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Plains Bison once had the largest population and range of any terrestrial herbivore in North America. Bison now occupy less than 2% of their historic range, mostly behind fences of state-run and private organizations. In 2014, Indigenous groups across North America signed The Buffalo Treaty, calling for bison rewilding. This paper examines barriers to rewilding on Canada's prairies in the provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta. Through interviews we asked government and NGO representatives what prevents bison reintroduction and rewilding. Our results suggest that the main barriers are social acceptance and material resources. These findings support previous research in the United States and Europe and provides a foundation for future research that could include other actors, such as landowners, Indigenous organizations, and industry representatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Grain legumes, such as faba bean (Vicia faba L.), are crucial for protein supply and soil fertility enhancement through nitrogen fixation. However, faba bean cultivation is challenged by Lygus plant bugs (Hemiptera: Miridae), which cause significant crop damage and seed quality loss. This study aimed to evaluate Lygus preferences between faba bean and alternative crops to develop effective management strategies. We conducted choice bioassay experiments under laboratory conditions and field plot experiments. Laboratory results indicated sex-based host preferences, with males favoring faba beans and females preferring canola. Field studies showed that faba beans adjacent to canola had higher Lygus abundance and damage compared to those next to peas, flax, and safflower. Safflower and sunflower demonstrated potential as trap crops to reduce Lygus damage to faba beans. Our findings provide insights into Lygus behavior and suggest that a combination of trap cropping, and targeted insecticide use could mitigate the impact of Lygus infestations on faba bean cultivation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The data from thirty-one climate stations in the Canadian Prairie provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba are analyzed using a number of day-to-day thermal variability metrics. These are used to classify each climate station location using a decision tree developed previously. This is the first application of the decision tree to identify stations as having rural, urban, peri-urban, marine, island, airport, or mountain climates. Of the thirty-one, eighteen were identified as peri-urban, with fourteen of these being airports; six were identified as marine or island; four were identified as rural; one as urban was identified; and two were identified as mountain. The two climate stations at Churchill, Manitoba, located near the shores of Hudson Bay, were initially identified as peri-urban. This was re-assessed after adjusting the number of "winter" months used in the metric for identifying marine and island climates (which, for all other analyses, excluded only December, January, and February). For Churchill, to match the sea ice season, the months of November, March, April, and May were also excluded. Then, a strong marine signal was found for both stations. There is a potential to use these thermal metrics to create a sea ice climatology in Hudson Bay, particularly for pre-satellite reconnaissance (1971). Lake Louise and Banff, Alberta, are the first mountain stations to be identified as such outside of British Columbia. Five airport/non-airport pairs are examined to explore the difference between an airport site and a local site uninfluenced by the airport. In two cases, the expected outcome was not realized through the decision tree analysis. Both Jasper and Edmonton Stony Plain were classified as peri-urban. These two locations illustrated the influence of proximity to large highways. In both cases the expected outcome was replaced by peri-urban, reflective of the localized impact of the major highway. This was illustrated in both cases using a time series of the peri-urban metric before and after major highway development, which had statistically significant differences. This speaks to the importance of setting climate stations appropriately away from confounding influences. It also suggests additional metrics to assess the environmental consistency of climate time series. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prairie cropping systems face several challenges, including high input costs and climate change. Research to address these challenges has focused on above-ground agronomic parameters while completely ignoring the role roots play below ground. The objectives of this review study are to (i) synthesize past root studies carried out in the Canadian Prairies, (ii) provide a context for prairie root research, and (iii) identify gaps for future research. This review reports that root architectural traits of major crops have been assessed under field and greenhouse conditions in soil, artificial media, and a mixture of both soil and media, mostly under natural/well-watered and drought conditions. Several root traits have been compared for major crops grown with respect to moisture levels and nutrient uptake. A dearth of research exists on the complex relationship between root traits, soil microbiome, nutrient uptake, carbon sequestration, and photosynthetic efficiency. No studies were found relating root traits, fertilizer placement, and nitrogen and water use efficiencies, carbon sequestration, soil microbiome dynamics, and common root diseases. This review also reports that more research and funding are needed to exploit the benefits that root research will bring to further sustainability goals and ensure food security in the Canadian Prairies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fodder Galega (Galega orientalis Lam.) is a perennial legume adapted to the temperate regions of the world. The objective of this research was to compare the performance of fodder Galega to alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.), sainfoin (Onobrychis viciifolia Scop.), and cicer milkvetch (Astragalus cicer L.) in monocultures and grass–legume mixtures. From 2018 to 2020, a multiple-location trial was conducted at Swift Current, Saskatoon, Melfort, SK and Beaverlodge, AB, Canada. The average forage mass of fodder Galega in monoculture was 3226, 1176, and 1678 kg·ha–1 at Melfort, Saskatoon, and Swift Current, respectively, and was lower than alfalfa. However, fodder Galega and alfalfa had similar forage mass at Beaverlodge (7900 and 7670 kg·ha−1, respectively). The proportion of fodder Galega in the grass–legume mixtures was 36%–42% in 2019, decreasing to 3%–27% at Saskatoon. At Swift Current, fodder Galega in the mixtures was 11%–13% in 2019, which almost disappeared from the stand in 2020. At Beaverlodge, fodder Galega maintained 38%–47% in 2019 and increased to 47%–69% in 2020. Fodder Galega had similar acid detergent fiber to cicer milkvetch at two of four sites, which was lower than those of alfalfa and sainfoin. The crude protein of fodder Galega and its mixtures with grasses was lower than other mixtures at the three Saskatchewan sites, but was higher at Beaverlodge. Our results indicate that fodder Galega has potential to be utilized as a forage legume in cooler northern regions, but its productivity was low in the Dark Brown and Brown soil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article considers the gardening work of prairie women in the context of farming difficulties and agricultural rehabilitation on the Canadian Prairies in the 1930s and 1940s. It is based on analysis of gardening coverage in the Western