Prediction of Lake-level Changes for Various Climatic Scenarios using a Water-balance Model, Waubay Lakes Chain, Northeastern South Dakota (Task 2)

From the Executive Summary: The closed basins area, which includes parts of Day, Marshall, Roberts, Codington, and Clark Counties, in northeastern South Dakota, was declared a Federal Disaster Area in 1990. Under the sponsorship of Region 8 of the Federal Emergency management Agency, an interagency study team was formed to conduct an interdisciplinary scientific investigation of the flooding n the closed basins area. Agencies represented include Federal Emergency Management Agency, U.S. Geological Survey, U.S. Army Corp of Engineers, South Dakota State University, Natural Resources Conservation Service, South Dakota Department of Environment and Natural Resources, and the South Dakota Geological Survey. Task 2 focuses on predictions of lake-level and corresponding surface-area, and water-volume changes of the 10 major lakes in the Waubay Lakes Chain closed basin using the water-balance model, developed by the U.S. Geological Survey, as part of task 4. Northeastern South Dakota is situated in a unique geographic setting, the result of glaciation which ended about 10,000 years ago. The area is dominated by the Coteau des Prairies a flatiron shaped topographic high, rising up to 400 feet above the James River Basin to the west, and 900 feet above the Minnesota River - Red River Lowland to the east. Drainage on the Coteau is poorly developed, resulting in internal drainage only, producing areas called closed basins. The closed basins area consists of several internally drained basins that are not connected to each other, or to either the James River or Big Sioux drainages, under normal climatic conditons. The closed basins area contains thousands of temporary and permanent ponds (potholes and lakes. Streams may connect two or three of the potholes, but typically flow only during periods of high water levels in the ponds. All of the lakes and ponds in the closed basins area have experienced water level increases and corresponding surface-water inundation, but the greatest flooding has been within the Waubay Lakes Chain closed basin. Beginning in 1983, a period of above normal precipitation began whose duration and magnitude has not been observed previously in the modem instrumental record. The precipitation event, coupled with be ow normal evaporation, has resulted in a water surplus within the closed basins area. This et increase in available water has resulted in flooding which has not been observed in the moden record. During the 1990\u27 s, many potholes have filled to capacity and are either spilling into other ponds or lakes, or have coalesced into larger surface water bodies. (See more in text

Northern Great Plains Center

Northern Great Plains Cente

MIGRATION PATTERNS IN THE NORTHERN GREAT PLAINS

Labor and Human Capital,

Notes and News- Summer 2000

Notes And News Call For Papers: Rhetoric On The Great Plains Sacred Lands: Plains Indian Seminar Greatplains.Org Omaha Indian Music Association For Canadian Studies Colloquium Northern Great Plains History Conference Internet Resources On The Great Plains The Northern Great Plains, 1880-192

Mammals of the Northern Great Plains

For the purposes of this book, the Northern Great Plains are defined as the states of Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota. As a physiographic concept, the northern part of the great interior grasslands of North America is, of course, much broader in geographic extent than the Dakotas and Nebraska, but the three states lie in the heart of the region, and thus the title for this work seems appropriate. Our expectations in writing Mammals of the Northern Great Plains were to provide a comprehensive, yet semitechnical, treatmeat of free-living mammals that would prove useful to specialist and nonspecialist alike. The content and style therefore were developed in a way we hope will interest the inquiring high-school student, on the one hand, and provide a point of reference for the professional mammalogist on the other. Between these extremes, wildlife biologists, conservationists, environmental specialists, college students of vertebrate zoology, and others interested in mammalian natural history should find the present treatment useful for their needs as well. In the accounts that follow, species of each genus are listed in alphabetical order. Genera, families, and orders are arranged in conventional phylogenetic sequence, and treatment of these higher taxa is deliberately brief. Readers desiring more detail should consult the synopsis by Anderson and Jones (1967) for orders and families and that of Walker et al. (1964 and subsequent editions) for genera. Both scientific and vernacular names of species generally follow Jones, Carter, and Genoways (1979). Information in the accounts of species is organized under five headings: Name, Distribution, Description, Natural History, and Selected References. In the first section, comment is made on the derivation of the scientific name of the species; often, alternative vernacular names are provided. The section on distribution describes the general geographic and ecological range of a species. Subspecies (if recognized) are listed in this section. The geographic ranges of most species are mapped, based on the currently known distribution; the maps, however, are deliberately conservative, and additional fieldwork in various parts of the region certainly will extend the known limits of many mammals. In several cases where too few specimens of a species have been reported to allow the distribution in the tristate region to be shaded with confidence, only the actual localities of record are indicated

Nematodes of the Northern Great Plains Part II

This work includes 136 species of DORYLAIMIDA encountered among the nemic fauna of the Northern Great Plains and follows Part I of this series which included TYLENCHIDA from that region. A general description and history of the region was presented in Part I, Nematodes of the Northern Great Plains, TYLENCHIDA [NEMATA: SECERNENTEA], Technical Bulletin 31, Agricultural Experiment Station, South Dakota State University, July 1968. Reference may be made to TB 31 for discussions of ecology, surveys, bionomics and distribution

