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24 results for “grazing management”
GPH01 Grazing management effects on pollinator communities and habitat at Konza Prairie, 2024-2025
For all data files, data were collected in Konza Prairie LTER sites: N1A, N1B, C1A, K1B, and 1D during May, July, and August in both 2024 and 2025. The goal was to investigate variation in pollinator foraging and nesting habitat and in foraging and nesting pollinator communities across grazing regimes. Details for each file follow: 1. Plant-pollinator interactions (file = pollinatorNetworks); 2. Bees collected from ground nests (file = nestingBees); 3. Floral resources observed along transects (file = floralResources); 4. Bare ground cover and vegetation height measured along transects (file = otherHabitat); 5. Soil characteristics (file = soils)
Long-term response of wetland plant communities to management intensity, grazing abandonment, and prescribed fire
Isolated, seasonal wetlands within agricultural landscapes are important ecosystems. However, they are currently experiencing direct and indirect effects of agricultural management surrounding them. Because wetlands provide important ecosystem services, it is crucial to determine how these factors affect ecological communities. Here, we studied the long-term effects of land use intensification, cattle grazing, prescribed fires, and their interactions on wetland plant diversity, community dynamics, and functional diversity. To do this, we used vegetation and trait data from a 14-year-old experiment on 40 seasonal wetlands located within semi-natural and intensively managed pastures in Florida. These wetlands were allocated different grazing and prescribed fire treatments (grazed vs. ungrazed; burned vs. unburned). Our results showed that wetlands within intensively managed pastures have lower native plant diversity, floristic quality, evenness, higher non-native species diversity, and exhibited the most resource-acquisitive traits. Wetlands embedded in intensively managed pastures were also characterized by lower species turnover over time. We found that 14 years of cattle exclusion reduced species diversity in both pasture management intensities and had no effect on floristic quality. Fenced wetlands exhibited lower functional diversity and experienced a higher rate of community change both due to an increase in tall, clonal, and palatable grasses. The effects of prescribed fires were often dependent on grazing treatment. For instance, prescribed fires increased functional diversity in fenced wetlands but not in grazed wetlands. Our study suggests that cattle exclusion and prescribed fires are not enough to restore wetlands in intensively managed pastures and further highlights the importance of not converting semi-natural pastures to intensively managed pastures. Our study also suggests that grazing levels applied in semi-natural pastures maintained high plant dive
ABG01 Aboveground and belowground invertebrate biodiversity responses to patch-burn and annual burn grazing management at Konza Prairie (2021–2023)
This dataset contains aboveground invertebrate sampling and herbivory records from tallgrass prairie plots, documenting invertebrates and their chewing herbivory across multiple plots and transects in Patch Burn Grazing and Annual Burn Grazing Watersheds. It includes taxonomic identification to the family level, counts of individuals (by life stage: nymph or adult), percent herbivory on specified plant species, and collection metadata such as date, plot ID, watershed, and transect.
