Download Habitat - Waconia High School

MN Prairie Ecology
Conservation Biology
Big Bluestem
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
“Turkeyfoot”
Bunchy, blue-green stems
4-8 feet tal
Roots 3-4x as extensive
as visible part of plant
Moist prairies
Fall color=maroonish-tan
Needs some moisture
Burns in spring are
benefit
Little Bluestem
• 18-24”
• slender blue-green stems
• Appearing in Aug., reach
3 feet by sept. and
become mahogany-red
with white shiny seed
tufts in fall.
• Clumps grow up to 1 ft.
in diameter.
• Well drained soil, doesn’t
tolerate wetlands.
Yellow Indian Grass
• 3-8 feet tall
• Large golden brown
soft seed head.
• Moist, rich soils
• Fall = deep orange to
purple
Side Oats Grama
• 2-3 feet tall
• Oatlike spikelets uniformly line one side of
stem.
• Tan in fall.
• Soil = well drained.
• Doesn’t compete well with tall grasses
• Wildlife value = provides birds food and
cover
Blue Grama
• 12-14”
• One of the shortest grasses
• NW MN
• Dry prairies
• Gravelly soils
Hairy Grama
• 10-18”
• Leafy based stem
• Sandy/Rocky soil
• Never found naturally in
pure stands
Switch Grass
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
“Wand panic grass”
3-6Ft.
Rhizomes, vegetative
large,opne,fine textured,
red-purple seed head
Pale yellow stems in fall
Dry or moist prairies
Wildlife value= seed for
birds and mammals
Usefull in land reclamation
and soil erosion control
Prairie Cordgrass
•
•
•
•
5-6 feet tall
tough leaves
tan colored seedheads
freshwater marshes,
prairie lowlands
• wet to moist, rich soils.
• Spreads rapidly by
rhizomes
– can be invasive
Prairie Dropseed
Stiff Goldenrod
• 1-5 feet tall
• Smooth stems
• Bell shaped flower heads, rounded or flat
tops
• Broad leaves
Showy Goldenrod
• 2-7 feet tall
• long leaves on bottom
• branched flowers out
of main stalk
• upper leaves much
smaller
Canada Goldenrod
• “Meadow goldenrod”
• 1-5 feet tall
• Usually one flower
cluster on stalk, no
branching
Black-eyed Susan
• Wildlife Value: The
seed heads of blackeyed Susan attract
birds.
• Bright-yellow, 2-3 in.
wide, daisy-like flowers
with dark centers are the
plant's claim-to-fame.
They occur singly atop 1-2
ft. stems.
Purple Aster
• Habitat Moist or
dry meadows
• This plant is not
reliably drought
tolerant.
Purple Coneflower
• The genus name is from
the Greek echino, meaning
"hedgehog," an allusion to
the spiny, brownish central
disk.
• Habitat Dry open
woods and
prairies.
• Herbal tea- helps
strengthen immune
system
Purple
Coneflower
• “Thirst plant” chewing of roots
relieves thirst.
• Yellow coneflower=
– 1 1/2 -5 feet tall
– flowers June - Sept.
– Petals droop just like
purple coneflower
Bobolink
6-8”
• Breeding male largely
black, with white rump
and back, dull yellow
nape.
• Flight song is a series of
joyous, bubbling,
tumbling, gurgling
• Now, with farms
abandoned and the land
returning to forest, the
species is declining.
Eastern Meadowlark
• 9-11”
• brown-streaked bird
with white-edged tail;
bright yellow throat
and breast, black V
crossing breast.
• Because the birds often
breed in hay fields,
their nests may be
destroyed by mowing;
unless the season is
well advanced, they
normally nest again.
Sandhill Crane
• Habitat Large
freshwater
marshes, prairie
ponds, and
marshy tundra;
also on prairies
and grainfields
during migration
and in winter.
• 34-48" (86-122 cm).
