Energy-Related Traffic Increases Fugitive Dust, with Mixed Effects on Bakken Cropland Trophic Levels
Date of Award
2017
Publisher
North Dakota State University
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Awarded
Master of Science (MS)
Program
Range Science
Department
School of Natural Resource Sciences
College
Agriculture, Food Systems and Natural Resources
Faculty Advisor
McGranahan, Devan A.
Description
We investigated how anthropogenic landscape industrialization affects croplands through increased emissions of fugitive dust along unpaved roads with energy-related traffic. We reviewed literature regarding plants and increased dust deposition and exposure and found that increased dust deposition and exposure negatively affected photosynthetic activity, chlorophyll content, and stomatal conductance. We measured: traffic, the amount and spatial extent of dust deposition, and plant physiological parameters in annual cereal crop fields adjacent to unpaved roads in western North Dakota. We found that increased traffic along an unpaved road influenced the amount and spatial extent of fugitive dust deposited in fields adjacent to an unpaved road. Increased dust deposition negatively affected plant photosynthetic activity. We measured bird activity using trail cameras and invertebrate abundance using sweep-netting in annual cereal crop fields adjacent to unpaved roads. Distance from an unpaved road or the measured deposition rates did not negatively affect bird activity and invertebrate abundance.
Recommended Citation
Spiess, Jonathan Wesley, "Energy-Related Traffic Increases Fugitive Dust, with Mixed Effects on Bakken Cropland Trophic Levels" (2017). Range Science. 9.
https://digitalcommons.ndsu.edu/range-sci/9
Rights
NDSU policy 190.6.2
Rights Link
https://www.ndsu.edu/fileadmin/policy/190.pdf
Author ORCID Identifier
0000-0003-2163-9383
Handle Identifier
https://hdl.handle.net/10365/28385