Biocomplexity, Spatial Scale, and Fragmentation: Implications for Arid and Semi-arid Ecosystems (SCALE)

Northern Great Plains, USA
(Adams County, ND and Perkins County, SD

The Northern Great Plains site for the SCALE project consists of two adjacent counties in the Northern Great Plains region, Adams County, North Dakota and Perkins County, South Dakota. The main economic activities in these counties are livestock production, wheat agriculture, and petroleum exploration. This region is characterized by economic and climatic variability, and it is sparsely populated compared to other areas of the U.S. Family farms in this region operate at industrial scales and compete in national and international markets. There is a need to expand enterprises in these counties, or else be put out of business.

The climate of this region is characterized as a cold, temperate, continental climate, with large interannual variations in precipitation, leading to frequent droughts. The rangeland areas of the region are mixed grass prairie ecosystems, composed of midgrasses and shortgrasses characteristic of the Great Plains. Land, livestock and water are all critical to economic endeavors on the Great Plains.