Exam 3 #3

UIC BioS 101 Nyberg

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Prairie

A grassland community of North America Grasses and other herbaceous species are the most common and tallest vegetation

Speaker Notes:

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What are the characteristics you associate with being a GRASS.

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Exam 3 #3

UIC BioS 101 Nyberg

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READING Material

• Review Grassland biome in Freeman

• There is a lot of the lecture information on the Woodworth Prairie website

www.uic.edu/depts/bios/prairie/

• An excellent site to learn about plants of our area is:

www.inhs.uiuc.edu/~kenr/prairieplants.html

Speaker Notes:

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Exam 3 #3

UIC BioS 101 Nyberg

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Types of Prairie

• Tallgrass, mid-grass, and short grass are major subdivisions of prairie. Vegetation height is positively correlated with annual precipitation. Annual rainfall increases as one moves east from the rocky mountains.

Speaker Notes:

3

Precipitation is also has a south/north gradient.

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Exam 3 #3

UIC BioS 101 Nyberg

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Distribution of tall, mid & short grass prairies

Tallgrass prairie

Short

Mid

Speaker Notes:

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A quality tallgrass prairie captures almost all the sunlight below knee height (50 cm).

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Exam 3 #3

UIC BioS 101 Nyberg

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Illinois prairies are tallgrass prairies

• Categories of tallgrass prairies

  • Topography flat versus hill (high slope)

  • Soil texture fine (clay) versus sand

  • Moisture level xeric (=dry), mesic, wet

• Prairie Quality

  • The simplest is the absence of non-native plants and a low abundance of woody plants.

  • More complicated quality evaluations assign different values to different species.

Speaker Notes:

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Dr. Gerry Wilhelm pioneered the idea of valuing plants species. He used a scale from 0 to 10.

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Exam 3 #3

UIC BioS 101 Nyberg

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Natural Area

• An area occupied by the species that lived there prior to intensive agriculture.

• Most natural areas have a high diversity of plant and animal species.

• Natural areas have been lost thru biological pollution (area was ‘taken over’ by non-native species).

Speaker Notes:

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Prairies in IL are susceptible to being taken over by woody plants.

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Exam 3 #3

UIC BioS 101 Nyberg

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Words describing vegetation

• Autochthonous means native to the specific location. The Silver maple is native to Cook County, but it is not native to the Woodworth prairie. Preservation of autochthonous vegetation is more specific than native vegetation.

• Original is the word I prefer over ‘virgin’ to describe a prairie that has not been plowed.

Speaker Notes:

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Keeping species in zoos or arboretums is the antithesis of autochthonous.

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Exam 3 #3

UIC BioS 101 Nyberg

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UIC’s Woodworth Prairie,
in Glenview

Speaker Notes:

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The building is called the Interpretation Center. How many plant species can you see?

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Exam 3 #3

UIC BioS 101 Nyberg

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Biota (= all organisms) of a Prairie

• Plants

• Animals

• In the soil

  • Fungi

  • Protista

  • Bacteria and Archaea

Speaker Notes:

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People focus on what they can see, but the unseen may be more important.

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Exam 3 #3

UIC BioS 101 Nyberg

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Plants of Woodworth Prairie

• Grasses and Sedges, e.g.,

  • Leiberg’s Panic grass

  • Indian grass

• Forbs, e.g.,

  • Prairie clover

  • Prairie milkweed

• Shrubs

Speaker Notes:

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Grasses, Sedges and Rushes are referred to collectively as graminoids.

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Exam 3 #3

UIC BioS 101 Nyberg

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Leiberg’s Panic Grass & Indian Grass

Speaker Notes:

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The yellow in the Indian grass pictures is the pollen producing anthers.

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UIC BioS 101 Nyberg

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Prairie Clover & Prairie Milkweed

Speaker Notes:

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Clovers are legumes that can added nitrogen to the soil.

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Exam 3 #3

UIC BioS 101 Nyberg

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Plant species of Woodworth Prairie

• In addition to growth form (woody, herbaceous), we can categorize species by nativity.