Data from: Knowledge co-production with traditional herders on cattle grazing behaviour for better management of species-rich grasslands
The research gap between rangeland/livestock science and conservation biology/vegetation ecology has led to a lack of evidence needed for grazing-related conservation management. Connecting scientific understanding with traditional ecological knowledge of local livestock keepers could help bridge this research and knowledge gap. 1. We studied the grazing behaviour (plant selection and avoidance) of beef cattle (ca. 33 000 bites) on species-rich lowland pastures in Central Europe and traditional herding practices. We also did >450 outdoor interviews with traditional herders about livestock behaviour, herders' decisions to modify grazing behaviour, and effects of modified grazing on pasture vegetation. 2. We found that cattle grazing on species-rich pastures displayed at least 10 different behavioural elements as they encountered 117 forage species from highly desired to rejected. The small discrimination error suggests that cattle recognize all listed plants 'by species'. 3. We also found that herders had broad knowledge of grazing desire and they consciously aimed to modify desire by slowing, stopping or redirecting the herd. Modifications were aimed at increasing grazing intensity in less desired patches and decreasing grazing selectivity in heterogenous swards. 4. Synthesis and applications: These traditional herd management practices have significant conservation benefits, such as avoiding under- and overgrazing, and targeted removal of pasture weeds, litter and enchroaching bushes, tall competitive plants and invasive species. We argue that knowledge co-production with traditional herders who belong to another knowledge system could help connect isolated scientific disciplines especially if ecologists and rangeland scientists work closely with traditional herders, co-designing research projects and working together in data collection, analysis and interpretation. Stronger links between these disciplines could help develop evidence-based, specific conservation management practices while herders could contribute with their practical experiences and with real world testing of new management techniques.04-May-2020
Selection of a diversionary field and other habitats by large grazing birds in a landscape managed for agriculture and wetland biodiversity
<p>Several populations of cranes, geese, and swans are thriving and increasing in modern agricultural landscapes. Abundant populations are causing conservation conflicts, as they may affect agricultural production and biodiversity negatively. </p> <p>Management strategies involving provisioning of attractive diversionary fields where birds are tolerated can be used to reduce negative impact to growing crops. To improve such strategies, knowledge of how the birds interact with the landscape and respond to current management interventions is key.</p> <p>We used GPS locations from tagged common cranes (Grus grus) and greylag geese (Anser anser) to assess how they use and select differentially managed habitats, such as diversionary fields to decrease impact on agriculture and wetlands protected for biodiversity conservation.</p> <p>Our findings show a high probability of presence of common cranes and greylag geese in the protected area and in the diversionary field, but also on arable fields, potentially causing negative impact on agricultural production and wetland biodiversity.</p> <p>We outline recommendations for how to improve the practice of diversionary fields and complementary management to reduce risk of negative impact of large grazing birds in landscapes tailored for both conservation and conventional agriculture.</p>
Data from: Upland Sandpipers select for later time since fire and experience high nest survival in grasslands managed with patch-burn grazing
<p>Upland Sandpipers (<em>Bartramia longicauda</em>) are a grassland obligate shorebird that nests in dense vegetation structure near recently disturbed areas and could benefit from management practices that promote heterogenous vegetation structure. Although, Upland Sandpipers primary breeding range is generally managed for livestock production using traditional practices that lack patchy disturbances to facilitate higher levels of structural heterogeneity. Patch-burn grazing (PBG) could be an alternative management practice for Upland Sandpiper conservation for its ability to create areas of dense vegetation structure near recently disturbed areas. However, limited information is available regarding nest production of Upland Sandpipers within a PBG framework. To assess the compatibility of PBG with Upland Sandpiper conservation, we estimated nest site selection and survival of Upland Sandpiper nests on private lands managed with PBG in the unglaciated plains region of North Dakota. We located 59 nests from 2017–2020. Upland Sandpipers avoided 1 year since fire (YSF) patches and selected for 2 and 3 YSF patches for nest sites. Additionally, nest site selection decreased with increased bare ground and at intermediate distances to the nearest Upland Sandpiper nest. Upland Sandpipers experienced high overall nest survival during the study with 51 of 59 nests successfully hatching, which limited our ability to make inferences between daily survival rates and variables of interest. Our findings suggest that PBG can provide suitable nesting cover for Upland Sandpipers in later YSF patches despite annual prescribed fire and livestock grazing during the nesting season. PBG seems a suitable grassland management strategy that should be included in conservation planning within Upland Sandpiper's breeding distribution.</p>
Mitigating ecosystem service tradeoffs in rangelands by using grazing duration and timing to manage water quality
