Projects

List of publications from the MOFEP small mammal project

Missouri Conservationist Article by Elizabeth Olson. 

Reports from the National Survey of Fishing, Hunting, and Wildlife-Associated Recreation are available from the United States Fish and Wildlife Service.

Publication citations that resulted from data collected during various stages of the Missouri Black Bear Project.

Neonicotinoids are a class of broad-spectrum systemic insecticides frequently used in agroecosystems to control root and leaf eating pests. The widespread use and environmental persistence of neonicotinoids in the U.S. and globally has resulted in surface water contamination and build-up of neonicotinoids within other environmental sectors, such as soils and wetlands. Deleterious effects of neonicotinoids on non-target insects and wildlife heightens the need to determine practices that reduce potential for these chemicals to reach aquatic ecosystems through subsurface connections and overland surface runoff. An understanding of neonicotinoid sorption (any removal of a compound from solution to a solid phase) and transport in soil is critical for determining and mitigating environmental risks associated with this class of insecticides. We evaluated whether conservation practices, such as vegetated buffer strips (VBS), could reduce neonicotinoid entry into surface waters and aquatic ecosystems. One of the most commonly used neonicotinoids is imidacloprid (ICD) which first entered the United States markets in 1994. This Science Note focuses on differences in the sorption and transport of imidacloprid within soils collected from grass VBS, riparian VBS, and agricultural fields planted to corn/soybean.

Throughout the Midwestern US, many public lands set aside for conservation engage in management activities (e.g., agriculture) that may act as stressors on wild bee populations. Several studies have investigated how wild bees respond to large-scale agriculture production; however, there has been limited assessment of how wild bees may be impacted by agricultural activity on public lands or how local variables may influence bee communities in these same areas. In this study, we assessed the abundance and richness of wild bee floral and nesting guilds at 30 agricultural field margins located on five Conservation Areas in Missouri. Generally, regardless of guild, bee abundance and richness was greater in field margins with more floral diversity and taller vegetation. Bee guilds responded negatively to agricultural production in Conservation Areas with fewer soil- and cavity-nesting bees collected in margins adjacent to annually cropped fields. Although fewer diet specialists were collected, specialist bee abundance and richness was greater in margins near fields that were uncropped (i.e., vegetated, but not row-cropped) during the previous year. Overall, the percentage of trees and shrubs within 800 m of study fields (i.e., “woodland”) was negatively associated with abundance and richness of bees, but specifically, reduced richness of soil-nesters and diet specialists. Our findings indicate agricultural management activities on public lands may lead to decreased abundance and richness of wild bee guilds. If public lands are to be managed for species diversity, including wild bees, maintaining diverse plant communities with taller vegetation (>100 cm) near cultivated fields and/or modifying agricultural production practices on public lands may greatly improve the conservation of local bee communities.