Scientific Information Launching Perennial Horizons
Scientific Information Launching Perennial Horizons

STRIPS Datasets

Accessing Data on SILPH

SILPH is a PostgreSQL database cluster running on a Microsoft Azure Flexible Server instance. The data within SILPH comes from and is accessible by large interdisciplinary teams at Iowa State University and partner organizations. Members of those teams that are Iowa State users can request access at silph@iastate.edu. Once authorized, users connected to the ISU VPN can make direct connections using PGadmin, DBeaver, R, Python, ArcGIS, QGIS, and many other programs. Team members that do not have access to the ISU VPN or do not wish to make a direct connection can access the data through our GitHub Team page after requesting access at silph@iastate.edu. Other arrangements for data access are also possible.

  • A photo of four newly hatched baby birds in a nest with a temperature data logger.
    Authors:
    Matthew Stephenson, Robert Klaver, Jarad Niemi, Lisa Schulte

    This dataset contains data related to grassland passerines nesting in linear patches of reconstructed diverse, native, perennial vegetation. We collected data on 1285 nests of 9 grassland nesting passerine species from 2015-2019 at 11 sites in Iowa, USA to assess habitat quality of prairie strips and other perennial grass-based agricultural conservation practices, as measured by nest density and nest survival. These datasets are suitable for conducting generalized linear mixed modeling of nest detection and nest density and mark-recapture modeling of nest survival.

  • A Monarch butterfly on a purple coneflower. Photo: STRIPS.
    Authors:
    Caroline Siebert, Matthew O'Neal, John Tyndall

    We sought to understand pollinator use of prairie strips compared to other non-crop, perennial habitat (i.e., grass waterways, field borders along road right-of-ways) in an agricultural landscape. Considering that prairie strips are planted with a diverse mix of native plants (30+ species), we hypothesized that prairie strips would have a greater abundance of floral resources and more milkweed than other grassy areas on farms (i.e. control sites). We hypothesized farm fields with prairie strips would have a greater richness and diversity of wild bees and syrphids at farm fields with prairie strips than fields without, and that native bees, syrphids, and monarch butterflies would also be more active within them. We also assessed if the non-native honey bee was active in the prairie strips and if this activity varied compared to the control sites. Data comparing the health and productivity of honey bees kept at both site types is the subject of a future manuscript (but see Zhang 2020 for a summary). To test these hypotheses, we assessed the diversity and abundance of blooming flowers, with a focus on milkweed, along randomly established transects within prairie strips and other grassy areas at comparison sites. We assessed if native bees, honey bees, and syrphids were active at prairie strip and comparison sites using modified pan traps (i.e., bee bowls) placed along transects. We also conducted Pollard walks along transects to determine the abundance of adult monarch butterflies.