Warner+3B Prairie+Dogs

= Prairie Dogs and their Niche in Prairie Ecosystems = toc -Zak: Food Web and Conservation Plan -Mary: Abiotic and Biotic Factors, and Importance to Ecosystem -Stephon: Picture Attribution, and Threats to Ecosystems

media type="custom" key="18597152" width="140" height="140" = Food Web =



= Abiotic Factors: =

//>Climate is the most important abiotic factor. The temperature and precipitation determines whether grasslands, forests or both can form in the environment. The amount of rain or precipitation a year also determines how much grass plants there will be. It is usually hot and dry in grassland ecosystems in the summer and spring. Cool and cold are the temperatures in winter and fall. A moisture deficit can form in this kind of ecosystem. This is when in the summer at its highest peak, more water is being evaporated than rain being produced and dropped. //
 * Climate--> **


 * **Parent Material and Soil--> ** > //Geological material is on top of bedrock and is the base of the soil when it is developed. As the last of the ice sheets melted away during BC’s time, a lot of the parent material was inserted. The layout of the material depends on where it was deposited and how in association to the ice. The material deposited under the ice can be thick or thin in size. It has a countless amount of various rocks and soils. It can range from large masses of boulder to small sand size particles. Water sources that have continued on beneath the ice have left dunes of water-rounded components of various proportions. Particles dropped into ice-dammed lakes assemble zones of thin soil. Wind can pick up fine particles and blow them across the surface that doesn’t have any ice and deposits compact layers of the silt in some regions. //

//>Topography varies as the architecture found on the zone region which is determined by slopes, elevation, and aspects. Grassland ecosystems topography varies from dunes and prairies, stone prominence, cliffs, channels, and low lying regions. Assorted topography gives grassland ecosystem a lot of variation. The slope of the grassland is important because it determines if the water will flow down the region instead of staying in one place for the plants to soak in. //
 * Topography--> **

//>Natural disturbances can add diversity to the grassland ecosystem in many ways. Some of these disturbances can be predicted like floods but others can come very sudden such as a fire from a recent lightning storm. Flooding in the grassland ecosystems happens every spring in the riparian areas by capacious lakes and rivers in the grassland regions of the province. Flash floods can occur if the amount of snow is larger than expected, temperatures that are high can melt the snow at a rapid pace, and if there are heavy rainfalls on the snow. The water can break banks and carry away soil, broken trees, and other plant life too. In summer, lightning storms are not uncommon in the grassland plains. Trees can be struck by lightning and rupture into flames which spreads to other trees and plants. In the summer, everything is dry making it more prone to heavily spread. Diminutive trees are usually burnt down and die, but other plants like shrubs, grasses and other greenery are able to carry on. A lot of the grassland grasses are in a lethargic being before the heat of the summer when most lightning storms occur. As the soil in the fall begins to become more moist, bluebunch wheatgrass, fescues, and needlegrasses start to grow from the bottom and from underneath. Animals such as Bighorn Sheep can escape the flames but other animals are usually not able to flee and are killed. Some plants in the grassland ecosystem need the flames to live. Other plants have built in protective systems from the fire. The Ponderosa Pine tree has a thick tree trunk so it insulates itself from the heat and pieces of its trunk will break off if it is on fire. Since grassland plants burn very easily, it spreads very quickly and helps bring back nutrients to the soil. // = = = = = = =Biotic Factors: =
 * Natural Disturbance--> **

**Producers--> **//>In the grassland ecosystems, grasses, shrubs, trees, and other greenery are the producers. They absorb the sun’s energy and then continue the steps of photosynthesis. When these plants die, they provide an energy food source for insects, bacteria, and fungi that live in the ground. Grasses are important for other consumers such as deer, elk, and mountain sheep. It is good for other smaller animals such as mice, marmots, and gophers. //

//>Consumers do not have the ability to capture the sunlight and turn it into energy like plants can in grassland ecosystems. They do consume other animals and plant life instead for energy. The herbivores in grassland ecosystems are animals like elk who feed on the grass, and insects who feed on leaves. The omnivores are black bears who eat both meat and plants in the area. The carnivores would be the red tailed hawk and rattlesnake who only eat other animals. //
 * Consumers--> **


 * Decomposers--> ** //>Decomposers in the grassland ecosystems range from insects, algae, fungi and bacteria. They help break down components to give nutrients to the soil for other organisms. Millions of these organisms live in just one square metre of grassland. //

**<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 19px; vertical-align: baseline;">Soil- **//<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">>Soil may be an abiotic factor, but it has many biotic functions in the grassland ecosystems. It provides the base for plants to grow, holds water for the plants to use, recycles organic material for both animal and plant components, and is an important habitat for organisms that live in the soil. Soil is the link in the chain that keeps abiotic and biotic factors working together. //

= <span style="color: #ea631a; display: block; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 23px; text-align: left;">Threats to the Ecosystem: =

> //<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">The farmers will kill the prairie dogs because they are digging holes where they are planting,and also pastureland's. Drought from global climate change may limit food. // //<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">Human development is the major threat. //

= Importance of the Ecosystem  =

<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">>//Prairie Dogs may seem like a pain most of the time but they do serve a purpose in their ecosystem. The burrows that they dig become homes for many other animals in need of shelter. For example, burrowing owls, cottontail rabbits, and rattlesnakes. Eighty-nine different species of vertebrate were discovered to be linked to the prairie dog in some way in towns of Oklahoma. The prairie dog is an vital food source for many predators in the grasslands. These predators include endangered black-footed ferrets, badgers, coyotes, foxes, eagles, prairie falcons, hawks, owls, minks, long-tailed weasels, and perhaps bobcats. Prairie dogs are also good for livestock. When prairie dogs eat the same plants as livestock do, they are increasing the amount of various plants in the area. This reduces the amount of forage availability, and increases the amount of grass species preferred by livestock. Another thing that prairie dogs do in livestock’s favor is that when they eat the plants, they are keeping them in a lower stage of maturity which is easier for the cattle to chew and digest. Younger plants also have a higher amount of crude protein, which leads to higher nutrient value.// =<span style="color: #ea631a; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 23px; vertical-align: baseline;">Conservation Plan: = //<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">>Our conservation plan is to raise money to buy land that is inhabited by prairie dogs. We also plan to talk to landowners with prairie dogs on their property, and discuss a plan on how they can move or work around the prairie dogs. If the prairie dogs have to move, we will send them to one of the conservation areas we bought. The areas will be left the way they are, minus any trash people might have put there, so as to keep the prairie dogs and any other animals in the area acting as normally as possible. These lands will help protect them from hunters, construction and poachers. // ||