Producer (a prairie periodical aimed at English-speaking farm families) and engagement with the records of federal government officials involved in the Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration and the Experimental Farms Service. The article establishes the significance of women's gardening work and its important role in agricultural rehabilitation. In doing so, the article makes clear the ambition underlying agricultural rehabilitation, a federal government project intended to help protect permanent homes for settler families on the Canadian Prairies. Contributing to the understudied topics of rural experiences in women's history and of women's experiences in environmental history and the history of knowledge, the article illustrates the importance of considering gendered knowledge from below in grappling with the consolidation of agricultural colonization on the Canadian Prairies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Peak spring streamflow is triggered in the Canadian prairies with complex generation mechanisms. The study characterizes the generation mechanisms of peak spring streamflow and models the basin response to changing hydro-climatic basin conditions. Key hydro-climatic basin descriptors were defined and used to set criteria for identifying different flood generation mechanisms, associated with the historical floods at 109 Canadian prairie basins. The temporal and spatial heterogeneity of these mechanisms were investigated, and a t-copula model was used to model the dependence structure between the basin descriptors and peak spring streamflow. The study: (1) suggests seven basin descriptors for characterizing the generation mechanism of peak spring streamflow; (2) discloses four levels of wetness conditions and nine flood generation mechanisms in the Canadian prairies; and (3) highlights the advantages and challenges of probabilistically assessing the basin response (peak spring streamflow) in relevance to historical and hypothetical basin conditions. We deem these results enhance the characterization of flood generation mechanisms in the Canadian prairies and advance the risk estimation of peak spring streamflow. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A growing global population and the challenges of climate change have made the need to develop new and improved wheat varieties increasingly important. Creating varieties that are more disease resistant and tolerant to changing environmental conditions such that they will be widely adopted requires breeders to understand the needs of producers. Existing literature suggests that time‐invariant traits such as disease resistance and brand matter in crop adoption decisions; however, studies using common panel data approaches are unable to identify the individual effects of time‐invariant variables, as they are captured by fixed effects dummies. This study uses a recently developed econometric approach—the fixed effects filter model—that can estimate the effects of time‐variant, slowly changing, and time‐invariant traits. Using wheat variety adoption in the Canadian Prairies as our empirical setting, we find that both time‐variant traits, such as varietal adaptability, and time‐invariant traits, such as resistance to stripe rust infection, are positively correlated with adoption. We also find that seed brand has a statistically significant effect on adoption. Prior panel data studies on crop adoption have not given much consideration to time‐invariant variety characteristics like disease tolerance and seed brand, but a better understanding of their impact on adoption can assist breeders in responding to emerging problems, particularly new diseases, more quickly and more efficiently. This will also enhance the work by crop research institutions, prevent considerable economic loss to farmers, and improve crop production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Prairie region of Canada is an agriculture-intensive area and is strategic to Canada's food security. Moisture deficit due to extreme temperatures leading to high evapotranspiration can have significant impacts on water availability, resulting in poor crop yield. The primary objective of this study is to quantify the spatial structure and dependency of extreme temperatures by employing Max-Stable Process (MSP) modeling on daily annual maximum temperature data spanning 1970–2020. The spatial trend surface of the marginal parameters of the Spatial Generalized Extreme Value (SGEV) shows that geographical coordinates, topography due to the Rocky Mountains, and proximity (Euclidean distance) to Hudson Bay are important covariates in capturing the spatial trend of extreme temperatures. Furthermore, through the SGEV, important products such as the point-wise return periods and levels were derived using the best selected model as determined by Takeuchi's information criteria. The return levels show that the southern portion of the Canadian Prairies shows a consistent increase in extreme temperature for all the return periods. The results show that all the return periods mentioned above have extreme temperatures exceeding 37 °C in the southern portion of the Canadian Prairies. An unconditional simulation using the fitted MSP model provided various realizations of temperature extremes. The results from this study provide important insights into extreme temperatures in this important region, where water resources management is crucial. This study will be beneficial to the hydrologists, water resource specialists, climate change scientists and policy makers involved in the monitoring of extreme events in the Canadian Prairies.

Introduction: There is a pressing need for a holistic approach to optimize water-energy-food (WEF) resources management and to address their interlinkages with other resources due to population growth, socio-economic development, and climate change. However, the structural and spatial extent of the WEF system boundaries cause exponential growth in computational complexity, making exploratory data analysis crucial to obtain insight into the system’s characteristics and focus on critical components.Methods: This study conducts a multiscale investigation of the WEF nexus within the Canadian prairie provinces (Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba), utilizing causal-correlational analysis and the multispatial Convergence Cross Mapping (mCCM) method. Initially, we employed regression analysis to establish equations, along with their coefficients of determination (R2), to identify patterns among pairs of WEF sectors, gross domestic product (GDP), and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Subsequently, we conducted a causal analysis between correlated pairs using the mCCM method to explore the cause-and-effect relationships between sector pairs within the Canadian prairie provinces; both individually and as a single unit over the period 1990-2020.Results and discussion: Results show that energy and water are the most influential sectors on GHG emissions and GDP in the prairies as a whole. Energy has a stronger influence on GHG compared to water and food sectors, while water has the strongest causal influence on the GDP of Alberta, and food and energy do so for Saskatchewan and Manitoba, respectively. The trade-offs for improving WEF nexus security strongly depend on the scale of the system under investigation, highlighting the need for careful deliberations around boundary judgment for decision-making. This study provides a better understanding of the WEF-GDP-GHG nexus in the Canadian prairies and existing interrelationships among the aforementioned sectors, helping to build more efficient WEF nexus models for further simulation and scenario analysis.

