18th Annual Student Research Conference
Science
How Management and Cover Types Affect Grassland Birds and Their Food Chain Dynamics on Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) Fields in Northeast Missouri
Rachel A. Katz♦
Dr. Peter Goldman, Faculty Mentor
Many grassland birds are becoming rare, and the management of the millions of hectares of land enrolled in CRP could affect the quality of breeding habitat. This study compares several measures of avian importance on CRP fields paired by cover type that are burned and mowed. Pre-treatment and first year data have been collected and one more field season remains. These data include avian abundance, vegetation, artificial nest depredation, small mammal abundance, and orthopteran abundance. Additionally, different types of eggs were used in the artificial nests to account for the abilities of different predators. Preliminary results show that there were fewer birds post-treatment (P<0.0001) and differences by cover type, but management regime had little explanatory value. In addition, there were significant differences in depredation of artificial nests by cover type (P=0.0054) and egg type (P<0.0001). These differences may relate to numbers and kinds of mammals inhabiting different fields.
Keywords:
Topic(s):Biology
Presentation Type: Oral Paper
Session: 9-4
Location: VH 1010
Time: 9:00