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Iowa Skipper Butterfly 'Canary in Coal Mine': A Warning Sign of Prairie Loss Consequences for Farmers, Wildlife Alike

August 21, 2023

Iowa Skipper Butterfly 'Canary in Coal Mine': A Warning Sign of Prairie Loss Consequences for Farmers, Wildlife Alike

Ava Mandolia, Investigate Midwest

Nearly 250 million acres of the Great Plains have been converted to cropland as of 2020. Farmers and wildlife both suffer from the depletion of prairies.

Learn More Read more about Iowa Skipper Butterfly 'Canary in Coal Mine': A Warning Sign of Prairie Loss Consequences for Farmers, Wildlife Alike

Research Overview

Helmers-Watkins-Liebman NSNWRThe STRIPS project began in 2003, when Iowa State University scientists began discussing the opportunity to test the effects of integrating restored prairie in crop fields with managers at Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge. Together, the scientists and refuge managers established four different treatments on 12 small watersheds at Neal Smith in 2007. As of 2012, we're now also working on a growing number of commercial farm fields across Iowa and northern Missouri. Read more about the research background, farmer collaborators, and research topics here. Read more about Research Overview

Prairie Strip Installation and Establishment

Installation and Establishment

Prairie strips are most easily established in fields which have previously been used for tilled annual row crop production (Jarchow and Liebman, 2011). Seeding following soybeans is especially favored for prairie strip establishment because the tilled field will have a reduced seed bank of annual weed seed and the soybean stubble will decompose readily (Jarchow and Liebman, 2011).

Nonetheless, if the correct procedures are followed prairie can be easily established following any crop or land cover. Read more about Prairie Strip Installation and Establishment

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