Climate change (CC) poses a threat to agricultural sustainability, which is important in the Canadian Prairies, as agriculture is a major occupation and driver of the economy. Agriculture involves both the creation and mitigation of emissions related to CC. To implement adaptation and mitigation practices, producers should accept CC as fact. This study is based in Saskatchewan, Canada, where CC denial is prevalent in public comments. To assess the validity of this anecdotal impression, this study provided a snapshot of Saskatchewan agricultural producers' perceptions and observations of CC and assessed whether views on CC are associated with characteristics of political orientation and affiliation, mental flexibility, systems thinking, time orientation, climate knowledge, climate observations, and demographic variables. A survey was developed with the following four sections: (1) individual characteristics; (2) observed changes in climate-related variables; (3) knowledge and perceptions about CC; and (4) demographic variables. The survey included multiple-choice questions and items scored on a Likert scale. The survey was completed by 330 Saskatchewan agricultural producers (i.e., farmers and ranchers). The results indicated more CC denial in Saskatchewan producers than in other Canadian samples. Individual and socioeconomic characteristics of lower levels of formal education, identifying as male, conservative political affiliation and ideation, low trust in science, and low mental flexibility were associated with less acceptance and concern of CC. It is therefore necessary to consider socioeconomic and individual characteristics of producers in measures aiming to increase the acceptance of the reality of CC. Future intervention research should target male producers with lower levels of formal education, low trust in science, low mental flexibility, and right-leaning political ideation for the improvement of CC perceptions and examine different teaching methods (e.g., lectures, workshops, webinars) and dissemination methods (e.g., online versus in-person sessions) to see how various techniques may influence learning, as well as the way the information is used by particular groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Canadian Prairies are associated with high natural hydroclimatic variability including the frequent periodic occurrence of droughts and pluvials. These extremes carry various risks including significant damage to the economy, environment and society. The well-documented level of damage necessitates further risk assessment and planned reductions to vulnerability, particularly in light of a warming climate. A logical starting point involves awareness and information about the changing characteristics of such climate extremes. We focus on the compound occurrence of droughts and pluvials as the risks from this type of event are magnified compared to the hydroclimatic extremes in isolation. Compound droughts and pluvials (CDP) are drought and pluvial events that occur in close succession in time or in close proximity in area. Also, research on CDP is limited even for the worldwide literature. Therefore, the purposes of this paper are to synthesize recent literature concerning the risks of CDP, and to provide examples of past occurrences, with a focus on the Canadian Prairies. Since literature from the Prairies is limited, global work is also reviewed. That literature indicates increasing concern and interest in CDP. Relationships between drought and pluvials are also characterized using the SPEI Global Monitor for the Prairies, emphasizing the recent past. Research mostly considers drought and pluvials as separate events in the Prairies, but is integrated here to characterize the relationships of these extremes. The spatiotemporal patterns showed that several of the extreme to record pluvials were found to be closely associated with extreme droughts in the Prairies. The intensities of the extremes and their dry to wet boundaries were described. This is the first research to explore the concept of and to provide examples of CDP for the Prairies and for Canada. Examples of CDP provide insights into the regional hydroclimatic variability. Furthermore, most literature on future projections strongly suggests that this variability is likely to increase, mainly driven by anthropogenic climate change. Therefore, improved methods to characterize and to quantify CDP are required. These findings suggest means of decreasing vulnerability and associated damages. Although the study area is the Canadian Prairies, the work is relevant to other regions that are becoming more vulnerable to increasing risks of and vulnerabilities to such compound extremes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Denitrifying bioreactors are an edge-of-field passive treatment technology that can reduce nutrient export from subsurface drainage waters to aquatic ecosystems. This technology is gaining popularity in many parts of the world including eastern Canada, but has not gained widespread acceptance in the Canadian prairies. This study evaluated the performance of pilot-scale denitrifying bioreactors for removing nitrate under agricultural field conditions in southern Alberta. Local agricultural residues– barley straw and hemp straw– were tested in comparison to wood chips for nutrient removal potential under varying retention times and temperatures during the growing season. Results from this study identified that the primary factors affecting nitrate-nitrogen removal in this region were temperature, flow rate, carbon source material and the age of the materials in the bioreactor. Both agricultural residues exceeded wood chip performance in the first year of operation, but all fill materials performed similarly in the second year of operation– the percent reduction of nitrate-nitrogen dropped from 72% to 34% and 55% to 32% for barley straw and hemp straw, respectively, while increasing from 27% to 29% for wood chips. These results indicate that more research is needed on the use of barley straw and hemp straw in bioreactors after an overwinter period.

Copyright of Canadian Water Resources Journal / Revue Canadienne des Ressources Hydriques is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Solid precipitation falling near 0 °C, mainly snow, can adhere to surface features and produce major impacts. This study is concerned with characterizing this precipitation over the Canadian Prairie provinces of Manitoba and Saskatchewan in the current (2000–2013) and pseudo-global warming future climate, with an average 5.9 °C temperature increase, through the use of high resolution (4 km) model simulations. On average, simulations in the current climate suggest that this precipitation occurs within 11 events per year, lasting 33.6 h in total and producing 27.5 mm melted equivalent, but there are wide spatial variations that are partly due to enhancements arising from its relatively low terrain. Within the warmer climate, average values generally increase, and spatial patterns shift somewhat. This precipitation consists of four categories covering its occurrence just below and just above a wet-bulb temperature of 0 °C, and with or without liquid precipitation. It generally peaks in March or April, as well as in October, and these peaks move towards mid-winter by approximately one month within the warmer climate. Storms producing this precipitation generally produce winds with a northerly component during or shortly after the precipitation; these winds contribute to further damage. Overall, this study has determined the features of