These three bison bulls were photographed at The Nature Conservancy’s Niobrara Valley Preserve on the north edge of Nebraska’s sandhills. Find out about the differences between bison and cattle – in terms of their impacts on grasslands – by clicking here: http://prairieecologist.com/2011/06/02/photo-of-the-week-june-2-2011/
This family of robins found a unique and smart place to nest. See where at: http://prairieecologist.com/2011/05/29/one-robins-good-decision/
Ring-necked snakes are pretty common, but not often seen - both because they’re small and come out mostly at night. Learn more about this interesting little worm-eating snake at http://prairieecologist.com/2011/05/27/photo-of-the-week-may-27-2011/.
Do you read The Prairie Ecologist blog? Do you have opinions about it? Here’s your chance to share them. Click here to learn more about what the blog is intended for and to comment on its progress: http://prairieecologist.com/2011/05/23/reader-feedback-opportunity-what-do-you-think/ .
It’s a pretty good bet a scary-looking beetle like this is in your backyard right now. This one was photographed in mine. Read more about it at:http://prairieecologist.com/2011/05/19/photo-of-the-week-may-19-2011/
Prescribed fire can be tricky and very dangerous. A good plan and experienced crew are necessary components of a successful fire. An underappreciated component, however, is redundancy in fire fighting equipment. If a piece of equipment you’re relying on breaks down, you’d better have a backup to allow you to …
Last weekend was a great time to be in Rainwater Basin wetlands in central Nebraska. Migrating shorebirds were taking advantage of the remaining open water, and larger wading birds were around in the reeds. Most importantly, the photography light was good and there were no mosquitoes out yet! See photos …
Ok, this is a little heavy unless you’re really interested in prairie management or restoration… What the heck – try it. Click here: http://prairieecologist.com/2011/05/09/ecological-resilience-in-prairies-part-1/
Patch-burn grazing is an increasingly popular grassland management strategy that combines prescribed fire and grazing to create varied habitat structure types across a site. It can also increase plant diversity and have other benefits for grassland ecosystems. Most of the research has focused on the habitat components, but our work …
Is prairie restoration supposed to replicate existing prairies? Or complement them? A discussion on this topic - using grassland bird species habitat as an example – can be found here: http://prairieecologist.com/2011/05/01/grassland-birds-in-prairie-restorations-response-to-a-research-paper/
