State of knowledge about energy development impacts on North American rangelands: An integrative approach

Kreuter, Urs P.; Iwaasa, A. D.; Theodori, Gene L.; Ansley, R. James; Jackson, Robert B.; Fraser, Lauchlan H.; Naeth, M. Anne; McGillivray, Susan; Moya, Edmundo García

doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2016.05.007

Cited by 20 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…Fackler, & Starfield, 2005). In addition to continued conversion to row crops, mismanagement and increasing development of energy infrastructure have led to an overall decline in the quality and quantity of grasslands that persist in the region Fuhlendorf et al, 2012;Kreuter et al, 2016). In addition to continued conversion to row crops, mismanagement and increasing development of energy infrastructure have led to an overall decline in the quality and quantity of grasslands that persist in the region Fuhlendorf et al, 2012;Kreuter et al, 2016).…”

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confidence: 99%

Habitat associations of bats in a working rangeland landscape

Trubitt

Hovick

Gillam

et al. 2018

Ecology and Evolution

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Land‐use change has resulted in rangeland loss and degradation globally. These changes include conversion of native grasslands for row‐crop agriculture as well as degradation of remaining rangeland due to fragmentation and changing disturbance regimes. Understanding how these and other factors influence wildlife use of rangelands is important for conservation and management of wildlife populations. We investigated bat habitat associations in a working rangeland in southeastern North Dakota. We used Petterson d500x acoustic detectors to systematically sample bat activity across the study area on a 1‐km point grid. We identified calls using Sonobat autoclassification software. We detected five species using this working rangeland, which included Lasionycteris noctivagans (2,722 detections), Lasiurus cinereus (2,055 detections), Eptesicus fuscus (749 detections), Lasiurus borealis (62 detections), and Myotis lucifugus (1 detection). We developed generalized linear mixed‐effects models for the four most frequently detected species based on their ecology. The activity of three bat species increased with higher tree cover. While the scale of selection varied between the four species, all three investigated scales were explanatory for at least one bat species. The broad importance of trees to bats in rangelands may put their conservation needs at odds with those of obligate grassland species. Focusing rangeland bat conservation on areas that were treed prior to European settlement, such as riparian forests, can provide important areas for bat conservation while minimizing negative impacts on grassland species.

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confidence: 99%

Habitat associations of bats in a working rangeland landscape

Trubitt

Hovick

Gillam

et al. 2018

Ecology and Evolution

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“…These facilities can account for approximately 40% of carbon dioxide emissions [18]. Combating climate change and reducing dependence on foreign energy imports are often cited as justification for the expansion of wind energy development [24][25][26]. Governments around the world have enacted energy policy strategies aimed at the reduction of CO 2 emissions [27,28].…”

Section: Development Motivationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Cost of Wind: Negative Economic Effects of Global Wind Energy Development

Dorrell

Lee

2020

Energies

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This paper provides a structured literature review of the negative economic effects associated with the development of wind energy and synthesized the evidence at an abstract level. We then developed an analytical framework to systematically review economic issues such as volatility, electricity price, housing values, and unemployment in relation to wind energy. Global wind energy development data from the time period from 2000 through 2019 were included for a more robust analysis. This period encompasses the vast majority of total global installed wind energy capacity. After amalgamating evidence from existing studies and data banks, we discuss the policy implications, suggest avenues for future research, and propose solutions to mitigate externalities. By understanding the negative economic impact created by the expansion of wind energy, we can better equip policy makers and developers to create more efficient and sustainable energy policy to benefit citizens and preserve the environment for generations to come.

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“…Degradation and simplification of landscapes due to human activities have resulted in broad biodiversity declines (Fuhlendorf et al, 2017; World Wide Fund for Nature, 2018). In rangelands, causes of simplification include climate change, land conversion, energy development, invasive species, and alterations to historic disturbance processes (Belgacem & Louhaichi, 2013; Cameron et al, 2014; Fuhlendorf & Engle, 2001; Kreuter et al, 2016; Toledo et al, 2014). Broadly, these factors all mute the spatiotemporal variability that has long been characteristic of natural systems (Fuhlendorf et al, 2017; Fuhlendorf & Engle, 2001).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Embracing inherent and imposed sources of heterogeneity in rangeland bird management

Duquette

Hovick

Geaumont³

et al. 2022

Ecosphere

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Rangeland simplification is a global threat to biodiversity. Historically, rangelands exhibited varied vegetation structure, which provided a diverse wildlife habitat. Vegetation heterogeneity resulted from interactions between topoedaphic (inherent heterogeneity) and disturbance factors (imposed heterogeneity). Until recently, these interactive sources of heterogeneity have been ignored in rangeland management and study. Under an emerging paradigm that embraces heterogeneity, contributions of disturbance and topoedaphic conditions to rangeland biodiversity remain largely unknown. Using the avian community, we assessed the effects of wetland area, ecological site, and topographic roughness (inherent heterogeneity) and four grazing strategies (imposed heterogeneity; patch‐burn grazing with one or two seasons of fire, season‐long grazing, and modified twice‐over rotational grazing with variably stocked paddocks) on vegetation structure, avian diversity, avian community composition, and avian densities. The interaction between inherent and imposed heterogeneity influenced avian community composition but not species‐specific densities. The effects of management on vegetation structural heterogeneity varied over years, though patch‐burn management generated heterogeneity and temporal stability in vegetation structure compared to season‐long grazing and modified twice‐over rotational grazing. Patch‐burn and season‐long grazing pastures had higher diversity than modified twice‐over rotational grazing. Community composition was sensitive to ecological site, topographic roughness, and wetland area, suggesting that both the fire‐grazing interaction and inherent heterogeneity maintain biodiversity. Out of our six grassland obligate focal bird species, two responded to inherent heterogeneity, while three were most sensitive to imposed heterogeneity. One species, western meadowlark (Sturnella neglecta), did not respond to either source of heterogeneity, potentially indicating responsiveness to factors outside our study, such as annual precipitation or heterogeneity at fine scales. Our results indicate that both inherent and imposed heterogeneity are important in shaping grassland bird abundance, diversity, and community composition and that conserving rangeland biodiversity in the future will require managing for greater imposed heterogeneity while embracing existing landscape variability.

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State of knowledge about energy development impacts on North American rangelands: An integrative approach

Cited by 20 publications

References 28 publications

Habitat associations of bats in a working rangeland landscape

Habitat associations of bats in a working rangeland landscape

The Cost of Wind: Negative Economic Effects of Global Wind Energy Development

Embracing inherent and imposed sources of heterogeneity in rangeland bird management

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