Conserving Wildlife in Ag. Landscapes: Creating win-win solutions for wildlife and farmers | #25

02/28/24 • 83 min

In this episode we talk with Dr. Mark McConnell, Assistant Professor of Upland Birds at Mississippi State, about wildlife conservation in agricultural landscapes and his research into creating win-win solutions for wildlife and agricultural producers. We cover a variety of topics in this episode from reacting to Adam’s new mustache, Mark’s use of memes to help wildlife student engage with farmers, and using precision conservation to delivery economically targeted conservation.

Themes in the episode: meeting farmer where they are, building your conservation team, economics and Precision Agricultural/Conservation. Targeted Conservation Delivery, Economically Targeted Conservation, Wildlife-Friendly Farming

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Research & Resources discussed in the episode

Research on who farmers trust when making decisions about agricultural practices - https://www.extension.purdue.edu/extmedia/FNR/fnr-488-w.pdf

Personal outreach to landowners is vital to conservation program success (article about Lutter et al 2018 paper). https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/04/180405093305.htm

Bridging the gap between conservation delivery and economics with precision agriculture (McConnell 2021) - https://wildlife.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/wsb.995

Economically targeting conservation practices to optimize conservation and net revenue using precision agriculture tools (Meng et al. 2022) - https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11119-022-09890-7

Farming and the fate of nature (Green et al. 2005) - https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1106049

Wildlife-friendly farming benefits rare birds, bees and plants (Pywell et al. 2012) - https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22675140/

Crop Advisors as Conservation Intermediaries (Eanes et al. 2019) - https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264837718310238

Creating Environmentally Resilient Agriculture Landscapes Using Precision Agriculture Technology: An Economic Perspective (McConnell 2019) - https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/bk-2019-1334.ch007

CRP Menu Tool - https://crpmenu.gri.msstate.edu/

Give us some feedback or potential topics you would like to here by filling out our listener survey:

https://purdue.ca1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_5oteinFuEzFCDmm

Research & Resources discussed in the episode

Research on who farmers trust when making decisions about agricultural practices - https://www.extension.purdue.edu/extmedia/FNR/fnr-488-w.pdf

Personal outreach to landowners is vital to conservation program success (article about Lutter et al 2018 paper). https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/04/180405093305.htm

Bridging the gap between conservation delivery and economics with precision agriculture (McConnell 2021) - https://wildlife.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/wsb.995

Farming and the fate of nature (Green et al. 2005) - https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1106049

Wildlife-friendly farming benefits rare birds, bees and plants (Pywell et al. 2012) - https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22675140/

Crop Advisors as Conservation Intermediaries (Eanes et al. 2019) - https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264837718310238

Creating Environmentally Resilient Agriculture Landscapes Using Precision Agriculture Technology: An Economic Perspective (McConnell 2019) - https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/bk-2019-1334.ch007

CRP Menu Tool - https://crpmenu.gri.msstate.edu/

Previous Episode

Private lands wrapped! | #24

In the final episode of our second season, Jarred and Adam review the conversations we’ve had on the theme of private lands habitat conservation, discuss some things “left on the bone,” and share with the listeners where Habitat University is heading in the new year! Be sure to check out the previous episodes in the podcast, including those from Season 2 discussed in this episode, and Season 1 if you haven’t already! And as always please help us improve the podcast by taking this Habitat University Listener Feedback Survey: https://purdue.ca1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_5oteinFuEzFCDmm

Resources mentioned in the episode:

Bird friend coffee: https://nationalzoo.si.edu/migratory-birds/bird-friendly

Bird friendly beef: https://www.audubon.org/conservation/ranching

Learn more about the Land sparing and land sharing debate with this article: https://e360.yale.edu/features/sparing-vs-sharing-the-great-debate-over-how-to-protect-nature

For a much more thorough treatment of the history of Native peoples’ relationships to much of what we today know as private land, check out the exceptional book: An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz

Next Episode

Forest management for birds: an introduction to the series | #26

Ahead of a forthcoming mini-series on forest management for birds, Adam and Jarred discuss a paper reviewing the state of the science examining bird responses to forest management in the eastern U.S. The paper published last year by Michael Skresh and colleagues presents a compelling case for the importance of managed disturbances in eastern forests to benefit birds of conservation concern. Jarred also foreshadows some conversations he has planned in the coming episodes.

Give us some feedback or potential topics you would like to here by filling out our listener survey:

https://purdue.ca1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_5oteinFuEzFCDmm

Research & Resources discussed in the episode

Here's the paper we discussed: Akresh, Michael E., David I. King, Savannah L. McInvale, Jeffery L. Larkin, and Anthony W. D'Amato. 2023. “ Effects of Forest Management on the Conservation of Bird Communities in Eastern North America: A Meta-Analysis.” Ecosphere 14(1): e4315. https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.4315

Here’s a paper Adam’s written about forest management for birds: https://store.extension.iastate.edu/Product/15963 h

Here’s the episode we mentioned with Marcus Lashley and fire disturbance regimes: https://habitatuniversity.libsyn.com/episode-03-aldos-tools-getting-creative-with-prescribed-fire