strip mine disturbance in forested areas. Costs and accuracies for each of these application areas are presented. Landsat data, used in its proper context with appropriate analysis techniques, supporting data, and sound sampling strategies, can be an effective tool in conducting natural resource inventories. Other Landsat systems, scheduled for launch in 1978 and 1981, will provide continuity in the availability of Landsat data to users. Improvements in the quality and timeliness of data delivered to users, along with improved data handling procedures, analysis techniques, and improved sampling frameworks should increase the use of satellite imagery in natural resource inventories.

Conference Paper↗
USGS1982

A review of remote sensing and grasslands literature

Studies between 1971 and 1980 dealing with remote sensing of rangelands/grasslands in the multispectral band are summarized and evaluated. Vegetation and soil reflectance properties are described. In the majority of the studies, the effect of the reflectance of green rangelands vegetation on the reflectance from the total scene is the primary concern. Developments in technique are summarized and recommendations for further research are presented.

Cooperator Report↗
USGS2023

Integration of weed-suppressive bacteria with herbicides to reduce exotic annual grasses and wildfire problems on ITD right-of-ways

Invasion by exotic-annual grasses such as cheatgrass is impacting semiarid rangelands and especially transportation corridors, where it causes increased wildfire and many other environmental issues. Methods of reducing exotic annual grasses and restoring native perennials are needed, particularly testing of their intended target or unintended, non-target effects. In a series of experiments arrayed across different site and plant-community conditions on Idaho Transportation Department right-of-ways, the effects of chemical or biological herbicides, site preparation and co-treatments such as raking, and/or seeding were evaluated over 3 years. Strains of the soil bacterium Pseudomonas fluorescens that are supposedly weed-suppressive were generally ineffective, and resulted in relatively weak effects at a small proportion of plots and only at one site, but also resulted in highly undesirable non-target effects at another site. The chemical herbicides imazapic and especially indaziflam (Rejuvra) tended to have more consistent and stronger effects, and indaziflam furthermore provided a longer period of control, although additional years of observation would be required to assess its endurance. Seeding effects were weak, and preparation of seed beds through raking was not effective. In conclusion, indaziflam appeared to be the most effective tool for reducing cheatgrass, but techniques for increasing perennials after its application are needed.

Idaho↗
USGS2006

Range condition as input to water quality monitoring in the northern Plains

Federal Clean Water Act requires that states develop Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs) for water bodies. Once the state has developed an inventory of TMDLs, it is required to provide public notice of the report and have it approved by the Environmental Protection Agency. The South Dakota Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) is using the USDA’s annualized Agricultural Non-Point Source Pollution Model to determine what land use changes are required to meet TMDL goals (South Dakota DENR, 2006). Of the approximately 450 parameters required for running the model, several are related to the condition of range and pasture sites and their respective management practices. Range condition is highly correlated with the nature of runoff occurring in a site. In addition to assisting the DENR, USGS is interested in improving its overall ability to monitor Northern Plains range condition with particular emphasis on the seven state study area (Colorado, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming) being addressed by the Drought Monitoring, Carbon Cycle Research, Phenological Trends and other projects. It is understood than no one project can develop tools that adequately characterize the dynamics of the region’s rangelands, but by developing a suite of tools brought together from a number of projects there exists the opportunity to provide state, regional, and tribal land managers with the ability to address their particular needs.

Colorado, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota,↗
USGS2023

Finding a GEM: The Grassland Effectiveness Monitoring (GEM) protocol provides a tiered approach for habitat treatment assessment across private lands incentive programs

The soil store carbon dioxide from the atmosphere through different processes, depending on the use and management of the land. For the Maderas del Carmen and Ocampo natural protected areas, one of the main conservation goals is to preserve natural habitats, ensuring an ecological balance and making a sustainable. The main productive activity in the region is extensive livestock. Different strategies have been explored for producers to modify their practices to ensure sustainable management. In this study, we established the baseline of sustainable management indicators according to the sustainable management protocol. Soils showed a low activity and low C with a high bulk density. Establishing this baseline will allow a starting point for a long-term evaluation different from those traditionally used when evaluating the productivity of the rangeland.

Conference Paper↗
USGS2002

Cascading effects of fire exclusion in Rocky Mountain ecosystems: A literature review

The health of many Rocky Mountain ecosystems is in decline because of the policy of excluding fire in the management of these ecosystems. Fire exclusion has actually made it more difficult to fight fires, and this poses greater risks to the people who fight fires and for those who live in and around Rocky Mountain forests and rangelands. This paper discusses the extent of fire exclusion in the Rocky Mountains, then details the diverse and cascading effects of suppressing fires in the Rocky Mountain landscape by spatial scale, ecosystem characteristic, and vegetation type. Also discussed are the varied effects of fire exclusion on some important, keystone ecosystems and human concerns.

U.S. Forest Service General Technical Report↗