W. 6' 8" (2 m).
Ring-necked Pheasant
• Male has red eye patch, brilliant green head, and
(usually) white neck ring; body patterned in soft brown
and iridescent russet. Female mottled sandy brown,
with shorter tail.
Ring-necked
Pheasant
• Although successful in most
grassland habitats, this
species has its North
American headquarters in
the central plains.
• Habitat Farmlands,
pastures, and grassy
woodland edges.
• Introduced
• At first the chicks feed largely
on insects but soon shift to the
adult diet of berries, seeds,
buds, and leaves
Red-tailed Hawk
• 18-25" W. 4'
• whitish breast and
rust-colored tail
• open country of
various kinds,
including tundra,
plains, and farmlands.
• it soars over open
country, perches in a
tree at the edge of a
meadow, watching for
the slightest movement
in the grass below.
• Feeds on rodents
primarily
Eastern
Bluebird
• Feeds on insects
• Nests in cavities: fence
posts, oaks, etc.
• 7” Blue above, rusty
and white below
• Competition for nests
with sparrows and
starlings (exotics)
• Habitat = Prairies with
scattered trees.
Tree Swallow
• 5-6 1/4”
• Habitat Lakeshores,
flooded meadows,
marshes, and
streams.
• Utitilizes nest boxes
• Feed on berries and
insects
Red-winged Blackbird
• Habitat Marshes,
swamps, and wet and
dry meadows;
pastures.
• Most common bird nesting
in fields in CRP land.
• Probably most abundant
bird in MN.
Red-winged Blackbird
• Female
• Nest in wetlands
and wet prairies
Greater Prairie Chicken
• Habitat Undisturbed
tall-grass prairie.
• Food source for settlers.
Hunted until 1935.
• Spread to Southern MN in
early 1800’s following
agriculture.
• 3,000 is present pop. In Red
River Valley (NW)
• Equal mix of prairie and
farm seemed to be ideal.
Sharp-tailed Grouse
• Habitat Grasslands,
scrub forest, and arid
sagebrush.
• Pop. Decreased as prairies
plowed.
• Common along forestprairie border.
• Prescribed burning helps
restore brushland- used to
improve habitat for sharptails.
American Badger
• Habitat Open plains
and prairies, farmland,
and sometimes edges
of woods.
• Range = 4-5 square miles
• Strong front feet with
large claws. Holes 8-12”
diameter and several feet
deep.
• Predators on gophers.
Badger
• Although their
excavation activity
can pose hazards
for hoofed
animals, badgers
are valuable in
controlling rodent
populations in
agricultural areas.
• Coyote and the
Badger. Hunting
together?
Pocket Gopher
*Feed on plants, plants of
early succession like quack
grass is preferred.
*Tunnel systems- loosens
soil, provides bare ground
for pioneer species.
*Accumulation of
feces,urine, and decomposing
plant tissue in tunnels
increases nitrogen.
Range = a few tenths of an acre
Burrow entrance mound
Greatest Impact on today’s Prairie
Thirteen-lined Ground Squirrel
Richardson’s Ground Squirrel
White-tailed
Jackrabbit
• Habitat Barren,
grazed, or cultivated
lands; grasslands.
• Pop. Usually low = a few in a
sq. mile.
• Feed on soft green plant tissues
in summer, twigs in winter.
• Found in S and W MN
Hind foot 6”
White-tailed Jackrabbit in winter
• Snowshoe Hare is
smaller, dark
brown in summer.
• in winter, it feeds on
twigs, buds, and dried
vegetation.
Meadow Vole
• 5-7”
• Eats leaves and stems
• tunnel networks
through litter to
clumps of grasses.
• Uses tunnels in
subnivean in winter.
• Weasel is predator.
• Habitat Lush,
grassy fields; also
marshes, swamps,
woodland glades
• Up to 13 litters of
1-11 young
Deer Mouse
• Feed on seeds, fruit.
