Grassland Ecosystems

the grasslands” (2017). By doing what George Church wants, the arctic climate will turn back

Plants are found everywhere on earth, up high on the ridge and down low in caves and caverns. The types of plants that live in these places depends on many factors. These factors are separated into two different categories, the biotic factors and the abiotic factors. Some of the biotic factors include, predation, competition, and habitat destruction. Plants with limited competition and large amounts of resources will be in a higher abundance than plants with limited resources and higher competition rates will be confined to areas and either out competed or will be the dominant species. Certain plants adapt to these factors and thrive and others don’t do as well. Some of the abiotic factors include, sunlight, water, temperature, and wind. These

The purpose of this experiment is to observe secondary succession at Umass Dartmouth and test the prediction that diversity increases through ecological succession. Students went outside to the lawn underneath the wind mill on campus. 3 transect sites were located by the instructor. Students predicted the species and percent cover of each species on each trail site. Bar charts were made to compare the number of species in each transect. Pi-charts were made to compare the percent coverage of species in each transect.

Biomes are appropriate conditions for organizing the natural world because the organisms that live in them common constellations of adaptations, particularly the climate of each of the areas and the characteristic vegetation types that develops in these divisions. It should be understood that the climate is perhaps the most important in determining classes of individuals who may live in an area and the ways they should be amended to live under different conditions of temperature and precipitation and seasonal distribution of these factors element. Every place on Earth has its own climate, influenced by both macroclimate regions as the particular microclimate. The soils are very important because they are essential to determine the types of plants that will grow into a bioclimatic zone in partical, in addition, also as substrates for animals serve. In turn, the soils are heavily influenced by regional climate, as well as the geology of the bedrock. At the same time we have to keep in mind the diversity of plants like the flora just like the diversity of the fauna as well as the adaptation of both.

The annual rate of precipitation, and elevational range once generated a strong foundation for a wide diversity of vegetation

West Virginia is known as the "mountain state." It consists of many beautiful lakes, rivers, streams, and quite a few tourist attractions, such as Babcock. Not only that, but West Virginia is made up of several different biomes. West Virginia is also made up of forests, as well.

1 The U.S. Bureau of Land Management has stepped in to provide restorative practices upon 500,000 acres of heavily degraded public grasslands. This land is suffering from severe soil erosion as well as degradation due to overgrazing. The suppression of natural fires has caused shrubs and invasive weeds to encroach upon the grasslands. A full scale assessment will take place on this land before restoration efforts begin. The first thing that would need to be assessed is the soil, for it is eroding and holding little nutrient value. Samples would be taken of this soil from various parts of the grasslands including the eroded gullies. Each soil sample would be taken from at least 1 foot below the surface, to test for carbon richness below the topsoil. These would then be tested for texture, density, water retention, and chemical composition. Typically, powerful, healthy soil will contain amounts of both Nitrogen and Phosphorous, which are essential nutrients in sustainable plant growth. These samples would also be tested for any build-up of salts, something known as soil salinization. Unhealthy, salinized soil is created over years of over-hydrating and deep plowing. Excess water will suffocate root systems of once-healthy crops, and salinized soils will reduce crop output up to 20% (Withgott &Brennan, 2011). The next assessment would be in the shrubs and invasive weed species on the land. Knowing the volume and location of these plants gives way to a better understanding of

#18. The relationship between the diversity of plant root systems and erosion is that the roots protect the soil from erosion and the thinner the soil is the more perennial the roots become.

The soil near the native Californian Sage plant and the invasive Crystalline Iceplant display roughly similar moisture content yet they possess significantly different pH levels. Thus, it can be concluded that the soil properties of the soil samples near the native and invasive species show both commonality and diversity.