Landscape genetics reveal broad and fine‐scale population structure due to landscape features and climate history in the northern leopard frog (Rana pipiens) in North Dakota

Prehistoric climate and landscape features play large roles structuring wildlife populations. The amphibians of the northern Great Plains of North America present an opportunity to investigate how these factors affect colonization, migration, and current population genetic structure. This study used 11 microsatellite loci to genotype 1,230 northern leopard frogs (Rana pipiens) from 41 wetlands (30 samples/wetland) across North Dakota. Genetic structure of the sampled frogs was evaluated using Bayesian and multivariate clustering methods. All analyses produced concordant results, identifying a major east–west split between two R. pipiens population clusters separated by the Missouri River. Substructuring within the two major identified population clusters was also found. Spatial principal component analysis (sPCA) and variance partitioning analysis identified distance, river basins, and the Missouri River as the most important landscape factors differentiating R. pipiens populations across the state. Bayesian reconstruction of coalescence times suggested the major east– west split occurred ~13–18 kya during a period of glacial retreat in the northern Great Plains and substructuring largely occurred ~5–11 kya during a period of extreme drought cycles. A range‐wide species distribution model (SDM) for R. pipiens was developed and applied to prehistoric climate conditions during the Last Glacial Maximum (21 kya) and the mid‐Holocene (6 kya) from the CCSM4 climate model to identify potential refugia. The SDM indicated potential refugia existed in South Dakota or further south in Nebraska. The ancestral populations of R. pipiens in North Dakota may have inhabited these refugia, but more sampling outside the state is needed to reconstruct the route of colonization. Using microsatellite genotype data, this study determined that colonization from glacial refugia, drought dynamics in the northern Great Plains, and major rivers acting as barriers to gene flow were the defining forces shaping the regional population structure of R. pipiens in North Dakota

A CONCEPTUAL MODEL TO FACILITATE AMPHIBIAN CONSERVATION IN THE NORTHERN GREAT PLAINS

As pressures on agricultural landscapes to meet worldwide resource needs increase, amphibian populations face numerous threats including habitat destruction, chemical contaminants, disease outbreaks, wetland sedimentation, and synergistic effects of these perturbations. To facilitate conservation planning, we developed a conceptual model depicting elements critical for amphibian conservation in the northern Great Plains. First, we linked upland, wetland, and landscape features to specific ecological attributes. Ecological attributes included adult survival; reproduction and survival to metamorphosis; and successful dispersal and recolonization. Second, we linked ecosystem drivers, ecosystem stressors, and ecological effects of the region to each ecological attribute. Lastly, we summarized information on these ecological attributes and the drivers, stressors, and effects that work in concert to influence the maintenance of viable and genetically diverse amphibian populations in the northern Great Plains. While our focus was on the northern Great Plains, our conceptual model can be tailored to other geographic regions and taxa

A CONCEPTUAL MODEL TO FACILITATE AMPHIBIAN CONSERVATION IN THE NORTHERN GREAT PLAINS

As pressures on agricultural landscapes to meet worldwide resource needs increase, amphibian populations face numerous threats including habitat destruction, chemical contaminants, disease outbreaks, wetland sedimentation, and synergistic effects of these perturbations. To facilitate conservation planning, we developed a conceptual model depicting elements critical for amphibian conservation in the northern Great Plains. First, we linked upland, wetland, and landscape features to specific ecological attributes. Ecological attributes included adult survival; reproduction and survival to metamorphosis; and successful dispersal and recolonization. Second, we linked ecosystem drivers, ecosystem stressors, and ecological effects of the region to each ecological attribute. Lastly, we summarized information on these ecological attributes and the drivers, stressors, and effects that work in concert to influence the maintenance of viable and genetically diverse amphibian populations in the northern Great Plains. While our focus was on the northern Great Plains, our conceptual model can be tailored to other geographic regions and taxa

Effects of Agricultural Chemicals on Native Plants of the Northern Great Plains

Agricultural chemicals are ubiquitous on the Northern Great Plains landscape and have negative impacts on non-target plant communities, even at small doses. Northern Great Plains grassland plant communities may experience herbicide drift from agricultural fields or be subject to livestock pharmaceuticals in grazing lands. My research objective was to evaluate if and how native plants are affected by agricultural chemical presence at different concentrations. In Chapter 2, I studied the effect of different concentrations of three common agricultural herbicides (2,4-D, atrazine, and trifluralin) on the germination, emergence, and growth of native plant species of the Northern Great Plains. I performed growth chamber and greenhouse experiments in which seeds were treated with a range of herbicide concentrations found in herbicide drift. My results show that these herbicides can negatively affect certain native plant species\u27 germination, emergence, and growth at a wide range of concentrations. In Chapter 3, I performed a growth chamber experiment to study the effect of two concentrations of ivermectin on the germination and growth of Northern Great Plains native plant species. My results show that four of 14 study species were negatively affected by high and low residual levels of ivermectin. This information can be used to recommend which species may perform well in ecological restorations adjacent to agricultural fields and how livestock management decisions may affect native plant communities