and expected changes to adhering precipitation across this region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Canadian Prairies region is considered a climate change hot spot due to the extreme drought events and their impacts on water resources. The overall goal of this research is to understand the linkage between meteorological droughts and Total Water Storage (TWS) variations in the Canadian Prairies. To achieve this goal, a diversified database is collected and analyzed by geostatistical tools and cross-wavelet transform approach. It concerns a multitude of climatic data (four CMIP6 multi-model datasets) and satellite observations (GRACE data). The results indicate that: (1) the models overestimate the precipitation rate over the Canadian Prairies, and the Norwegian Earth System Model version 2 (NorESM2–LM) is the most suitable model for the context of the Canadian Prairies; (2) Sen's slope estimator of annual rainfall can reach −2.5 mm/year/year, with a decreasing magnitude of trends in the NE to SW direction; (3) the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) and the Modified China-Z Index (MCZI) demonstrate that, in the past, most of the climatological years were near normal with some extremely dry years (1952, 2000, 2003, and 2015) and one extremely wet year (1960); (4) the projections in the far future indicate an increase in the number of extremely dry years (2037, 2047, 2080, 2089, and 2095); (5) the combined analysis of GRACE-derived TWS and drought indices show the direct impact of the meteorological drought periods on the water resources. The TWS values decreased from 23 cm in 2002 to −54 cm in 2020, indicating a significant water reserve decline in the region. The results of this study are expected to provide a valuable perspective to understand the dynamic of hydrosystems in a climate change context in the Canadian Prairies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alluvial fan sediments contain valuable information on environmental change and anthropogenic influences, and function as an archive of landscape development. The purpose of this paper is to describe the analysis of the sedimentary information from core samples taken from two alluvial fans in the Saskatchewan prairies. The analysis assessed grain size, organic matter content, and microfossil presence to identify periods of accumulation and stabilization. Parker, Beavers, and Product weathering indices were used to analyze the modern source soil samples and the borehole cores to determine weathering/leaching conditions. The bed‐load transport sediments showed a higher leaching intensity whereas lower leaching was revealed for periods of stability, silt sheet flows, and sand sheet flows. The Beavers Index was not only a strong indicator of a bed‐load transport layer, but also of calcium accumulation zones marking alluvial fan surface stability. The large Dolomite/Calcite ratio marking the calcium accumulation zones was used for correlation between the two alluvial fan sites on a regional scale. A comparison of the stratigraphy of the two alluvial fans documents that a relationship exists between agriculture and an increase in erosion. Key Messages: When faced with a lack of 14C data, sedimentary information can provide insight into processes of alluvial fan development.The small number of microfossils found did not allow microfossils analysis.Weathering indices and EDX analysis were able to identify phases of weathering/leaching, indicating periods of accumulation and stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wireworms are significant pests of a variety of economically important crops grown in the Canadian Prairies. These soil-dwelling larvae of click beetles feed on and burrow into the accessible underground plant tissues, which can result in cosmetic injury, stunting, wilting, and plant death. Successful management of wireworms relies on accurate estimations of their abundance and activity in infested fields. Bait trapping is the most commonly used method for sampling wireworms and standardized approaches have been developed; however, little work has been done to optimize trapping efficacy in different geographical regions. In this study, we evaluated the effect of bait trapping duration, seed formulation, and the causal relationship with CO2 production and soil temperature on the wireworm catch in three fields located in Manitoba, Canada. As expected, wireworm catch increased with trapping duration and placing traps in ground for 8 d is adequate in most cases. Both barley and wheat were more effective baits than soybean; however, barley released more CO2 (i.e. an attractant for wireworms) and performed better at elevated soil temperatures. Overall, the results of this study will serve as valuable guidelines to improve current wireworm sampling methods, and can be integrated into strategies aimed at managing these important pests to crop production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agricultural drainage is a complicated and often conflict-ridden natural resource management issue, impacting contested ecosystem services related to the retention of wetlands as well as the productivity of farmland. This research identifies opportunities to transform the conflict over agricultural drainage in Saskatchewan, Canada, towards collaboration. We report on ethnographic research informed by a conservation conflict-transformation framework to evaluate the nature of the conflict and whether drivers of the conflict operate principally at the level of disputes over discrete ecosystem services or if they reach deeper into local social circumstances and build on larger unresolved conflict(s) among groups in the region. In addition to the conflict-transformation framework, we apply the Social–Ecological Systems Framework to elicit details regarding the substantive, relational, and material dimensions of this conflict. Our research suggests that processes for governing natural resources, such as those in place for governing drainage in Saskatchewan, need to have mechanisms to facilitate relationship building and shared understandings, need to be adaptable to people’s changing needs and concerns, and should focus on inclusivity and empowerment of actors to address conflict.

Agriculture is practiced on 3–4 million acres of First Nations reserve lands in the Saskatchewan Prairies—predominantly by non-Indigenous farmers. A confluence of factors including an increase in agricultural land holdings on reserve and greater autonomy in land management have renewed conversations on how First Nations can realize the full economic benefits and exert greater control over agricultural activities that affect the reserve land base. We hosted a Forum on Indigenous Agriculture to share current knowledge on the contemporary status of Indigenous agriculture and to co-formulate research, capacity building, and policy priorities. First Nations’ roles in agriculture are diverse and were categorized in three broad contexts: as farmers, relying on traditional Indigenous or western practice, or a synergy of both; as landlords negotiating lease agreements; and as agribusiness entrepreneurs. Five themes emerged from the forum: centring Indigenous knowledge and traditional relationships to the land, capacity building, building respectful partnerships and relationships, financing farming and equitable economies, and translating research to policy and legislation. The forum provided foundational data to inform research and capacity building to meet community-defined goals in agriculture on reserve lands and by First Nations people.

