State Wildlife Grant - T-57-R
| Project Overview | |
|---|---|
| Project Title |
Impacts of the Meadowlark Initiative on Grassland
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| Target Species |
Level 1: Sprague’s Pipit, Grasshopper Sparrow, Baird’s Sparrow, Nelson’s Sparrow, Lark Bunting and Chestnut-collard Longspur; Level 2: LeConte’s Sparrow, Bobolink and Western Meadowlark.
|
| Timeline |
January 2023 – December 2025
|
| Investigators |
Dr. Andy Boyce, Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute; Dr. Susan Ellis-Felege, University of North Dakota
|
Project Description
Evaluating biodiversity outcomes of restoration efforts is essential to assess effectiveness and inform future restoration actions.
The Meadowlark Initiative (MI) is a massive collaborative and voluntary effort to restore healthy grasslands in North Dakota.
This work is being undertaken with the understanding that “thriving grasslands provide biodiversity and prosperity for wildlife, pollinators, ranching operations and communities…”.
Here, we aim to assess the success of MI in increasing grassland biodiversity by measuring changes in grassland bird community diversity and species-specific occupancy both on restored lands and adjacent native grassland parcels.
Our objective is to evaluate the impact of grassland restoration via the Meadowlark Initiative on grassland bird community diversity and occupancy.
We will address the following questions:
1. Does grassland restoration increase bird diversity on restored plots?
2. Does grassland restoration increase occupancy of focal species (e.g. Western Meadowlark) on restored plots?
3. Does grassland restoration have positive impacts on bird diversity and/or species-specific occupancy on adjacent areas of native grassland via increased patch-size?