Location: Northern Great Plains Research Laboratory
Project Number: 3064-21600-001-024-S
Project Type: Non-Assistance Cooperative Agreement
Start Date: Sep 5, 2025
End Date: Aug 31, 2027
Objective:
Objective 1. Assess wildlife impacts associated with agricultural land use and management systems.
Objective 2. Develop and test technologies for tracking and remote sensing wildlife and wildlife impacts in agricultural settings.
Objective 3. Identify soil microbiology impacts of agricultural management systems.
Objective 4. Develop and apply techniques for growing and propagating native prairie plant species.
Objective 5: Utilize genetic and genomic techniques to assess genetic diversity and population structure of plant species under environmental stress in agricultural landscapes.
Approach:
A wide range of land uses and management systems are maintained by the ARS as part of multiple studies and research projects. Assessments of wildlife impacts will be assessed for a subset of land uses or management systems. The assessments may include bird, bat, and pollinator monitoring. Various technologies for tracking wildlife and wildlife impacts will be developed and tested, including use of satellite, UAV, and ground-based sensors. Impacts assessment will include integrating livestock GPS sensors and monitoring with wildlife monitoring. Microbiology assessment techniques including use of DNA analysis will be used to assess impacts of management such as burning or pesticide applications. Techniques for growing and propagating native prairie plants including greenhouse propagation and field seeding, planting, and management will be assessed. Monitoring of plant populations including species diversity in pasture and rangeland plants is included in existing studies. Techniques for expanding this monitoring to include genetic variation and changes among plant species will be investigated.