With the objective of trying to understand the adaptability of agriculture across the Canadian Prairies under climate change, simple‐to‐use agroclimatic indices were calculated for the base climate period of 1981 to 2010 and for both the medium (RCP4.5) and high (RCP8.5) emission projections extending to the distant future (2071–2100). The agroclimatic indices included the Effective Growing Degree Days (EGDDs), Growing Season Length (GSL), the Climate Moisture Index (CMI), and the Temperature Humidity Index (THI). For climate change in 30‐year periods, these indices were calculated as multi‐model ensembles of six Global Climate Models recommended under the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5) for the study area. We found that the GSL, EGDDs, CMI, and THI were amplified above the values of the base climate period in the order of 40–50 days, 600–1200 heat units, −100 to −120 mm and 3–4 THI units by the close of the distant future (2071–2100) under the RCP4.5 and RCP8.5, respectively. This amplification has implications on where crop and livestock production could become more suitable or riskier in future. Opportunities include expanding crop and livestock production to more northerly regions which currently have insufficient heat units, a short growing season and unfavourable temperature humidity thresholds for livestock production. Moisture deficits will continue to be the greatest risk during the growing season under climate change scenarios but options exist to implement adaptive measures such as staggering seeding times to take advantage of moisture availability in the spring and autumn seasons and crop substitution. This study has relevance for policy and program formulation and implementation in Canada's agricultural regions and potentially, other areas of the world with similar climate change outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ecosystem restoration is proposed as one aspect of the transformative changes required to meet global sustainability goals. In the prairie region of Canada, where the widespread and relatively recent conversion of natural ecosystems to farmland displaced Indigenous peoples and made way for a thriving agricultural sector, I propose that ecosystem restoration requires two intertwined transition processes: reorienting worldviews to embrace the social and biophysical contexts of local ecosystems, and taking practical steps to restore ecosystem functioning and integrity. Attention to ecosystem functioning—the relational processes that undergird the desired outcomes—can promote the design and implementation of agricultural landscapes that mimic key features of natural ecosystems while maintaining a mix of land uses. Human ingenuity and thoughtful integration of traditional and scientific knowledge are needed to develop locally adapted land use that supports synergetic relationships within and among farm fields and other landscape features. Integrating social goals into the design of agricultural landscapes can spawn creative solutions but will require a shift toward a more open and collaborative approach, especially regarding the use of privately owned lands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Canadian Water Resources Journal / Revue Canadienne des Ressources Hydriques is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

BACKGROUND Wireworms, the soil‐dwelling larvae of click beetles, are a major threat to global agricultural production. This is largely due to their generalist polyphagous feeding capabilities, extended and cryptic life cycles, and limited management options available. Although wireworms are well‐documented as economically important pests in the Canadian Prairies, including Manitoba, there are gaps in knowledge on species distributions, subterranean behaviour and life cycles, feeding ecology and damage capacity, and economic thresholds for crop yield loss. Results: We carried out 3 years (2018–2020) of intensive surveillance of larval populations across Manitoba. A total of 31 fields (24 in ≥ 2 consecutive years) were surveyed in early spring using standardized bait trapping approaches. Wireworms were present in 94% of surveyed sites, but the catch within fields varied year to year. While Hypnoidus bicolor predominated (94% of larvae), several other pest species were identified. We then explored the relationships between wireworm trap numbers and agro‐environmental factors. The larval catch tended to decrease under conditions of low soil temperatures and increased clay content, coupled with high soil moisture and precipitation during the trapping period. Treatment and cultural methods appeared less influential; however, wheat production in either of the previous two growing seasons was associated with increased wireworm catch. Our models failed to predict a relationship between wireworm catch and crop yields, although infestations were rare in our region. Conclusion: Our findings better infer the risks posed by wireworms to crop production in the Canadian Prairies, and the agro‐environmental factors that represent the greatest contributors to these risks. This information should be incorporated into future integrated pest management (IPM) strategies for wireworms. © 2021 Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada Pest Management Science © 2021 Society of Chemical Industry Reproduced with the permission of the Minister of Agriculture and Agri‐Food Canada. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Phosphorus (P) runoff from agricultural land plays a critical role in downstream water quality. This article summarizes P and sediment runoff data for both snowmelt and rainfall runoff from 30 arable fields in the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario. The data were collected from 216 site-years of field experiments, with climates ranging from semi-arid to humid and a wide range of field management practices. In the article, mean annual and seasonal (in terms of snowmelt and rain) precipitation inputs, runoff depths, and P and sediment concentrations and loads are presented, along with ranges of yearly values. In addition, information of field management and soil characteristics (e.g. soil type and soil Olsen P) is also presented for each field. The data have potential to be reused for national and international cross-region comparisons of P and sediment losses, constructing and validating decision-support models and tools for assessing and managing P losses in both snowmelt and rainfall runoff, and informing beneficial management practices to improve agricultural water quality. Interpretation of the data is found in “Phosphorus runoff from Canadian agricultural land: A cross-region synthesis of edge-of-field results” [1].

The societal benefits of wetland conservation can outweigh the costs, and yet the financial incentive for individual landowners to conserve wetlands is often insufficient due to a mismatch between who bears the costs of wetland conservation (eg the farmer) and who benefits (eg the public) (Dias and Belcher [29]). Summary: Prairie wetland drainage impacts are numerous and widespread The current western scientific knowledge about the effects of wetland drainage in the Canadian Prairies presents a compelling case that past and future wetland drainage will have profound impacts (Table 1). Hence, drainage of one small wetland has less impact on discharge than drainage of one large wetland because there is less storage capacity in a small wetland (Shaw, van der Kamp, et al. [82]). In the typical dry climate of the Canadian Prairie, where wetlands often provide storage capacity, drainage of wetlands closer to the stream outlet results in a more rapid expansion of area contributing to the outlet than does drainage of wetlands in upper reaches. Keywords: Wetland; Canadian Prairies; drainage; ecosystem service; water; agriculture EN Wetland Canadian Prairies drainage ecosystem service water agriculture 229 241 13 11/30/21 20211201 NES 211201 Background, and goals of this synthesis Extensive wetland drainage has occurred across the Canadian Prairies, and drainage activities are ongoing in many areas (Dahl [26]; Watmough and Schmoll [103]; Bartzen et al. [11]; Dahl [25]; Prairie Habitat Joint Venture [78]; Dumanski, Pomeroy, and Westbrook [31]; Waz and Creed [104]). [Extracted from the article]

