We study People, Land Use and Society (PLUS). The PLUS lab is directed by Dr. John Tyndall, a natural resource economist and social scientist with broad interests in environmental and natural resource economics, policy and sociology within forestry, agriculture, and urban contexts. 

More about Dr. Tyndall

August 16, 2023 - Morgan Kaardal successfully defended her M.S. thesis titled "The other side of prairie strips: an exploration of the value of prairie strips to the beekeeping and hunting industries in Iowa". Very interesting findings!

Congrats to Dr. Haleigh Summers. Haleigh presented and defended her dissertation on June 27. Her dissertation is titled, "Identifying environmental, economic, and equity opportunities through a spatial lens". Haleigh gave a great presentation! Her career is off to a fantastic start with her taking on new opportunities working with landowners, farmers, and scientists as an Agricultural Soil and Water Data Specialist with Sand County Foundation. We are all very excited for her!

Congrats to Melanie Bogert!    Melanie successfully defended her MS thesis today (May 11)! Her thesis is titled: "Plant and Insect Community Responses to Manure Application in Prairies".  Here is a pdf of her research talk (she gave a fantastic presentation!)

Congrats to Haleigh Summers and colleagues!  Haleigh Summers, Tiffanie Stone, Loulou Dickey et al. won First Prize for their poster presented at the ISU Environmental Science Symposium April 17. Check it out: “Intersections of Barriers to Equitable Food-Energy-Water System Resources Across the United States”

New $1.8 M Project - Agrivoltaics in Iowa! (Dec 8):  The PLUS Lab is now into Agrivoltics! And the US DOE is helping us to pursue our ideas regarding horticultural and honey production systems that best fit solar farm designs for Iowa, and how best can these agrivoltaic systems provide farming opportunities to new and beginning farmers (particularly underserved/ underrepresented farmers). This project will feature engineers, horticultural specialists, entomologists, economists and other social scientists, and outreach specialists collectively working to advance renewable energy opportunities here in Iowa and serve as a model for how this can be done throughout the region.

The ACPF in Action (Nov 9):  Jessica Nelson presented some of her work recently (November 9), check it out!  The North Central Region Water Network Webinar Series: https://northcentralwater.org/the-current/

The FiNRT ("fine art") is available for use! News Release (June 23)

The  Financial and Nutrient Reduction Tool ( FiNRT) is an ACPF-compatible tool that provides information about estimated costs and nitrate reduction outcomes from ACPF-generated conservation scenarios. FiNRT offers conservation planners the ability to examine opportunities and tradeoffs regarding BMPs more effectively on the landscape and offers information about potential outcomes from various conservation scenarios.

Check it out @: https://acpf4watersheds.org/toolbox/finrt/

All News

*Student authors

2024

Nelson, J.*, Liebman, M., Niemi, J., Cruse, R., Tyndall, J.C., Witte, C., James, D. (2024). The influence of prairie strips sown in midwestern corn and soybean fields on sediment discharge throughout the year. Journal of Soil and Water Conservation.  

Lewis, M.*, Tyndall, J.C., Dodd, B., Weber, M. (Forthcoming). Economic Evaluation of Barriers to Minimize Reservoir Sportfish Escapement. North American Journal of Fisheries Management. 

2023

Magala, R.; Miguez, F.; Tyndall, J.C., Schulte Moore, L.A. (2023) Modeling Carbon Dynamics in Corn Cropping Systems: Evaluation and Application Based on the Longest-Running Cropping System Experiment in North America.SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4591253 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4591253

Bravard, E.*, Zimmerman, E., Tyndall, J.C., James, D. (Forthcoming). Welcome to the new frontier: Introducing Extension to the next generation of conservation planning tools. Journal of Extension. 

Stone, T.*, Dickey, L.C.*, Summers, H.*, Thompson, J.R., Rehmann, C.R., Zimmerman, E., and JC Tyndall. (2023) A systematic review of social equity in FEWS analyses. Frontiers in Environmental Science.

2022

Audia E.*, Schulte, L.A., J.C. Tyndall. (2022) Measuring changes in financial and ecosystems service outcomes with simulated grassland restoration in a Corn Belt watershed. Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems. 13 September 2022.

Bravard, E.*, Zimmerman, E., James, D., Tyndall, J.C. (2022). The Agricultural Conservation Planning Framework Financial and Nutrient Reduction Tool: A planning tool for cost effective conservation. Journal of Environmental Quality.

Tyndall, J.C. (2022) Prairie and Tree Planting Tool - PT2 (1.0): A conservation decision support tool for Iowa, USA. Agroforestry Systems.

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