Categories of plants at Woodworth prairie

• Autochthonous (=prairie) species

• Native (to Illinois) but not plants of prairies

• Non-native =exotic, =alien species from other parts of the world

Speaker Notes:

13

I assume that all prairie species at Woodworth Prairie are autochthonous.

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Exam 3 #3

UIC BioS 101 Nyberg

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Animals of Woodworth Prairie

• Insects

  • Prairie cicada

  • ants

  • Butterflies – Peck’s skipper

• Spiders, Prairie crayfish

• Vertebrates

  • birds killdeer, redwing, goldfinch

  • mammals mice, voles, shrews, rabbits

Speaker Notes:

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There are certain times of the year that particular species can be seen.

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Exam 3 #3

UIC BioS 101 Nyberg

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Prairie cicada & Peck’s skipper

Speaker Notes:

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The time to hear he prairie cicada is the last two weeks of June. Peck’s skipper in August.

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Exam 3 #3

UIC BioS 101 Nyberg

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Argiope Killdeer
Garden Spider

Speaker Notes:

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The killdeer nests in April and has left the prairie by the end of May.

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Exam 3 #3

UIC BioS 101 Nyberg

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White-footed Franklin’s
Mouse Ground Squirrel

This prairie squirrel has

become very rare.

This mouse has increased

in abundance in Illinois.

Speaker Notes:

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Franklin’s ground squirrel hibernates from September thru May.

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Exam 3 #3

UIC BioS 101 Nyberg

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Soil

• Mineral particles

  • Sand coarse

  • Silt fine

  • Clay very fine

• Organic material (remains of plants)

• Organisms (mostly very small)

• Water (ground water)

Speaker Notes:

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Soil has many parts.

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Exam 3 #3

UIC BioS 101 Nyberg

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Woodworth Prairie Wetlands

• There are four areas that normally hold water at least part of the spring.

• Because they hold water only part of the year they are described as ephemeral.

• The deepest pool at Woodworth has a maximum depth of 40 cm (knee deep).

• Female crayfish release their young in the pool in spring.

Speaker Notes:

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Exam 3 #3

UIC BioS 101 Nyberg

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Woodworth’s Milwaukee Swale

• Hydrograph

Thick black line = Water present

Speaker Notes:

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The capacity of the Woodworth Prairie to absorb rain is impressive.

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Exam 3 #3

UIC BioS 101 Nyberg

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The Prairie Crayfish
Procambarus gracilis

• The mounds of the prairie crayfish are an easily seen feature of Woodworth Prairie.

• The crayfish lives in burrows that it digs and may be 2 m (6 feet) deep.

• The mounds can be 4-6 inches tall and are often pure clay (from depth > 50 cm).

Speaker Notes:

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Crayfish are a couple inches long.

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Exam 3 #3

UIC BioS 101 Nyberg

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Procambarus gracilis mounds

Speaker Notes:

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Mounds may be opened or capped.

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UIC BioS 101 Nyberg

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Procambarus gracilis

Speaker Notes:

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The crayfish on the left is waiting at the top of its burrow at night. On right crayfish is showing defensive posture (on linoleum floor).

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UIC BioS 101 Nyberg

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Management is necessary to perpetuate native species

• Conservation ownership is not sufficient to preserve native communities in natural areas. Actions taken by people to conserve native species are called management.

• Management Activities

  • Burn (controls abundance of woody species)

  • Remove (i.e., kill) non-native species

  • Supplement populations of prairie species

Speaker Notes:

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Management like ‘fix’ is a word used in a variety of different situations.

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UIC BioS 101 Nyberg

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Prescribed burn at Cranberry Slough FPDCC

Professor Nyberg

Speaker Notes:

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Lightning can cause fires but the amount of fire has undoubtedly increased considerably since humans have controlled fire.

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Exam 3 #3

UIC BioS 101 Nyberg

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Burning at Woodworth Prairie

Speaker Notes:

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Woodworth has been safely burned in an urban context since 1972.

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Exam 3 #3

UIC BioS 101 Nyberg

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VOCABULARY

• Non-native, exotic

• Autochthonous

• Mesic

• Grass

• Original prairie

• Natural Area

• Cicada

• Crayfish

• Preservation

• Management

• Prescribed Burn

Speaker Notes:

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