Tyndall Lab
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.
News
Congrats to DR. Richard Magala! He successfully defended his dissertation this spring. His dissertation is titled "Quantifying ecosystem service trade-offs to advance sustainable intensification of US Corn Belt agriculture".
The PLUS Lab welcomes three new students in 2024! Kelsey Karnish, Derrick Kapayou, and Paul Keyser.
Publications
*Student authors
2025
Karnish, K.*, E. Zimmerman, J.C. Tyndall, W. Beck., and S. Greer*. (Accepted pending revision) A spatially explicit approach for identifying, prioritizing, and estimating costs associated with potential floodplain easements. Journal of Environmental Quality
Stephenson, M.D., Seibert, C.J.**, Zhang, G., Tyndall, J.C., O’Neal, M.E., and L.A. Schulte. (2025). Support for Agricultural Prairie Strips as Monarch Butterfly Habitat. Ecological Restoration.
Audia, E., L.A. Schulte Moore, and J.C. Tyndall. 2025. Optimizing targeted conservation for disproportionate benefits in the East Big Creek watershed, Iowa, 2019. ver 1. Environmental Data Initiative. https://doi.org/10.6073/pasta/004fd8d264f5aa93d187b49325a38392.
Audia, E., L.A. Schulte Moore, and J.C. Tyndall. 2025. Valuing multiple ecosystem services under contrasting land use scenarios, Grand River Basin (Iowa and Missouri, USA), 2016 ver 1. Environmental Data Initiative. https://doi.org/10.6073/pasta/5ff89cdabc775db369ce0d6ff600cbcd.
Bogert, M., L.A. Schulte Moore, M.E. O'Neal, and J.C. Tyndall. 2025. Prairie manure application impacts on floral abundance, plant growth, plant community structure, insect and spider community abundance and activity density in experimental plots in Ames, Iowa (2021-2022). ver 1. Environmental Data Initiative. https://doi.org/10.6073/pasta/b03577b41fc299b5bddaaaebc5e6714f.
Magala, R. (2025). Quantifying ecosystem service trade-offs to advance sustainable intensification of US Corn Belt agriculture (Doctoral dissertation, Iowa State University).
Online Conservation Planning Tools
ACPF FiNRT ("fine art")
Economic evaluation of barriers to sportfish escapement
The application is set to default values which represent the costs to construct a barrier on Brushy Creek Lake in Iowa in 2020. On the sidebar, you can select and drag values to evaluate how changes in spillway size, or various construction costs metrics will change the cost distribution over time.