This paper introduces and applies a novel methodology that integrates watershed modeling with the traditional regional flood frequency analysis. The methodology introduces a novel site-similarity measure that relies on hydrologic simulations and accounts for the effect of land depressions on streamflow generation. The new measure is tested along with other traditional measures for regional flood frequency analysis in the Canadian prairies. The case study is chosen carefully to critically test the new methodology. An application of 30 combinations of the new and traditional site similarity measures is assessed for pooling 109 sites. The homogeneity of the clustered groups is evaluated, and different probability distributions are applied to describe at-site and regional annual maximum flows. The results present enhanced groups' homogeneity when the new measure is employed due to a better representation of the hydrologic similarity between the pooled sites. Furthermore, the regionally estimated quantiles are found susceptible to the chosen site similarity measures in the pooling process, which highlights the importance of considering the proposed measure that describes a key hydrologic aspect when land depressions exist. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Analyzes Saskatchewan government consultations on agricultural land ownership. • Responses do discursive work of challenging and reifying current property relations. • Stories told reinforce private property regimes, justify settler colonialism. • Values expressed suggest different social relations regarding land are possible. • Persuasive stories of alternatives, communicating values, could help induce change. Global conflicts over land grabbing, financialization, and conservation have generated resistance from diverse local peoples who insist that land must be more than a commodity; it has social, cultural, and ecological value alongside its economic productivity. Saskatchewan's government has recently responded to similar conflicts over investment, privatization, and concentration of landholding, by engaging in public consultations on farmland ownership. Analyzing comments from public consultation surveys in 2015 and 2017, the paper employs insights from property theory, legal studies, geography, and scholarship on storytelling to analyze how respondents' values, expressed through stories, work to change or maintain property relations. As a resource, agricultural land is endowed with value that changes over time and space. Land tenure regimes consist of shifting social relations regarding this resource, and these relations are often arrived at and maintained through persuasive narratives framed through social value claims about heritage, identity, livelihoods, and community norms. These stories also have a material effect on resource use and property regimes. In Saskatchewan, as survey respondents employ stories to influence policy decisions on agricultural land tenure and advocate for the status quo, they utilize social values that justify their entitlements. Alternative property relations, advocated or proposed by some respondents, provide more fundamental challenges to absolutist notions of private property rights and thus face ideological barriers to acceptance and implementation through policy. However, telling different stories can be a way to alter property relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Persistent, large‐area droughts are among the most damaging natural disasters, having major effects on agriculture, industry, forestry, human health and society, and ecosystems. In the Canadian Prairie provinces of the sub‐humid continental interior, changing climatic conditions, and shifts between periods of extreme wet and dry weather, emphasize the need for a better understanding of past and future variability of the regional hydroclimate. Using over 180 multi‐species tree‐ring chronologies, the warm (May through August) and cool (December through April) season Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI) was reconstructed from 1400 to 2018 on a 10‐km grid spanning the Canadian Prairies. These geospatial paleo‐drought data extend back to 1200 over a smaller geographic area. Seasonal SPEI maps, comprising the newly developed Canadian Prairies Paleo Drought Atlas (CPPDA), visually represent the hydroclimatic variability across the Canadian Prairies over past centuries, including the timing, intensity, and spatial extent of major multi‐year droughts and excessive moisture events. Wavelet analysis was also examined to determine possible potential connections between hydroclimatic variables and the influence of large‐scale ocean–atmosphere oscillations (i.e., the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) and the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO)). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper assesses the distributional consequences of technical changes that improve the efficiency of land and of other inputs in a multifactor crop‐production system. We introduced an equilibrium displacement model (EDM) by using the specification of a factor‐augmenting approach. Given the uncertainty about the EDM parameters, a Monte Carlo simulation is used to produce a distribution of possible return measures. We found that land suppliers (likely farmers) receive a larger share (73%) of total benefits from the adoption of land‐technical change than they do from the adoption of other input technologies. Each input supplier receives a larger share of total benefits from technical change in her own input. However, this result is sensitive to the value of the parameters, especially the value of the elasticity of substitution. We applied the EDM to the case of no‐tillage (NT) to provide insight into how the aggregate return from the adoption of NT was distributed among different groups on the Canadian Prairies. The results of this study can be used by policymakers and funding agencies in order to influence landowners and farming communities to adopt environmentally sound land technologies to achieve both greater agricultural productivity and sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article offers an analysis of Prairie consumer culture and its development in the region, arguing for the utility of regional analysis in understanding how popular culture and consumerism have influenced religious history, and neoliberal social history more broadly, over time. Unlike some other regions of North America, the Canadian Prairies were once characterized by the widespread influence of Protestant social gospel thought, which was, if not outright anti-capitalist, amenable to socialism and rooted in cooperative ethics. This has changed in the latter half of the twentieth century into the twenty-first, where the region is now well known for being a bastion of Canadian conservatism. It has also seen a sharp increase in people stating that they have no religion. Foregrounding this transformation in the context of the significant socio-economic change of the Prairies, this article analyzes the increasing social valuation of individualism, the connotations that "religion" has for historical actors, and the growing influence of consumerism. A case study of the West Edmonton Mall illustrates how vital consumerism and the segregation of social desire is to the Prairie region and the importance of the myths, symbols, and rituals that are cultivated within such spaces. As such, the dreams offered by contemporary popular culture and individualist spiritualities have—over the course of the twentieth century—replaced those offered by the social gospel and farmer's political parties. This article concludes by suggesting that comparison of the different regions of North America can aid in more deeply understanding how popular culture and consumerism have influenced their religious history. