Grassland 1xbet online games login in the Flint Hills facing decline

K-State ecologist says 1xbet online games login are not as prolific as they should be in this kind of ecological climate

The wide-open spaces of the Flint Hills may no longer provide a secure home on the range for several familiar grassland 1xbet online games login , according to research by a K-State ecologist and her colleagues.

The researchers found that three bird species common to 1xbet online games login region of Kansas and Oklahoma are experiencing serious population decline in the face of extensive land-management practices like annual burning and widespread grazing.

1xbet online games login contain the largest remaining tracts of tallgrass prairie, a habitat that once covered much of the Great Plains but of which only 4 percent is now left, mostly in 1xbet online games login . Far from being pristine prairie, however, 1xbet online games login region supports a major cattle industry and is intensively managed.

"Because of its size, the Flint Hills is assumed to be a population stronghold for grassland 1xbet online games login ," said Kimberly With, a K-State associate professor of biology who led the study. "Mostly this has been based on bird counts, but they can be misleading because they don't show what the region is capable of producing. 1xbet online games login are very mobile and thus 1xbet online games login could come from elsewhere to give the appearance of a stable population year after year. This is especially true if the region attracts 1xbet online games login because of its size, but 1xbet online games login do not breed successfully once they settle here."

With was joined by ecologists Anthony King from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and William Jensen, a former postdoctoral researcher in With's lab at K-State. They conducted a two-year study of regional viability of three grassland 1xbet online games login : the dickcissel, grasshopper sparrow and eastern meadowlark. With and her colleagues found that none of these bird species is viable in the 4 million-acre Flint Hills region. They estimated population declines of as much as 29 percent per year during the years studied.

The results were published in December 2008 in the journal Biological Conservation, http://tinyurl.com/cza3xy

&1xbet online games login ;Although considered to be relatively common, all three of these species have been exhibiting declines at a continent-wide level,&1xbet online games login ; With said.

According to a 2007 report by The National Audubon Society, two of these species -- the grasshopper sparrow and eastern meadowlark -- have lost 62 percent and 75 percent, respectively, of their global population in the past 40 years.

With and her colleagues found that 1xbet online games login are not breeding successfully in the Flint Hills. With said that more than 80 percent of nests were destroyed by predators. They also found that 1xbet online games login nesting in native prairie hayfields were more successful than 1xbet online games login nesting in grazed grassland. She said this might be because in the Flint Hills, the hayfields were mown later than in other prairie regions, enabling 1xbet online games login to finish nesting before the nests are mowed under.

&1xbet online games login ;These hayfields are a less disturbed habitat than other managed grasslands in the Flint Hills, 90 percent of which is grazed and up to two-thirds may be burned,&1xbet online games login ; With said.

The researchers suggest that land-management practices may offer only part of the explanation for declining bird populations.

"There was a drought one of the two years we studied the 1xbet online games login , and in that year 1xbet online games login didn't do well anywhere," With said. "Under global climate change, we may see more prolonged droughts and less frequent, but more intense storms. If rain comes as intense storms with hail, that could be just as lethal to the 1xbet online games login ."

With said more study is needed before recommendations can be made to help manage these bird populations. But she said that the results are still valuable because -- like a canary in a coal mine -- 1xbet online games login indicate a region's overall environmental health.

&1xbet online games login ;The cattle industry is important economically to the region,&1xbet online games login ; With said. &1xbet online games login ;The region is also ecologically important. The challenge is to what extent you can successfully achieve these joint aims of agriculture and conservation within the Flint Hills.&1xbet online games login ;

The research was funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture through the Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service's National Research Initiative Managed Ecosystems Program.

Photo: A dickcissel, eastern meadowlark and grasshopper sparrow are three bird species common to the Flint Hills of Kansas and Oklahoma. A K-State ecologist and her colleagues found these 1xbet online games login experiencing serious population decline in the face of extensive land-management practices like annual burning and widespread grazing. Photos courtesy of David A. Rintoul, K-State Division of Biology