Oak Savanna Ecosystems

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.

Fire has long been understood to have an impact on the ecosystem of our native woodlands, but it is only recently that we have come to understand its importance in maintaining the ecosystem. This report takes samples of the flora structure and growth in two different areas of Anstey Hill Recreation Park. The first was last burnt in 1995, and the second burnt in 2012. The results of these samples can be compared to data sampled in 2011, when the 2012 burnt area had not been burnt since Ash Wednesday in 1983.

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

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,

Currently, the sagebrush ecosystem is rapidly declining across the Western United States, with over 350 associated plant and animal species at risk of being lost and imperiled. The main reason for the sagebrush decline is the steady encroachment of cheatgrass and pinyon-juniper. The invasion of these plants are fueling larger and more frequent fires that are out competing sagebrush as well as the associated grass species that are native components of the ecosystem, taking over much land that sagebrush once occupied. Cheatgrass was introduced to North America through contaminated grain seed, straw packing material, and soil used as ballast in ships sailing from Eurasia in the late 1890’s and is now the main culprit behind sagebrush decline.

Some of the most common bunchgrasses are basin wildrye and blue-bunch wheatgrass. They are typically found on the sloped areas. In the lower land cheatgrass and medusahead rye are invasive nonnative grasses, and must be maintained in order to preserve the native plants. Near the streams visitors will find cottonwoods, willows, alder, and hawthorn trees. Once it’s April the wildflowers begin to take bloom. In more recent years bitterroot has bloomed covering the most land. Other wildflowers found in this area are gold bee plants, prairie stars, fiddle neck and false dandelion.

The reduction of vegetative cover during and after fire can have a severe negative impact on several different factors including: water quality, soil erosion, wildlife and threatened or endangered species, introduction or spread of invasive and exotic species, and economic or social impacts to the surrounding communities. We will implement a vegetation monitoring protocol that will help guide us in restoration and recovery efforts of the High Park fire scar and the surrounding areas and watershed. A collaboration with the US Forest Service will be aggressively pursued in the hopes that a combined use of the Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program and our separate vegetation monitoring protocol can be utilized. We will use the burn severity field data collection points and cross-reference them with the FIA data points to see if there is any overlap between them. If there is then the FIA data points will be given preference as those points can possibly provide more information than solely High Park Fire data collection points. If there is not the ability to utilize the FIA data collection points, due to privacy, cost, or unforeseen reasons, then the High Park Fire data collection points will be

Especially in the Flint Hills, the careful yearly smoldering of endless territories of tallgrass prairie connected with serious, early steers eating in May, June, and July leaves few spots for ground settling fowls like prairie chickens to effectively settle. Greater prominent prairie chicken populaces in the Flint Hills have declined altogether since this touching framework got to be boundless. Be that as it may, less successive smoldering, in a perfect world once in 3 years or twice in 5 years, is basic to the strength of the prairie and for prairie chickens. Perhaps a greater genuine risk to greater prominent prairie chickens and other meadow winged animals is the spread of intrusive trees like eastern red cedar, Osage orange, and others into parts of our Kansas prairies ( read greater: Tree Invasion). Humorously, this has come about because of too little use of controlled smoldering in a few districts and from disappointment of area administrators to rapidly perceive and react to the danger tree intrusion stances to prairie, domesticated animals creation, and field untamed life (nature,

Many environmental factors allowed Native tribes of the Eastern Woodlands to shape and develop their own culture. Water was abundant, rivers and access to oceans enabled the Natives to grow and rely mainly on crops, like beans, corn and squash, travel, trade and communicate via water way. Natives used these rivers to trade and gain materials, such as copper, quartz, and pearls, develop relationships with other tribes, and explore new territory. Access to these natural resources gave artists the inspiration and material to create sophisticated and beautiful work. Communication with neighboring tribes to forge peace, resulted in less warfare. Dense forests provided ample wood for housing, travel and protection from opposing

Minnesota is situated in the northern part of United States, right in the middle. Colorado is situated around the center of US. Minnesota has a population of 5450000 people and Colorado has a population of 5350000 people. The capital of Minnesota is Saint Paul, but the biggest city is Minneapolis. Both the capital and the biggest city is Denver in Colorado.

In fact, planting the native plants and trees will ensure that they could survive or last longer than other types of plants. Imagine if you plant California Oak Savana in Mexico City, could you raise it? Will it survive? According to Stahlheber Karen and Carla D’Antonio, “Do tree Canopies Enhance Perennial Grass Restoration in California Oak Savannas? In California oak savannas, the native perennial grasses are rare beneath isolated oaks and non-native annual grasses dominate. ”They calming the discovery that oak canopies had a strong positive effect on survival of Stipa pulchra and Poa secunda (Perennial grass) Apparently, this piece of evidence, proof the complementary in some species which need the habits in order to survive. We all know having more plants and trees is the sign of fertility in dominating the ecosystem, cause less chance of being penurious.

In Area 2, the species with the highest dominance value was the Oregon White Oak (70.6%). Oregon White Oaks provide shelter, housing, and food to various animals as well. Diversity of birds is often higher in Oregon White Oaks than in an adjacent coniferous forest. Using the dominance data, it tells us that at this moment in time Oregon Oak and

In the Edwards Plateau the estimated annual interception loss – that is, the proportion of precipitation that never reaches mineral soil – for a given site dominated by stoloniferous grass was 10.8% of annual precipitation, while a bunchgrass dominated site had an annual interception loss of 18.1%. Oak trees and the litter beneath the trees intercepted about 46% of annual precipitation (Thurow et al., 1987). This indicated that shifts in the kind or amount of vegetation affect interception.

I am writing to you in regard to the Bridger -Teton National Forest. It is “the largest intact ecosystem in the lower 48 United States. Offering nearly 1.2 million acres of designated Wilderness, over 3,000 miles of road and trail and thousands of miles of unspoiled rivers and streams.” (USDA Forest Service)

The objectives of this study are to: 1) better inform the location of future revegetation plots, 2) explore the dynamics of competition from grasses and grass-likes in order to better inform future treatments on revegetation plots, and 3) to explore the survivability of multiple woody riparian species across treatment types in order to inform species selection on future revegetation plots.