<p>1. Mitigating ecosystem service (ES) tradeoffs is a key management goal in locations where stakeholders value different and potentially conflicting ecosystem services (ESs). However, studies are not often designed to examine how local management actions address ES tradeoffs, and therefore do not provide options that can alleviate conflict.</p> <p>2. In semi-arid rangelands, we examined the potential for managers to mitigate tradeoffs between livestock production and water quality. To move away from solutions that offer cattle removal as a singular management strategy, we examined how cattle presence, plus two elements of rotational grazing - the length of time cattle spend on rangeland (i.e., duration), and the season grazed (i.e., timing), affected stream Escherichia coli (E. coli concentrations). We also modeled how grazing duration and timing affected the ability to meet regulatory benchmarks for water quality throughout a grazing season.</p> <p>3. Grazing duration controlled the length of time E. coli concentrations were high in streams. In short- and medium-duration systems, E. coli concentrations were high for shorter periods of time than in long-duration systems, resulting in fewer violations of national and state water quality standards.</p> <p>4. Stream E. coli concentrations showed a consistent seasonal pattern, starting low in spring, peaking in summer, and declining towards fall. Thus, grazing during spring or fall, rather than in summer, reduced the number of days that E. coli levels exceeded water quality standards.</p> <p>5. Our results suggest that reducing the grazing duration and shifting its timing are complementary strategies that can mitigate the tradeoffs between livestock grazing and water quality without fencing-off riparian areas or removing cattle from pastures with streams.</p> <p>6. Synthesis and applications. In this study, we found grazing duration and timing can be used as tools to mitigate ES tradeoffs between cattle production and water quality in rangeland streams. Shorter grazing durations reduced the number of days <i>E. coli</i> levels were above regulatory limits, as did grazing that occurred either early or late in the season. These results support the idea that rotational grazing can be an effective strategy to manage water quality in semi-arid rangelands. They also highlight the need for more grazing studies that incorporate gradients of duration and timing into study designs.</p>
Dataset accompanying Riesch et al. 2019. Grazing by wild red deer: management options for the conservation of semi-natural open habitats. Journal of Applied Ecology
<p>This repository contains vegetation biomass and forage quality data used by Riesch et al. in an article accepted in Journal of Applied Ecology.</p> <p>Metadata are provided in the first excel worksheet ('explanation_overview'). For further details please see the original article.</p>
Data from: Knowledge co-production with traditional herders on cattle grazing behaviour for better management of species-rich grasslands
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Selection of a diversionary field and other habitats by large grazing birds in a landscape managed for agriculture and wetland biodiversity
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Mitigating ecosystem service tradeoffs in rangelands by using grazing duration and timing to manage water quality
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Data from: Upland Sandpipers select for later time since fire and experience high nest survival in grasslands managed with patch-burn grazing
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Data from: Carbon sequestration and soil restoration potential of grazing lands under exclosure management in a semi-arid environment of northern Ethiopia
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Data from: Incorporating temporal dynamics to enhance grazing management outcomes for a long-lived species
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Soil organic carbon in drylands: shrub encroachment and vegetation management effects dwarf those of livestock grazing
Dryland ecosystems occur worldwide and play a prominent, but potentially shifting, role in global biogeochemical cycling. Widespread woody plant proliferation, often associated with declines in palatable grasses, has jeopardized livestock production in drylands and prompted attempts to reduce woody cover by chemical or mechanical means. Woody encroachment also has the potential to significantly alter terrestrial carbon storage. However, little is known of the long-term biogeochemical consequences of woody encroachment in the broader context of its interaction with common dryland land uses, including "brush management" (woody plant clearing) and livestock grazing. Present assessments exhibit considerable variation in the consequences of these land use/land cover changes, with evidence that brush management may counteract sizeable impacts of shrub encroachment on soil biogeochemical pools. A challenge to assessing the net effects of brush management in shrub-encroached grasslands on soil organic carbon (SOC) and total nitrogen (N) pools is that land management practices are typically considered in isolation, when they are co-occurring phenomena. Furthermore, few studies have assessed spatial patterns in brush management and how these are affected in decades following treatment on sites with contrasting grazing histories. To address these uncertainties and interactions, we quantified the impacts of shrub encroachment and their subsequent mortality resulting from brush management (herbicide application) on SOC and N pools in a Sonoran Desert grassland where long-term grazing manipulations (>100 y) co-occur with shrub encroachment and brush management. Pools of SOC and N associated with herbicided shrubs declined markedly over ~40 years, offsetting 66% of the increases from shrub encroachment. However, spatial patterns in SOC induced by shrubs persisted over the decades following brush management. Century-long protection from grazing did little to change SOC and N pools. Accordingly, shrub encroachment and shrub mortality from brush management each far outweighed livestock grazing impacts. Consideration of the patterns of SOC and N through space (e.g., bole-to-dripline gradients), time (e.g., shrub age/size), land use (e.g., livestock grazing and brush management) and their interactions will position us to improve predictions of SOC and N responses to land use/land cover change, inform C-based management decisions, and objectively evaluate trade-offs with other ecosystem services.