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human activities resulting in the extirpation of small carnivore populations -- either directly through shooting, trapping, or poisoning of the animals, or indirectly through the control of prey or habitat destruction -- have repeated themselves over space and time. Since the early 1900s, pest control methods in the Canadian Prairies and habitat loss and deterioration in the northern forests negatively affected and continue to alter small carnivore communities. Typically, for decades industry has taken the same approach in control of vertebrate pests and obtained meagre results that affected negatively small carnivores. The reduction of Richardson's ground squirrel, Urocitellus richardsonii, and northern pocket gopher, Thomomys talpoides, populations to density levels that do not cause significant losses to crop productivity is the solution. A properly developed Integrated Pest Management programme, with detailed information about when and how to use specific control methods, and protocols to follow to avoid non-target and secondary poisoning, can meet the needs of both conservationists and farmers. Timber harvesting has produced landscapes that failed to meet the ecological needs of small carnivores such as the American marten, Martes americana, and the fisher, Pekania pennanti. In central interior British Columbia, to compensate a forestry company for increased habitat conservation in parts of its forest management area, timber harvest was increased in forests with lower biodiversity potential that were adjacent to 2 conservation areas. The resulting forest management plan was a win--win solution for conservationists and foresters. We need to change our response to human--small carnivore conflicts or we will face continued erosion of small carnivore populations and alteration of the ecosystems to which they contribute. In a world where economics generally dominate management decisions, wildlife biologists must link the benefits and costs of small carnivore conservation with those of human societies and activities. The involvement of wildlife biologists in small carnivore conservation programmes must be pragmatic, and conservation programmes must be based on solid field-based datasets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public (dis)trust of conventionally produced food is now a pivotal issue for the Canadian food supply chain as consumers are increasingly demanding traceability, transparency and sustainability of the agri-food system. To ensure that Canadians understand what farmers do, how they do it, and why—there has been significant human and financial investment by both the agri-food industry and government over the last decade. Farmers, civil servants, and non-farming agricultural professionals alike are being encouraged to join the national conversation promoting the legitimacy of conventional agriculture. As part of this large-scale effort, women in agriculture (both on and off farm) are advocating, in gendered ways, for the safety and legitimacy of the agri-food system and its conventional farming practices. This is being done by utilizing their motherhood capital. This motherhood capital legitimizes the authority granted to mothers as expert decisionmakers regarding their children's food consumption. Through the usage of their motherhood capital, women are being positioned—and are positioning themselves—as an important voice in re-narrating the story of conventional agriculture through the circulation of their maternal foodwork experiences. Using their authority as mothers (and feeders or caretakers of families) they are advocating for the safety, necessity, and trustworthiness of conventional agriculture to counter narratives of mistrust and risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Acesulfame (ACE), sucralose (SUC), cyclamate (CYC), and saccharin (SAC) are widely used artificial sweeteners that undergo negligible metabolism in the human body, and thus ubiquitously exist in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). Due to their persistence in WWTPs, ACE and SUC are found in natural waters globally. Wastewater samples were collected from the primary influent, primary effluent, secondary effluent, and final effluent of a WWTP in Alberta, Canada between August 2022 and February 2023, and the artificial sweeteners concentrations were measured by LC-MS/MS. Using wastewater-based epidemiology, the daily per capita consumption of ACE in the studied wastewater treatment plant catchment was estimated to be the highest in the world. Similar to other studies, the removal efficiency in WWTP was high for SAC and CYC, but low or even negative for SUC. However, ACE removal remained surprisingly high (>96%), even in the cold Canadian winter months. This result may indicate a further adaptation of microorganisms capable of biodegrading ACE in WWTP. The estimated per capita discharge into the environment of ACE, CYC, and SAC is low in Alberta due to the prevalent utilization of secondary treatment throughout the province, but is 17.4–18.8 times higher in Canada, since only 70.3% of total discharged wastewater in Canada undergoes secondary treatment. [Display omitted] • The occurrence and degradation of acesulfame, sucralose, cyclamate, and saccharin in a WWTP in Alberta, Canada was first reported. • The calculated daily consumption per capita of acesulfame in this WWTP catchment was 16.8 mg d−1 p−1, the highest globally. • Acesulfame, previously believed to be persistent under low temperatures, was removed over 96% in this facility, even during cold Canadian winter months. • The population-weighted effluent loads of sucralose, cyclamate, and saccharin in Canada were estimated to be among the highest globally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Study region: This study was carried out in southwestern Manitoba, in the prairie region of Canada. Study focus: Mathematical models are routinely used to estimate evapotranspiration (ET) when measurements are lacking. This study was conducted to select the most relevant models for estimating ET in the Canadian Prairies. Eight reference ET models (i.e., Penman-Monteith, Priestley-Taylor, Makkink, Turc, Maulé et al., Blaney-Criddle, Hargreaves-Samani, and Hamon models) were evaluated. This study also assessed the applicability and transferability of the growing degree day (GDD)-based crop coefficients for estimating crop ET in the Canadian Prairies. New hydrological insights: The equation developed by Maulé et al. (2006) was found to be the best reference ET alternative to the Penman-Monteith equation with a mean relative error of 11%. However, when models were validated against measured crop ET, the simpler radiation-based Turc and Makkink models were found to be the most useful models with daily mean relative errors ranging from 16% to 49%, outperforming the widely accepted Penman-Monteith model. Discrepancies in the GDD-based crop coefficients were found to also contribute to errors; however, results show the potential transferability of GDD-based coefficients across different locations and climatic conditions.

In this study, variations of daily mean, maximum, and minimum temperature (expressed as Tmean, Tmax, and Tmin) over the Canadian Prairie Provinces were dynamically downscaled through regional climate simulations. How the regional climate would increase in response to global warming was subsequently revealed. Specifically, the Regional Climatic Model (RegCM) was undertaken to downscale the boundary conditions of Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory Earth System Model Version 2M (GFDL-ESM2M) over the Prairie Provinces. Daily temperatures (i.e., Tmean, Tmax, and Tmin) were subsequently extracted from the historical and future climate simulations. Temperature variations in the two future periods (i.e., 2036 to 2065 and 2065 to 2095) are then investigated relative to the baseline period (i.e., 1985 to 2004). The spatial distributions of temperatures were analyzed to reveal the regional impacts of global warming on the provinces. The results indicated that the projected changes in the annual averages of daily temperatures would be amplified from the southwest in the Rocky Mountain area to the northeast in the prairie region. It was also suggested that the projected temperature averages would be significantly intensified under RCP8.5. The projected temperature variations could provide scientific bases for adaptation and mitigation initiatives on multiple sectors, such as agriculture and economic sectors over the Canadian Prairies.