The Southwest Savanna is characterized by the hilltops, rivers and valleys and steep wooded slopes within the area. The average growing season in this part of southern Wisconsin is 153 days, making it the fourth longest growing season of the different landscapes within the state (Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources 2015). Of all the land in this section of Wisconsin, about 3.5% belongs to state, county, or municipal governments; this includes the state parks, natural areas, and wildlife areas. (Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources 2015). In the past, a majority of the forests in the Southern Savanna burned frequently. These forests depended on the fires to help maintain the area and return nutrients to the soil. In the mid-1800s,

“Dormancy is a period in an organism's life cycle when growth, development, and (in animals) physical activity are temporarily stopped” (“Dormancy”). Some native plants have learned to adapt to grow a mixture of both short and long roots, so they can absorb moisture from both depths. After the winter season, the deeper roots reach down to absorb the water that has soaked into the deeper ground. Once the water lower in the ground has been absorbed into the tree, the plant uses its shallow roots to begin absorbing the moisture at the surface (Schwinning, Susan. “Sensitivity”). Exotic plants in a new area can cause irregular forest fires, floods, and other unwanted natural disturbances. To prevent these disturbances from occurring, Exotic Plant Management teams are trying to remove unnecessary plants that are only hurting the soil. The Exotic Plants team gives the people taking care of the plants two recommendations. First, they recommended to not worry as much about the bigger exotic plants and try to eliminate the weeds and exotic grasses. Second, is to put as much effort into restoring the native plants that are struggling through the droughts (Daw). Cold season shrubs are one of the few native plants that were not affected by the change in the climate

Kathy Conlan is an expert in understanding the weird and wonderful world of marine creatures that live deep under the Arctic ice. She specializes in marine benthic biology and amphipod systematics. Kathy studies how human and natural changes affect marine life in the Arctic and Antarctic, the effects of pollution on marine life as well as global warming. She is past chief officer for Life Sciences in the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) and is a judge for SCAR’s Martha T. Muse Prize for Science and policy in Antarctica, represents Canada for the Canadian Committee on Antarctic Research, taught at Huntsman Marine Science Centre and Students On Ice, mentors university students and gives speaches and “Show and tells” at the museum.

This week's weather change could be a boon to duck hunters, as a freeze up north should drive some new birds down into the Grasslands. Last Saturday, my son Bill and a friend had a pretty good shoot at the Santa Cruz Club south of Los Banos. They had a good early morning flight, mostly Greenwing Teal and Northern shovelers. They ended up with 11 ducks, including one Canvasback, before the flight ended about 10:30 a.m. To make it more challenging, they were both shooting 20 gauge shotguns. My son is still shooting the same Remington Model 58 that I gave him in 1970, when he was 13 years old. The public shooting areas showed some increase in averages last Saturday in the Sacramento Valley with Delevan and Sacramento Refuges being the best. In the Los Banos Complex, Merced and Los Banos units picked up to around two birds per hunter.

In our experiment of field ecology at A-mountain, the purpose were to understand the specific factors that affect the distribution and abundance of plant species at north facing slope and south facing slope. The availability of plants in certain area depends on temperature, availability of water, sunlight and nutrients. A-mountain which is in Arizona has different desert plant that includes; grass, brittlebush, bursage, creosote bush, mesquite, palo verde, fishhook barrel, hedgehog, pincushion, teddy bear cholla, staghorn cholla, chain fruit cholla, prickly pear and others.. and some are specifically found on either north or south side of the mountain. The fact that the south slope receive more direct sunlight than the north facing slope, soil moisture will evaporate faster in south side of the mountain than in the north side thus the availability of different drought resisting plant whereas in north side where there is a slower evaporation due to lack of direct sunlight hence few drought resistant plants compared to south side (Wyant, unpublished data). We predicted that to the south side of the mountain there be will more diversity, evenness and drought tolerant plants species than the north side.

Significantly, desertification also cause soil erosion, which means soil surface is worn by wind and water. Desertification makes soil easy to erode by water or wind, as soil is exposed and soil structure is instable without forest. LaI R(2003) says that ““Land area globally affected by erosion is 1094 million ha (Mha) by water erosion, of which 751 Mha is severely affected, and 549 Mha by wind erosion, of which 296 Mha is severely affected.” To control soil erosion, an obvious way is virescence, enlarging forest cover, which can protect the soil far from exposing to strong wind. Also, the roots of plants under ground play a role as a framework, as they are obstructions to soil movement,