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New research suggests that as Great Salt Lake shrinks and gets saltier, brine shrimp, a staple food for migrating birds and a boon to Utah’s economy, may be in danger of dramatic population declines.
12-23-2020 By Earth.com staff writer In a new study from PLOS, researchers set out to investigate the effects of climate change on bunchgrass prairies. Focusing on the National Bison Range in Montana, the experts found that dramatic seasonal changes are the biggest threat to the long-term survival of bunchgrass prairies. Intermountain bunchgrass prairies are some of the most endangered ecosystems in North America. These prairies now cover less than one percent of the area they once covered. Over the past century, bunchgrass prairies have become hotter and dr...
According to the study, plants increased by 110 percent, but did not remain green over the summer. A 42-year study of bunchgrasses in Montana’s National Bison Range by researchers at the University of Notre Dame showed that several vegetation changes occurred seasonally, suggesting that studying climate change on a large-scale, annual basis may not be enough to fully understand and document its effects. The study, published in PLOS One, documented several types of changes over the course of each year since 1978 when Gary Belovsky, professor emeritus in the Department of Biological Sciences ...
Bison resting in prairie grass at the National Bison Range in Montana. (Courthouse News photo / David Reese) (CN) — In a research effort four decades in the making, experts have constructed a comprehensive picture on the health of the bunchgrass prairie, one of the most endangered ecosystems in North America. Despite once being one of the most eminent ecosystems in the North American continent, particularly in the Rockies, intermountain bunchgrass prairies have found themselves on a steep decline in recent decades. Widely regarded as one of the most threatened ecosystems, bunchgrass prairie...
E-Mail IMAGE: The intermountain bunchgrass prairie at the National Bison Range, Montana, USA at one of the study areas. view more Credit: Gary Belovsky Over 40 years of monitoring, an endangered bunchgrass prairie became hotter, drier and more susceptible to fire annually--but dramatic seasonal changes (not annual climate trends) seem to be driving the biggest changes in plant production, composition, and summer senescence. Gary Belovsky and Jennifer Slade of The University of Notre Dame, Indiana, present these findings in the open-access journal PLOS ONE on December 23. Intermou...