• High pop. In disturbed
areas.
Short-tailed Shrew
• Poison glands in
mouth enables to
paralyze prey.
• Prey often larger than
shrews.
Northern Leopard Frog
• Dark spots on greenish
background.
• Summer and Sept/Oct
Migration
• Once harvested in MN
– 100,000 pounds in 72
– Uses: dissection, med.
Research, bait for bass
fishing.
– Very low numbers now
– Why? Overharvest,
disease, drainage,
fertilizers???????
Canadian Toad
• NW MN
• 64,000 sq. mi.
• Aug/Sept. Migrate
away from wetlands to
Mima mounds.
– 1 mound per acre in
wet prairies.
– 2-4 feet tall and 30-100
feet in diameter.
– Dig in to get below
frost line.
Canadian Toad (Manitoba Toad)
• Few predatorssecretions/poison
glands.
– Badgers will roll them
in dirt to mask taste
and rub off poison.
Prairie Skink
• Habitat Moist
terrain with
vegetation and
loose soil; rocky,
gravelly washes.
• Dry Prairies
• Tail detaches
• Food =
grasshoppers,
crickets, spiders.
• Predators =
snakes, birds of
prey, gophers,
raccoons.
Plains (Prairie) Garter Snake
• Most common, 20-40”
• Margins of wetlands =
Habitat
• Food = toads, frogs,
slamanders, insects, small
rodents.
• 20-60 young live born
July/Aug.
Western Hognose Snake
16-35”
• “Puffing adder”,
“Blowsnake”,
“Spread-head”
• When threatened-coils
up and inflates head
and neck. Raises head
and hisses like a cobra.
• Strikes, but is harmless
• Actor, plays dead.
BAD actor. Rolls on
back to fool predators,
but if rolled back by
predator, it will roll
over again and again.
Gopher Snake
(Bullsnake)
• Largest Snake in MN
6+ feet
• Harmless
• Food = frogs, mice,
gophers, ground
squirrels, eggs of
ducks and ground
nesters.
• Will crawl into
burrows to attack
adults and young
(rodents)
Insects of the Prairie
• 1000+ species may occur in a
prairie community.
• Insects fulfill many roles
(Niches) in the prairie
community and are very
important in the food web.
Pollinators
• Mutualism (coevolution)- Many flowers are pollinated
by a specific insect at a specific time of the year.
• Monarchs “Milkweed Butterflies”
– Female lays 1 egg under a leaf, up to 400 eggs.
Catepillars hatch in days. Will migrate 2,000 miles to C.
Mexico.
• Bees (100+ species)
– Most live solitary in burrows.
– Most prairie bees are individual nesters.
– Now in fall some species of bees pollinate Goldenrod and
Asters.
Grazers
• Grasshoppers and Crickets
– 135 species in MN
– Plagues 1800’s-1900
(1873-78)
– Any given prairie may
contain 50+ species of
grasshopper
– Lay eggs 1-2” deep in soil
and eggs will survive
winter to hatch the
following spring
Decomposers
• Help modify the
prairie soil by
recycling dead plant
and animal matter as
well as feces.
• Dung Beetle - rolls
balls of feces and
buries it to then eat it.
May use feces to lay
eggs in also.
Scavengers
• Ants, Carrion beetles,
Yellowjackets
• Feed off of decaying
carcasses.
Insects helping at many levels. . .
•
Larger Mammals, Birds of Prey
Third Order Consumers
–
– Birds, Mammals, Amphibians, Predatory Insects
»
Second Order Consumers
•
–
GRAZERS- Herbivores
First Order Consumers
• PLANTS - Producers (Autotrophs)
»
Decomposers - Beetles
MN Prairie Communities. . . .
• This has been. . . .
– A close look at the diversity of life in a
prairie community, niches, and the
balance needed of the organisms.
– Grasses, Forbs, Birds, Mammals, Insects,
Amphibians, and Reptiles.