Date of Award

2022

Publisher

North Dakota State University

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Awarded

Master of Science (MS)

Program

Range Science

Department

Range Science

College

Agriculture, Food Systems and Natural Resources

Faculty Advisor

Hovick, Torre

Description

Declines in pollinator populations are a concern globally, and more information is needed to help conserve them. We studied how post-Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) lands could be managed as pollinator habitat. Our study occurred in Hettinger, ND from 2017-2021. We assessed the effects of patch-burn grazing on butterflies and floral resources. We also assessed the success of over-seeding to enhance flowering resources utilized by butterflies. We found that different butterfly species exhibited site selection based on time-since-fire, indicating that patch-burn grazing may be an effective grassland management method for creating diversity. We also found that grazer species (sheep or cattle) was influential on butterfly and vegetative communities. Our over-seeding efforts yielded low seedling establishment, but models indicated that drought and herbivory potentially influenced this. Overall, our results suggest that post-CRP working landscapes may benefit pollinators, but there are many challenges to create more forb-rich environments in these low diversity landscapes.

Rights

NDSU policy 190.6.2

Rights Link

https://www.ndsu.edu/fileadmin/policy/190.pdf

Handle Identifier

https://hdl.handle.net/10365/33396

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