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Drought is a natural climatic phenomenon that occurs throughout the world and impacts many sectors of society. To help decision-makers reduce the impacts of drought, it is important to improve monitoring tools that provide relevant and timely information in support of drought mitigation decisions. Given that drought is a complex natural hazard that manifests in different forms, monitoring can be improved by integrating various types of information (e.g., remote sensing and climate) that is timely and region specific to identify where and when droughts are occurring. The Vegetation Drought Response Index for Canada (VegDRI-Canada) is a recently developed drought monitoring tool for Canada. VegDRI-Canada extends the initial VegDRI concept developed for the conterminous United States to a broader transnational coverage across North America. VegDRI-Canada models are similar to those developed for the United States, integrating satellite observations of vegetation status, climate data, and biophysical information on land use and land cover, soil characteristics, and other environmental factors. Collectively, these different types of data are integrated into the hybrid VegDRI-Canada to isolate the effects of drought on vegetation. Twenty-three weekly VegDRI-Canada models were built for the growing season (April–September) through the weekly analysis of these data using a regression tree-based data mining approach. A 15-year time series of VegDRI-Canada results (s to 2014) was produced using these models and the output was validated by randomly selecting 20% of the historical data, as well as holdout year (15% unseen data) across the growing season that the Pearson’s correlation ranged from 0.6 to 0.77. A case study was also conducted to evaluate the VegDRI-Canada results over the prairie region of Canada for two drought years and one non-drought year for three weekly periods of the growing season (i.e., early-, mid-, and late season). The comparison of the VegDRI-Canada map with the Canadian Drought Monitor (CDM), an independent drought indicator, showed that the VegDRI-Canada maps depicted key spatial drought severity patterns during the two targeted drought years consistent with the CDM. In addition, VegDRI-Canada was compared with canola yields in the Prairie Provinces at the regional scale for a period from 2000 to 2014 to evaluate the indices’ applicability for monitoring drought impacts on crop production. The result showed that VegDRI-Canada values had a relatively higher correlation (i.e., r > 0.5) with canola yield for nonirrigated croplands in the Canadian Prairies region in areas where drought is typically a limiting factor on crop growth, but showed a negative relationship in the southeastern Prairie region, where water availability is less of a limiting factor and in some cases a hindrance to crop growth when waterlogging occurs. These initial results demonstrate VegDRI-Canada’s utility for monitoring drought-related vegetation conditions, particularly in drought prone areas. In general, the results indicated that the VegDRI-Canada models showed sensitivity to known agricultural drought events in Canada over the 15-year period mainly for nonirrigated areas.

Institutional change is typically needed to address the suite of sustainability challenges currently facing rural areas. Institutional work is a potentially valuable lens to advance such change. By examining a case study of biodiversity conservation from the Canadian Prairies, this article illuminates the patterns and processes of institutional work apparent over time as local actors struggle to improve their autonomy in conservation governance - a feature thought to be particularly important to advance sustainability. The article finds that institutional work progressed through three phases of maintaining, disrupting and crafting at various levels of organization. Local actors became increasingly involved as the phases progressed; however, they continue to struggle for improved autonomy in decision making processes. The article demonstrates one pathway towards local autonomy in conservation governance, but also highlights the continued challenges faced by local actors in pursing such autonomy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • Modelled soil moisture was used to determine soil trafficability at soil polygon level. • Soil trafficabilty was determined for the climate base period 1971–2000. • Poor soil trafficability was found on soils with fine textures during the growing season (April to September). • Maps of soil trafficability provided baseline data for further research and risk assessment. Abstract The frequency of days with poor soil trafficability across the Canadian Prairies was determined from simulated soil moisture at soil polygon level during the growing season (April to September) with the Versatile Soil Moisture Budget (VSMB) model. Each soil polygon had a pre-determined critical soil moisture threshold in the first layer (0–5 cm) to trigger poor trafficability. The assessment of soil trafficability was limited to those polygons with good suitability rating for growing grain crops. For each of May, July and September, the polygon modelled soil moisture values were boot strapped into three percentile categories to reflect the highest risk (25th percentile), average conditions (50th percentile) and better than average conditions (75th percentile) for the entire climate period (1971 to 2000). We found that on average, soils with higher clay content (mostly those from eastern Manitoba, the northern fringes of the agricultural zone coinciding with the boreal forest zone and the Alberta Peace River region) had 5 to 9 days of poor trafficability at seeding time (May). In July, the zone with poor soil trafficability (close to two weeks) expanded northward to the Peace River Region of Alberta, northern Saskatchewan and eastern Manitoba. At harvest time (September), poor soil trafficability (>10days) was concentrated in eastern Manitoba which also had the most days with poor soil trafficability at the start and mid-season months. The wet phase represented by the 75th percentile category showed that 10–14 days of poor trafficability can be expected on soil polygons with heavy textures. There were fewer days (1–4) with poor trafficability during dry years (the 25th percentile binned values). The soil trafficability maps generated from this study are a baseline for comparing trafficability levels under climate change scenarios and for planning agricultural activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, a coupled dynamical-copula downscaling approach was developed through integrating the Providing Regional Climates for Impacts Studies (PRECIS) modeling system and the copula method. This approach helps to reflect detailed features at local scales based on dynamical downscaling, while also effectively simulating the interactions between large-scale atmospheric variables (predictors) and local surface variables (predictands). The performance of the proposed approach in reproducing historical climatology of the Canadian Prairies was evaluated through comparison with observations. Future climate projections generated by the developed approach were analyzed over three time slices (i.e., the 2030s, 2050s, and 2080s) to help understand the plausible changes in temperature over the Canadian Prairies in response to global warming. The results showed that there would be an apparent increasing pattern over the Canadian Prairies. The projections of future temperature over three time slices can provide decision makers with valuable information for climate change impacts assessment over the Canadian Prairies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Globally, consumption of bovine meat is projected to increase by 1.2% per annum until 2050, a demand likely met in part by increased Canadian beef production. With this greater production on a finite agricultural land base, there is a need to weigh the contribution of this industry to the Canadian economy against the full range of positive and negative ecological and social impacts of beef production. This review, focussing on the prairie provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, which collectively support just over 80% of the Canadian beef herd, examines the social and ecological footprint of the cow-calf, backgrounding, finishing and forage/feed production stages of beef production within an ecosystem services framework. We summarise the literature on how beef production and management practices affect a range of services, including livestock; water supply; water, air and soil quality; climate regulation; zoonotic diseases; cultural services; and biodiversity. Based on 742 peer-reviewed publications, spanning all agricultural stages of beef production, we established a framework for identifying management practices yielding the greatest overall socio-ecological benefits in terms of positive impacts on ecosystem service supply. Further, we identified research gaps and crucial research questions related to the sustainability of beef production systems. Highlights • 742 publications on prairie beef production and ecosystem services were reviewed. • Beef management practices influence the supply of services from the system. • There is relatively little research on cultural services and service bundles. • Holistic assessment includes multiple production stages, practices and services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]