Vegetation characteristics and precipitation jointly influence grassland bird abundance beyond the effects of grazing management
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">Grassland birds have experienced some of the steepest population declines of any guild of birds in North America. The shortgrass steppe contains some of North America's most-intact grasslands, which makes the region particularly important for these species. Grassland birds differentially respond to variation in vegetation structure generated by spatiotemporally-varying disturbance like grazing management. However, understanding how species respond to characteristics beyond vegetation structure or grazing could better inform management for these species in the shortgrass steppe. We analyzed point count data for 5 grassland bird species breeding on the Central Plains Experimental Range in northeastern Colorado from 2013 – 2017 to examine the predictive capacity of models representing fine-scale (~3-ha) vegetation attributes (vegetation structure and cover type) and topography, combined with interannual precipitation variability (i.e. vegetation-abiotic models). We then compared these models to models based on grazing management treatments (applied to whole pastures, ~130 ha) and edaphic conditions (ecological sites), which represented information more generally available to rangeland managers. Precipitation, vegetation structure, and vegetation cover type influenced all species in a manner consistent with, but more nuanced than, vegetation structure alone. These models also explained more variation in abundance for species that responded to grazing management. Thus, while grazing management can be applied adaptively to improve habitat for these species, our more detailed vegetation-abiotic models identified species-specific habitat components that could be targeted for management. For example, not grazing pastures with extensive, homogenous stands of mid-height grasses (e.g, <i>Hesperostipa comata</i>) for an entire growing season during wet years could be one strategy to enhance Grasshopper Sparrow abundance and stockpile residual forage for future utilization by livestock. Our models provide a better understanding of, and reveal nuances in, the suite of environmental conditions to which grassland birds respond in shortgrass-steppe rangelands. </p>
Soil organic carbon in drylands: shrub encroachment and vegetation management effects dwarf those of livestock grazing
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Data from: Combined effects of grazing management and climate on semi-arid steppes: hysteresis dynamics prevent recovery of degraded rangelands
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Data from: Are agri-environment schemes successful in delivering conservation grazing management on saltmarsh?
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Vegetation characteristics and precipitation jointly influence grassland bird abundance beyond the effects of grazing management
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Allen Brain Atlas
Allen Brain Atlas is an Allen Institute collection of brain map atlases, datasets, APIs, and analysis tools covering mouse, human, and non-human primate brain resources.
Annotated Behaviour and Observability Dataset (ABODe)
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DANDI Archive for NWB datasets
DANDI is a BRAIN Initiative archive for publishing and sharing neurophysiology data, including electrophysiology, optophysiology, and behavioral data packaged as NWB and related standards.
International Brain Laboratory public data
The International Brain Laboratory public data releases expose standardized mouse decision-making experiments, including Neuropixels recordings, widefield calcium imaging, behavior, and session metadata accessed through the ONE API.
OpenNeuro
OpenNeuro is a free, open platform for sharing neuroimaging datasets, with public search, dataset pages, and download paths for web, S3, DataLad, and the OpenNeuro CLI.